Rally in Reserve : He Might Have Been Third String, but Wachholtz Has Led Comebacks

Kyle Wachholtz probably won’t play Saturday when USC meets unbeaten Washington State at the Coliseum.

But don’t count on it.

Wachholtz, USC’s third-string quarterback, has been asked to lead late rallies twice in the Trojans’ last three games after starter Rob Johnson was injured and backup Reggie Perry was benched.

He came up short against top-ranked Washington, throwing an interception with 1:32 to play in a 17-10 defeat.

But Wachholtz ( WAH- holtz) came up a winner last Saturday, leading two late touchdown drives as USC overcame an 11-point deficit and beat Cal, 27-24.

Given great field position by the USC defense, which forced two fumbles in the last 8:10, Wachholtz led scoring drives of 32 and 14 yards. He completed four of five passes, one for a two-point conversion.

“He showed a lot of composure,” Coach Larry Smith said. “He made three big plays in the passing game. He showed a lot of poise, did a hell of a job.”

A 6-foot-5, 215-pound second-year freshman, Wachholtz has caught Perry, a starter in all but one game last season, and is co-No. 2 on the depth chart, Smith said.

“He’s a hell of a prospect,” Smith said. “He’s really a fine athlete. Tall. And he’s got a rifle of an arm. His main thing is just getting confidence in himself (to where) we can put him in there and he can make checks.

“He’s still learning. We’ve just scratched the surface. He’s just an outstanding talent.”

Wachholtz came to USC from Norco High in Riverside County, where he earned eight varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball. As a senior, he was the Mountain View League’s player of the year in football and basketball, and an all-league right fielder.

Wachholtz was offered $60,000 to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays, he said, but had no interest in pursuing a baseball career.

He had already committed to USC. He made only two recruiting trips, to Washington State and USC, before canceling trips to Iowa, Illinois and San Diego State.

But USC almost lost him after last season, when he grew frustrated as a redshirt running the scout team in practice.

Listed behind Johnson on the depth chart even before practice started, Wachholtz gave serious thought to transferring.

“Some nights I’d say, ‘Yeah, I want to leave,’ and then the next night it would be, ‘No, I want to stay,’ ” he said. “I really love the school and all the players, but I just wasn’t happy with where I was at and how I was performing.

“There were times when I thought, look who’s ahead of me: Rob’s the same class; Corby (Smith, the coach’s son) is the same class; Reggie was only a sophomore. He had two years left.

“I was like, ‘Geez, I want at least a good two years (as a starter).’ You’ve got to do what’s best for you. If your goal is to play in the NFL, you’ve got to be seen. You’ve got to play. I just wanted to do what’s right for me.

“But I basically said, ‘I’m going to hang in there. I’m going to stay another year and see what happens. See what happens to Rob.’ ”

At Norco, he said, the offense consisted of Wachholtz going back to pass, finding an open receiver and throwing to him. It worked well enough for Wachholtz to pass for 3,286 yards and 31 touchdowns during his last two seasons.

But at USC, he learned, he would have to be more cerebral. “I was lost,” he said. “I had no idea. All this was new to me. In high school, I didn’t have a quarterback coach. I didn’t learn off the board. It was on the field, not in the classroom.”

In dealing with Ray Dorr, who coaches USC’s quarterbacks, Wachholtz believed that he was at a disadvantage because fellow freshmen Johnson and Smith both had fathers who were coaches. It wasn’t fair, he said, for him to be compared to them.

“They’re going to know the game,” he said. “My dad was an electrician.”

This season, though, Wachholtz has started to grasp the offense. “I’m a lot more confident,” he said. “It’s all clicking now. There are times when I’m a little confused, but Coach Dorr explains it to me. He’s taking more time with me.”

Playing against Washington, Wachholtz said, gave him a boost. “After that, I had confidence that I could play college football,” he said. “You wonder if you can play at this level coming out of high school.”

Leading the Trojans to a victory against the Golden Bears helped ease the sting of the defeat by Washington, but Wachholtz said he can’t shake the memory of his last pass against the Huskies being intercepted in the end zone by cornerback Walter Bailey. Wachholtz had driven USC from its 22-yard line to Washington’s 28.

“I wish I could have that one play back,” he said. “I wish I could have changed the route (of receiver Travis Hannah). Now that I look back at it, (Bailey) made a pretty good interception. But I keep rewinding it in my head.”