Reluctant Quarterback Is Impressive Trojan : USC football: Smith says former receiver Conway will alternate with Perry after a strong spring.

Simple mathematics prompted USC Coach Larry Smith to keep erstwhile flanker Curtis Conway at quarterback.

A state sprint champion and All-American quarterback at Hawthorne High, Conway was used as a wide receiver and kick returner as a freshman at USC last season.

But when Todd Marinovich made himself available for the NFL draft, giving up his final two years of college eligibility, USC was left with walk-ons to back up Reggie Perry, its only returning scholarship quarterback.

Smith turned this spring to Conway, telling the reluctant sophomore that he would be kept at quarterback only long enough to convince the coaches that he would be a capable replacement should anything happen to Perry.

But Conway was so impressive in spring practice, which ended Saturday with an intra-squad scrimmage at the Coliseum, that Smith has told Perry and Conway that they will alternate at quarterback next season.

“We started thinking, ‘If we put him at flanker and have him return kicks, he’ll touch the ball six, eight times a game,’ ” Smith said of Conway, who caught one pass for no gain last season. “But if we put him at quarterback, even if he splits time, he’ll touch the ball 25, 30, 35 times a game.”

Smith called the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Conway “a great athlete, maybe the best we’ve ever had. But he’s still unproven, so I don’t want to get too high too quickly.”

He is convinced, though, that a two-quarterback system can work.

“I do not want a quarterback controversy, and I’m not trying to create one,” Smith said. “We’re not making it an issue of, ‘Well, you’re No. 1 and you’re No. 2, and you only play if the other guy screws up.’

“We’ve got a 1-2 punch. It could be (that) one starts five or six games and the other starts five or six games. I don’t know. I’m not going to worry about who’s starting. I feel we’ve got two weapons there instead of one.”

Believing that his future would be better served as a wide receiver, Conway was reluctant to play quarterback.

“But I want to help the team as much as I can, so I’ll stay there,” he said.

With three freshmen quarterbacks due to arrive in the fall, does Conway consider his move a one-year deal?

“It’s hard to say,” he said. “Coach Smith has a lot of things up his sleeve.”

Smith said that Conway will continue to return kicks.

With both quarterbacks, Smith said, the Trojans will run the ball more often than passing it.

“I like to knock people down, and that’s the kind of offense we’re running right now,” he said. “We’re back to good old Trojan football, which I like.

“The emphasis is going to be on (developing into) a running, physical team that will try to use its speed at all positions.”