Former Trojan is back on the field and playing for the Spiders

Reporting from Richmond, Va. — 

Months after leaving the tangled web that was USC, Aaron Corp is a Spider.

With help from GPS, Corp was tracked this week to a far-off football field where he was surrounded by smaller players but taller pines.

Meet the recently named starting quarterback for the University of Richmond.

Pete Carroll wasn’t around this time to reverse the call.

In a crazy corollary, Corp made his first start for the Spiders last Saturday, a 34-13 loss at Virginia, which is playing at USC this week.

“It is kind of weird,” Corp says while sitting on a bench after practice. “Coincidental, I guess.”

Weird aptly describes the months between fall camp at USC last summer and his fresh start at a small, private, liberal arts school that housed wounded Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

Never in a million transfers — after being anointed starting USC quarterback last fall, only to get injured and lose the spot to Matt Barkley — did Corp imagine doing cone drills near plantation homes as the only California kid on the roster.

“No way,” Corp says. “But I’m here, and I’m happy. I like it here. It’s given me a second opportunity to play again.”

This week former teammates watched Corp as part of film on USC’s opponent.

Receiver David Ausberry sent Corp a text message: “Good job, keep doing your thing.”

Corp remains close with Trojans tight end Rhett Ellison, but no one asked for a scouting report. “They don’t need advice from me about what Virginia does,” he says.

Corp came to Richmond after transferring last January from USC, the school he never wanted to leave.

As a third-year sophomore, he was on track to replace Mark Sanchez, winning the USC quarterback job in spring 2009 and the fall. But after cracking his left fibula in camp, Corp could only watch as Carroll turned the team over to Barkley.

It was the end of the storybook. The former Orange Lutheran High star retreated into the background save an emergency start against Washington in place of the injured Barkley. Corp’s shaky performance under tough circumstances solidified his has-been status as Carroll increasingly grew infatuated with Barkley.

Transferring was the option of last resort.

“I’ve moved on,” Corp says. “In the middle of the season I did get complacent, and that’s part of the reason why I did transfer. I was just kind of going through the motions. I was there physically, but wasn’t giving 100%, stuff like that…I made the decision that it would just be better for me to get back and get competitive again.”

Corp won’t dwell on what happened to him at USC, and when asked, he goes into his prepared statement mode.

“I say, ‘I broke my leg, lost my spot, and didn’t get it back,’ ” Corp says.

It’s a conscious decision by the family not to play the blame game.

“It sort of makes for excuse-making for the rest of your life,” says Chris Corp, Aaron’s father. “I didn’t want to allow that sentiment to creep in. It was a big deal, but my whole thought process is to move on. It’s not that we didn’t have ill feelings; we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t.”

Corp announced Jan. 8 that he was transferring to Richmond, only days before Carroll left for the Seattle Seahawks.

The Corps would have considered staying at USC had Carroll left first. There also would have been some second-guessing had USC hired Jacksonville Jaguars Coach Jack Del Rio, who might have brought along Dirk Koetter as his offensive coordinator.

Chris Corp and Koetter are friends and former football teammates at Idaho State, which might have made Barkley squirm.

But that’s not how it worked out, and it was time to go. Chris Corp saw the effect that Carroll’s decision to stick with Barkley had on his son.

“It kind of divided the team a little bit. It was a stunner,” Chris Corp says. “…You started to see all the effort slowly erode away. …He started to waver. He just wasn’t the kid he knew he was.”

A friend from Virginia helped steer the family toward Richmond, which won the 1-AA championship in 2008 and was losing its senior quarterback.

Aaron and his mother, Mary, took a visit and were captivated by the picturesque campus. Aaron enrolled in the spring and assimilated into his new environment.

“He just came in, took it slow, didn’t rush anything, didn’t try to overdo it,” says Richmond receiver Kevin Grayson, who befriended Corp. “He said, ‘I’m just going to let the guys get to know me.’ Even though he came from USC, he wasn’t one of those guys who came in and said, ‘I’m going to be the guy because I came from a big-time program.’”

Richmond was in transition, too, breaking in a new coach and staff after Mike London left to take the University of Virginia job. Latrell Scott, the receivers’ coach at Virginia last year, was hired to replace London.

The new coach was still unpacking boxes when getting Corp for two years became a possibility. Richmond rarely accepts transfers, but was willing to make an exception.

“It was a fairly seamless transition,” Scott says. “He didn’t come in wanting to be any more important than someone else. He was just a kid a looking for a change.”

Corp’s decision looked even better in June when USC was hammered by NCAA sanctions.

Chris Corp text-messaged his son: “You look like smartest man in America!”

Aaron Corp says he was shocked and saddened by USC’s sanctions.

“I feel bad for the guys on the team,” he says. “I mean, they had nothing to do with any of that. …They’ll be fine, I guess, obviously they can’t play for a bowl. But the guys that are going to move on [to the NFL], they’re going to move on the same way they would have regardless.”

At Richmond, Corp found himself on the winning side of a quarterback battle, beating out redshirt sophomore John Laub.

Not everyone was sold, though, until the Virginia season opener, when Corp looked comfortable and in command. He completed 18 of 32 passes for 183 yards with an interception, the result of his receiver being held up on his route. He also had a 32-yard run.

It was a 14-13 game in the third quarter before Virginia wore Richmond down.

“I think he’s doing a good job,” says Grayson, the receiver. “Now that it’s his offense he can actually command the offense the way he wants.”

So now Barkley gets his shot at Virginia, even though any comparison would be patently unfair. Richmond was breaking in four new offensive linemen and had only one healthy receiver. Thirteen Spiders made their first college start.

“It’s probably going to be a little different situation for Lane and his guys,” Scott says.

Separating from the school you loved/love isn’t easy. It takes more than days.

Corp watched the first half of USC’s opening win against Hawaii. “It’ll be interesting to see how their defense does this year,” he says.

USC is no longer us, it’s them.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com