He really didn't have a chance. Sure Aaron Corp has been on campus for two years and sure he has gone through plenty of drills with the vaunted Trojans staff, both past and present. He stands 6'4 and was a top-flight prospect himself coming out of Orange County in 2006. But how was he to beat out the more highly-touted Matt Barkley to become the starting quarterback for Southern Cal, when no one really wanted him to? He was always going to be looking over his shoulder. Every incompletion would have produced a groan; every pick a shout for the kid. And after choosing John David Booty over the highly-touted Mark Sanchez in 2006, and then watching Sanchez depart after only one season once he did become a starter two years later, head coach Pete Carroll was not going to miss out on any chance to showcase the expected heir to the throne of great quarterbacks at USC--Barkley. So Corp's recent injury, a crack to a bone below the left knee, was a convenient excuse to do the inevitable. Chose the kid you are in love with now and not delay the inevitable.
But what should Corp do? Should he stick around and enjoy all of the benefits of being a USC Trojan? Or should he transfer to a school that will give him a shot at a starting gig? The Trojans pride themselves on recruiting too much talent and setting up battles for starting jobs. The losers are almost always highly-regarded players. Except for the rare transfer--Emmanuel Moody, Vidal Hazelton among few others--they stick around to continue the fight and provide uncommon depth. Even at quarterback, a position where the subs can rarely play, they tend to stay and in one celebrated case a USC backup got drafted and developed into a starting professional quarterback (Matt Cassel).
But that was a rare case. If Corp's goal is to play in the NFL, then he really has no choice. He has to go, and go soon. In a similar situation, Jevan Snead as a true freshman lost the battle to become the starter at quarterback at Texas to redshirt freshman Colt McCoy back in 2006. While McCoy was throwing for 2570 yards and a whopping 29 touchdowns that year, Snead was limited to mop-up duty. With McCoy entrenched as the starter, Snead transferred to Mississippi and led the Rebels to the Cotton Bowl in his first season. With another fine season this year he will be set up financially with professional riches.
Corp does not possess the talent of Snead, but after this season he will have had three years of USC training under his belt and two years of eligibility left. He will be a desireable commodity to programs looking for a new quarterback for the 2011 season. Or, if he does not wish to take off another year, he can do what Joe Flacco and others have done before him and transfer to a lower level so as not to sit out a season. Tired of backing up Tyler Palko at Pittsburgh, Flacco transfered to Delaware and played himself into a no. 1 pick.
But he must choose wisely. Corp needs to just look at a fellow Trojan to learn that there are right programs to transfer to and wrong programs to transfer to. Like Barkley, Mitch Mustain was considered the top quaterback his senior year in high school--all of the touts had him ranked higher than fellow high school senior Tim Tebow--before commiting to Arkansas. His time there deserves its own post, but when deciding on a new school he chose one that already had Mark Sanchez and new recruit Corp. But Mustain's ego and meddling parents did not see a problem with those players, despite the leg up Sanchez would have in the USC system. And so Mustain is now third string. Corp would do much better for himself if he let potential playing time and coaching dictate his choice and not his own ego.
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