USC Football: Jalen Greene Back At Wide Receiver For Summer Workouts

Jalen Greene is back to playing wide receiver at USC football’s summer workouts after spending Spring Camp at quarterback.

Quarterback Jalen Greene remains a man without a set position after he worked out at wide receiver during USC’s player-run summer practice Thursday.

The redshirt sophomore lined up at wide receiver, according to reporters, after spending the entirety of Spring Camp at quarterback.

Greene joined USC as an early enrollee in 2014 and was named USC’s Offensive Service Team Player of the Year while he redshirted.

Last year, however, Greene sought out playing time by switching to wide receiver.

In that position he proved an asset starting three times and catching ten passes for 105 yards. As a former quarterback, the Trojans took advantage of Greene’s skillset on trick plays. He threw a 75-yard touchdown to JuJu Smith-Schuster against Notre Dame on one such play.

However, his involvement in the offense was limited and with an open quarterback competition this spring he returned to throwing the ball full-time. Though Greene offered unique abilities as a true dual-threat quarterback, he never quite broke into the two-man battle between Max Browne and Sam Darnold.

Considering that, it makes sense that Greene is back to playing wide receiver, which should offer more opportunities to see the field in 2016. It is not yet known if the position change will be made permanent once Fall Camp begins.

The trouble for Greene is that he’s caught in the middle of two of the more loaded positions at USC.

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With two starting-level competitors ahead of him at quarterback, Greene’s bid to become USC’s quarterback always seemed unlikely.

On the other side of things, Greene’s bid for playing time at wide receiver has only gotten more complicated. While USC will hope to spread the ball around more this season, there are a dozen other talented wide receivers vying for touches — among them five incoming freshman hoping to become the next big thing.

Fellow wide receiver Ajene Harris finds himself in a similar position after playing cornerback during Spring Camp. Harris has remained on defense this summer but his place on offense or defense remains in question.

On Tuesday, there was another notable position switch with offensive tackle Chuma Edoga lining up on the defensive line.