No one is confusing now-former USC quarterback Jesse Scroggins for "the next Cam Newton," but he will be taking the Cam Newton route to reviving his stalled college career: According to his father, Scroggins plans to spend the upcoming season at an unspecified junior college, after which "he'll be a free agent" on the Division I level with two years of eligibility remaining.
"We're just doing what’s in the best interest of my son," Jesse Scroggins Sr. told the Los Angeles Times Monday night, a few hours after USC announced his son's decision to transfer. "He wanted more control of the situation and this seemed like an opportune time."
It's probably safe to translate "more control of the situation" as "more playing time." Scroggins was one of the highest-rated quarterback prospects in the country in 2010, when he enrolled as a tall, lean, four-star pocket passer out of nearby Lakewood High. At USC, though, recruiting hype only gets you in the door: After a redshirt year, Scroggins struggled through a preseason injury last fall and failed to separate himself from true freshmen Cody Kessler and Max Wittek, both of whom arrived with similar hype and designs on succeeding Matt Barkley as the starter in 2013. Technically, the race remained wide open in the spring – none of the backups attempted a pass last season behind Barkley – but Scroggins was forced to direct most of his energy instead to crawling out of "a hole" in the classroomto remain academically eligible.
In fact, he succeeded following "a very strong spring semester in the classroom,"according to coach Lane Kiffin. But with Kessler and Wittek progressing as expected, five-star prospect Max Browne expected to join the competition next year and the Trojans needing to shed one scholarship to get under the NCAA-mandated cap of 75, Scroggins' exit was no surprise.
Given his efforts to salvage his grades, the same can't necessarily be said for his detour through junior college, which often serves as a life raft for the academically adrift. In Scroggins' case, the juco route will function instead as an opportunity to knock off a little rust before starting over on the D-I level, as opposed to spending another year on the bench under NCAA transfer rules. If all goes as expected in the fall, the offers will come pouring in this winter from coaches in need of immediate help. And if any of those leads to a starting job in 2013, every opportunity is still in front of him.
