Fox Sends a Clear Signal by Passing on Quarterback

John Fox, USC’s starting quarterback in nine of 11 games last season, abruptly switched positions Friday, moving to tight end.

With Mike Van Raaphorst the anticipated starting quarterback and freshman Carson Palmer hot on Van Raaphorst’s heels, Fox approached Coach Paul Hackett late Thursday night to discuss the change.

“It was my idea,” Fox said. “It’s permanent. I’ll never play quarterback again. I’m not about to be wishy-washy.”

Fox’s decision was sudden, coming after four days of practice, but the junior’s assessment of the situation was probably accurate.

Palmer, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound freshman from Santa Margarita High in Rancho Santa Margarita, has been the standout of camp. Hackett says Van Raaphorst will start against Purdue on Aug. 30, barring injury, but Palmer is already stiff competition and has looked better than Van Raaphorst at times.

“I’ve been very impressed with [Palmer],” Hackett said. “He has poise beyond his years.”

So with the No. 1 job already filled, and probably No. 2 as well, Fox moved.

“No. 2, that’s not the position I want to be in,” said Fox, who passed for 1,940 yards last season. “My position was, I wanted to be first. It unsettled my soul. I couldn’t be, in my mind, No. 2 or No. 3.”

The problem for USC is that Fox’s decision leaves the Trojans with little experience at quarterback for the second year in a row. It’s not as if USC needed a tight end either. Sophomore Antoine Harris has a tight grip on the position.

Hackett was taken aback when Fox approached him, but after talking for about an hour, he saw that Fox was resolved, even though Hackett told Fox he would get plenty of opportunities in the Trojans’ first scrimmage.

“I told them all that at some point I would make a decision and make their lives simpler,” Hackett said. “But I told John I was not yet ready to say unequivocally what the decision would be.

“I was very concerned . . . because he’s the only one who has any kind of experience as a starter. We now have the youngest and least experienced quarterbacks in the United States.”

Van Raaphorst, a sophomore, overtook Fox for the starting job in November last season, playing against Washington and Stanford before an ankle injury handed the job back to Fox, who also fought through an ankle injury most of the season.

But when Hackett took his first look at the quarterbacks in the spring after replacing John Robinson as coach, he tabbed Van Raaphorst No. 1 over Fox and Quincy Woods.

Now, if Van Raaphorst is injured in the first quarter against Purdue, USC will probably send Palmer, the freshman, onto the Coliseum field.

“That’s always been my dream,” Palmer said. “I want to. I can’t wait.”

Even Friday, Fox would have gotten plenty of snaps if he had still been at quarterback. Van Raaphorst was held out of most drills because of a slight groin strain.

Instead, Palmer got much of the action--just as he has all camp--and the rest went to Woods and freshman Jason Thomas, who has been limited by soreness in the ankle he broke last spring.

Fox--who is 6-4, 220 pounds--was already working out with the tight ends, gamely searching for someone to block.

“I’m 21 years old. I have two years left. . . . I want to try something I haven’t done,” he said. “I realize I’m probably not going to go pro. I’m going to get an education. Maybe I’ll get good enough to play.

“[The tight ends] are happy. I’m not a threat to them. . . . I’m probably third or fourth string. But now I get to put on weight, eat what I want.”

Fox admitted he had been frustrated watching the freshmen, two coveted recruits, get many of the snaps.

“Not being able to get out there, it was tough,” Fox said.

But though he said “I don’t really know if I want to comment” on whether he got a fair chance, he said Hackett “respected my wishes, and I respect him as a coach.”

Fox made his decision quickly; he consulted only with his high school coach.

“My family doesn’t even know yet,” he said.

Hackett advised prudence.

“He told me I should probably sleep on it,” Fox said. “I told him my decision. Today or tomorrow, I wasn’t going to be OK being No. 2.

“[But] I never ever want to transfer. I never want to leave the university. I can’t. I’m too old. Tight end gives me a chance to hit and run around.”