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CAREER: Dating back to his junior high school days, he has a 61-2 (.968) record as a starting quarterback (9-1 in eighth grade in 2001, 9-0 in both ninth grade in 2002 and 10th grade in 2003, 12-1 in 11th grade in 2004, 14-0 in 12th grade in 2005 and 8-0 as a freshman at Arkansas in 2006). 2008: The experienced Mustain will likely serve as the backup quarterback as a sophomore in 2008, but will continue to push for the starting job. 2007: Mustain, who started 8 games at quarterback for Arkansas as a first-year freshman in 2006, transferred to USC in the summer of 2007 but sat out his 2007 sophomore season because of NCAA transfer rules. He won USC's Service Team Offensive Player of the Year Award. ARKANSAS: As just a first-year freshman in 2006 at Arkansas, Mustain started-and won-8 consecutive games (Utah State, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Southeast Missouri State, Mississippi, Louisiana-Monroe and South Carolina). Overall in 2006 while appearing in 12 games (all but LSU and Florida), he completed 69-of-132 passes (52.3%) for 894 yards and 10 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. After completing 4 of his 6 attempts for 47 yards with an intercepton while appearing late in the USC opener (he also ran for a 4-yard touchdown), he started the following 8 games (the most ever by an Arkansas true freshman quarterback) and led the Razorbacks to victories in each (a school first-year freshman record). Against Utah State in his first start (the earliest start by a true freshman in Arkansas history), he was 9-of-17 for 119 yards and a TD. He then was 13-of-20 for 224 yards and 3 scores (with an interception) at Vanderbilt to earn Rivals.com National Freshman of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week honors. He followed that by going 7-of-22 for 97 yards with a TD and 3 picks against No. 22 Alabama in a double overtime victory, 7-of-10 for 87 yards with a TD at No. 2 Auburn, 5-of-13 for 51 yards and a TD (to current Trojan teammate Damian Williams) against Southeast Missouri State, 12-of-15 for 157 yards and a TD against Mississippi, 7-of-18 for 71 yards and 2 touchdowns (with 2 interceptions) against Louisiana-Monroe and threw an interception on his first and only attempt at South Carolina while playing just the first series. He appeared briefly off the bench against Tennessee and versus Florida in the SEC Championship Game, but did not attempt a pass. He was 5-of-10 for 41 yards and an interception off the bench against Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. HIGH SCHOOL: He was named the 2005 Gatorade, USA Today and Parade Magazine National Player of the Year, as well as an EA Sports All-American, Rivals.com All-American, Scout.com All-American first team, Arkansas Associated Press Super Team, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Co-Offensive Player of the Year and Northwest Arkansas Morning News Player of the Year as a senior at Springdale (Ark.) High. He completed 190-of-270 passes (70.4%) for 3,817 yards (an Arkansas Class 5A season record) with 47 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions in 2005, as well as rushing for 141 yards on 30 attempts (4.7 avg.) with 7 TDs. He led Sprigdale to a 14-0 record, the state championship and a No. 2 national ranking in 2005. As a junior in 2004, he was 139-of-222 (64.7%) for 2,169 yards with 20 TDs and only 5 interceptions, plus ran for 350 yards and 14 scores, as Springdale went 12-1 and made it to the Class 5A semifinals. Current Trojan Damian Williams also prepped at Springdale High. PERSONAL: He's an international relations major at USC. MITCH MUSTAIN ON: Why he left Arkansas: "It just got to the point where I knew it wasn't going to work out there. It was a unique experience, but it was a great learning experience. I was trying to get away from the perception of being 'the guy' and the expectations that were placed. It's a little bit different game here at USC as far as the expectations. They come a little bit later once you've earned your spot. That's something I was looking for. It's so big here in Los Angeles. You can kind of go your own way." What it will take to become the starter: "I definitely have to get better and I have to be consistent in what we do. Know what we do, know how to run it, know how to execute it without making mistakes. I think that will be the biggest thing, if I can continue to improve and be consistentIf I'm the backup, I have mentally prepared myself for that. In that case, I'll work to continue to get betterI love USC, I've had a great time and I love the program, so I definitely don't have any problem sticking around and continuing to get better and waiting for my shot." WHAT OTHERS SAY: USC head coach Pete Carroll: "We know how great a competitor Mitch is. He's been a winner all his life." USC quarterback Mark Sanchez: "He has a great arm. He can throw the ball through a brick wall. And his experience at Arkansas will really help him."
2006
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