USC Football: Jalen Greene To Serve As Back Up QB For Rose Bowl

Wide receiver Jalen Greene will likely serve as USC’s back up quarterback in the 2017 Rose Bowl with Max Browne departed from the program.

When Max Browne opted to leave USC ahead of the Rose Bowl, the Trojans were left with question at quarterback behind starter Sam Darnold.

Though Matt Fink served as USC’s third-string QB for the entire season, using him in the final game of the season would burn his redshirt, removing a year of eligibility from his tally.

With that in mind, Clay Helton plans to turn to another quarterback in case something happens to Darnold against Penn State — wide receiver Jalen Green.

“I’ll try my best not to burn a redshirt year on a kid if I can have Jalen [Greene] go in there in an emergency situation,” Helton said after USC’s first Rose Bowl practice on Tuesday. “The experience and maturity that Jalen has, having played the position and being in a real live ball game before, if I had to say right now he’s probably going to end up being the back up for us.”

Greene came to USC  from Serra as a three-star dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2014. Though he spent his redshirt season at QB, and earned USC’s Offensive Service Team Player of the Year Award at that position, he switched over to receiver last season with the opportunity for more playing time.

As a receiver in 2016 he has seven catches for 88 yards.

Though he hasn’t practiced as a quarterback all season, exception in rare trick packages, Greene was back in shotgun for several drives during practice on Tuesday.

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“It looked like he was riding a bike today,” Helton said of the redshirt sophomore, who transitioned seamlessly from running routes as a receiver to throwing the ball in the quarterback spot.

Since USC doesn’t anticipate needing a quarterback besides Darnold, Greene will continue to prepare for the Rose Bowl as a receiver — he has stayed with the receivers for meetings this week — but he’ll continue to take reps at QB to keep him sharp.

“He’s double training right now,” said Helton. “I’m going to prepare for the worst case scenario and then hope for the best.”

And if Greene’s preparation as a quarterback makes him all the more viable as a trick play option, that’ll work for USC too.