FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Reading The Quarterback Competition

Graham Harrell didn’t name a starting quarterback Tuesday but he sure seemed to eliminate Matt Fink.

“Fink is really good when he’s on, and struggles when he’s off,” Harrell said.

So it will come down to JT Daniels or Jack Sears. Daniels could probably win the job even if he were in the NCAA transfer portal but at least Harrell tossed Sears a compliment.

“Jack is probably the most athletic and when he gets outside the pocket is probably the best with the ball in his hands,” Harrell said.

A USC coach told me Harrell really liked Sears’ scrimmage performance after watching film despite that interception by Drake Jackson.

So is this a real QB competition or not? I can see Harrell favoring Sears but Helton big-footing him and making Daniels the starter. Would Harrell be firm if he disagreed with Helton? I don’t know yet. I’m still learning about him.

Oh, someone is probably going to mention true freshman Kedon Slovis in the comments. No one I talk to at USC thinks he has a serious chance to start.

Meanwhile, here is Harrell on whether he needs a running quarterback?

“They’re going to take plenty of hits throwing the football so I don’t want them to take too many hits running the football,” he said.

Does he know Daniels does not like to take hits?

  • I missed this earlier on Mossimo Giannulli, the husband of actress Lori Loughlin, who has been indicted on multiple charges in the college admissions scam.

“Mossimo started his business in 1986 when he was a “fake student” at USC.

“Mossimo told his parents he was a student at USC even though he was never actually enrolled there. Instead, Mossimo pocketed his parents’ tuition checks to help fund his fashion venture.

“In an interview with The Hundreds, Mossimo said: “I used to have hundreds of thousands of cash in my top drawer in my fraternity house. And I was like, ‘this is kind of too easy. I need a bigger platform. If I had a bigger account base, I could really kill it…’ ”

Would anything surprise you at this point involving USC?

30 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Reading The Quarterback Competition”

  2. the criminal justice is not wolfs forte’
    but if he is correct on the q/b situation…
    and Harrell really said those things…
    kiss off this season.
    all new coaches coming after the debacle

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  3. Fink seems like a solid teammate but let’s be honest, he’s pretty terrible. No one can be that shocked he’s not in the running to start.

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      1. The ballclub actually started to root for each other, and played team ball! Who did JT inspire?

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      2. JT withered each game he played…he’d start ok, from then on, he shrank, until the offense was completely demoralized by the 4 th quarter! He made himself a living “law of diminishing returns.”

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      3. Think of Sears as the “energizer bunny”. Sorry Jack, I couldn’t think of anything else lol….fire up! Try not to let these people get you down! I know it’s hard…I’ve been there….

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      4. It’s the Professor vs. the Energizer Bunny…lol….who ya gonna call when things look dim? Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys..,

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      5. They lost with him at the helm and he sucked the first half after being in the system a year and a half under Darnold

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      6. They rallied because he went from horrendous to ok. Like you root for the handicap kid who finally got a at bat who makes miraculous contact with the ball and it dribbles a foot.

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      7. Tyler Vaughns blew the td catch that caused USC to lose to Arizona St…that’s why they lost…as for me and you? We can rumble….lol…

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      8. You gotta a lotta bad perspectives, IT WAS HIS FIRST START IN NEARLY TWO YEARS!!! HIS LAST START WAS A CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE SAME SCHOOL DARNOLD CAME FROM AND COULDN’T WIN STATE!!!! Honestly, Scott, where do you get these guys??? Twits

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      9. Tyler Vaughns td drop was one of the worst I’ve ever seen in football at any level!!!!! A bomb! Right in his wheelhouse, at the goal line, ooops! It was sad!

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      10. For all the good Vaughns does, HE DROPS TOO MANY BECAUSE HE HAS A WEAK UPPER BODY! I have a lifetime friend who owns a gym and worked the kid out just pryor to entering USC and he worked the kid out, more than once…he came back to me and said he lacked upper body strength…I argued for the kid!!! Now, I see.

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      11. If USC would just get behind Jack Sears, let him start and get his legs under him, they would develop a winner! Why not? They did that for Daniels, and he disappeared, while in plain site!

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  5. I think the true freshman has been left out of quarterback derby so he can redshirt this year. Sears is my favorite and Fink is not a good practice player. He needs that adrenaline you get from a live rush to play at his peak. He will never see that at SC under Helton.

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  6. Anyone here attending practices? I would really like to hear your opinions, particularly about the o-line. Thanks in advance if you have time to post!

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  7. Flow, we all know you’re not learning anything about Harrell’s personality because you’re not allowed “media access” after practices. Stop pretending.

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  8. Reading between the lines, it sounds to me that at this moment, Harrell would start Sears, primarily because of the attributes he lists above, and the fact that he described Daniels as prone to “overthinking”, which is a huge negative for a spread offense.

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    2. 67 —When I listened to the whole Harrell interview I got the impression he really is still undecided between Sears and Daniels. He’s not happy that Sears has a penchant for giving up on the pass and taking off. And he’s not happy that J. T. slows the offense down by overthinking. He’s pushing both guys to get fully on board with the Air Raid offense —and whichever guy makes himself over into the better Air Raid QB will start.
      I couldn’t believe how candid Harrell was in his full interview about he wants more “live reps” than Helton. He stated clearly that Helton wants to come out of spring with no injuries (& we’ve all seen the results of that kind of thinking: soft team).
      #HeltonNeverLearns

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  9. I later read an article by Dan Weber…he prints more of what Harrell stated,if not all…best to read that ,it may not align with what wolf stated for you,I came away with a different impression.

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    1. Tim —- When you listen to the entire 10 minute Graham Harrell interview, you come away with the impression that Graham is pushing Sears not to “give up” on the pass quite so soon and pleading with Daniels not to “slow” play down but “throw to the green grass” more quickly (but, then again, Scott summarized his position pretty succinctly). The thing that REALLY stood out in the Harrell interview is that he definitely wants to get more “live reps” in before camp ends, while Helton definitely wants to come out of camp with no injuries. The battle lines are being drawn. Graham wants to get ready for football games —-Helton wants to play it safe and coddle the players.
      #Something’sGottaGive

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      1. It also does not sound he has eliminated Matt, in fact he indicated he could be the best, if he keeps working with him and keeps him on an even keel…which lots of reps helps to do. He indicated he plays with the most emotion. A fired up q/b can get things done.

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      2. Yeah, I think you’re right about Matt. Harrell has said two things which—- if you put them together —-sound like he might go with Matt. First, he said that “the team that is the most excited about winning, wins.” The, he said that Matt brings emotion to the game, but sometimes he lets it get the better of him. It really sounds like he’s saying that Matt could start if he could control his emotions while still bringing a high level of intensity to the game. [I don’t think he likes the tempo of the offense under J. T. —-J. T. is gonna have to speed it up in the fall or he’ll lose his job. Personally, I think J.T. is capable of doing that — but it means unlearning everything Helton has taught him. The reason Sam and Cody went backwards under Helton is he loads QB’s down with all his crap].

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  10. McGhghy Stephen,

    I know Tyler Vaughns personally. Regarding dropped passes, to me it is not about strength, to me, I think it is a lack of concentration of seeing the ball into his hands. When he dropped the td pass against ASU last year, it was a rainbow pass and no one was near him. He just dropped it. He has caught passes in traffic with people swatting his arms and him concentrating. I just think he takes things for granted instead of executing and finishing.

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