Positioned for success

With spring practice set to begin in two weeks, USC quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and

Mitch Mustain are preparing for what is regarded as the most high-profile position battle in college football. Times reporter Gary Klein spoke with each player about the impending showdown. Today: Sanchez, a fourth-year junior who started three games in 2007.

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Question: Do you consider this a competition? And if it is, is it a wide-open competition?

Answer: It’s a competition but I also think I’m very confident. . . . With my experience last year that will just help my chances more than anything. Because you can run the plays in practice, you can do it on the chalkboard and watch all the film and answer all the questions but once you do it, you affirm what you’re all about.

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Q: Did you feel like it was really a competition between you and John David Booty last year?

A: It’s hard because for me, to have played, I think I would have had to complete something like 80% of my passes and not mess up in the huddle and just play outrageous, out of my head. At the same time the person who was penciled in as the starter would have had to play just God-awful. So it’s tough when you think about it like that.

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Q: What if anything did you learn from Booty and what did you take away from watching him and how he handled last year?

A: His levelheadedness was amazing to watch. Because if I hadn’t seen that through him I don’t know if I could have really understood what it’s all about. You come to the Coliseum and you get booed? That blew my mind. My high school coach [Bob Johnson] told me [his son, former USC quarterback] Rob was booed in the Coliseum and you know I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? They love us, man, we’re the quarterback.’ And when it happened I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ . . . To see him battle through that kind of adversity and come back and play the way he did and answer all the questions from the media, that’s some of the toughest stuff.

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Q: What’s your relationship like with Mitch?

A: I think it’s similar to the way John David and I were at the beginning when I first came in. We’re cordial. . . . As much as [people] try and put you against each other it’s not like that at all. We both obviously want to play just like any quarterback would.

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Q: What do you think is Mitch’s best attribute?

A: He has a great arm. He can throw the ball through a brick wall. . . . His experience at Arkansas will help him because he played just as many if not more games than me in a big-time conference at a major Division I school.

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Q: Anything you’re doing differently going into this year that you haven’t done going into the last three?

A: You don’t work any harder or longer or try to throw more or lift more weight. I think you just work smarter and it’s knowing how to watch film now. I probably watched less hours but I’m getting more work done because I know what I’m looking for now. I know what it’s like in the games.

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Q: How do you show that leadership? And do you think you have to do anything in terms of assuming that role or is it just kind of pass the torch?

A: You can kind of see how guys just expect you to; just the same way they did with J.D. when we went out to our off-season workouts. They expect you to tell them what’s going on, so some of that stuff happens automatically. But then there comes a point where at a workout, in class, socially, you need to say something to somebody . . . you need to correct someone basically but you can’t do it in a fashion that’s going to make you seem like their dad. . . . Being one of the guys but at the same time knowing what’s best for everybody is tough but what you constantly work on as a quarterback.

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Q: [In 2006] you were in a situation where you were accused of sexual assault. You were never charged. When you look back on that do you think that factored in at all to the way your career has gone? And has it made it harder to be a leader?

A: It just shows that as a high-profile athlete, let alone the quarterback at USC, you need to develop a sense of awareness and know your surroundings and know the situation you’re putting yourself in, and that you can always be at risk. And it’s not in a way that you’re so scared to do anything. You can’t just be a hermit and at the same time you’re not here to be Van Wilder. You’re not here just to party and have fun. There’s time to have fun and there’s time to work. I guess one of the most frustrating things was that it just showed that I wasn’t responsible, that maybe I wasn’t ready to be in this position, maybe I couldn’t handle all the attention. And I think I could, and it was just an unfortunate situation where, you know, wrong place at the wrong time, somebody says something and, bam, there it goes.

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Q: What about people on message boards who cite that situation and say, ‘That guy, he shouldn’t be in that position, starting for USC?’

A: They’re entitled to think what they want. It’s just really unfortunate because you paint a picture of yourself in every situation, in every contact that you make. It just hurts me to think about it. But I can’t take anything back, I can’t petition people, but what I can do is show them the real me.

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Q: Last year your decision to wear the mouthpiece with the Mexican flag insignia in the Notre Dame game caused quite a reaction when you talked about why you wore it. Did that surprise you?

A: I was very surprised. It’s just another testament to the magnitude of this position. I didn’t do it as a radical Mexican nationalist. I did it, honestly, as this ongoing exchange of culture with [team dentist] Dr. [Ramon] Roges. He’s Cuban and he made it as a friendship thing, a friendly exchange and so I wore it. I liked the design, obviously. I thought it was cool, I thought it would be fun and people would like it. I didn’t think there would be a negative reaction at all.

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Q: Do you have a dream matchup for a national championship game? Some team or player you would want to play against?

A: I just want to play in it.

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Q: Were you prepared for the way your career has gone?

A: Coming out of high school, I mean the ultimate plan was you sit for your one year and you play for four and it will be awesome. And this was the worst-case scenario. Thinking about that now is unbelievable. A worst-case scenario? This is a dream, you know, people would kill for this opportunity and I get two whole years, something like 22-plus games. You can’t really ask for more without being a little greedy.

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Q: Who do you think has a bigger advantage -- you having been here and started three games last year or Mitch having started eight games at Arkansas?

A: It’s somewhat obvious, just because I’ve been in the system.

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Q: Fourth quarter, Ohio State, third and goal from the five. What play do you want to run?

A: We’ll have something game-planned but I definitely want the ball in my hands when we start [laughing]. Some sort of pass play, hopefully. I’d love to have the ball in my hands in that situation and then get rid of it as fast as possible without [Ohio State linebacker James] Laurinaitis breathing down my neck.

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gary.klein@latimes.com