USC’s Scarnecchia will attack any role he’s asked to fill

There’s a good chance almost every coach in the country wants a backup quarterback to approach things the same as way South Carolina’s Michael Scarnecchia.

In a world where quarterbacks are almost always looking ahead, weighing the trajectories of everyone else is in the room and often leaving town in hopes of landing in a more favorable situation, Scarnecchia is comfortable where he is. He’ll compete to be a starter, as that’s the expectation and the way one has to approach it.

The way he talks about it, he gives off the sense he’d accept a backup role and put his all into that.

He spent all of last season on the sidelines, unable to play because of shoulder surgery in the summer. He admitted being frustrated because he loves playing and couldn’t, but that’s where it ended.

“I don’t really see any frustration,” Scarnecchia said. “I see everything that I do as a learning experience, whether it’s school, whether it’s life, whether it’s dating, I think there’s a learning curve to everything. I just want to be positive attitude and be that guy who everyone can look at and be like, ‘He loves what he does.’ ”

The passer who was once hand-picked by Steve Spurrier is entering year four in the program. He’s been a third stringer, spent two full seasons out of the action and saw three quarterbacks leave in the last calendar year alone.

And now, after Brandon McIlwain left the team less than a week into spring ball, Scarnecchia finds himself at almost assuredly the team’s No. 2 passer.

Jake Bentley appears to be established as a starter, and while it would take a massive upset or calamity for him not to start the season opener against N.C. State, Scarnecchia at least promised to compete for the job.

Scarnecchia called Bentley a “great player,” and the veteran has made his own impression on the second-year passer.

“Every day he attacks the day like all of us do, gives his all every practice,” Bentley said. “That’s all you can ask from anybody on the team, execute to the best of his ability. Every day he comes to work.”

Tight end Hayden Hurst is from the same area of Jacksonville, Fla., and described Scarnecchia as an intelligent player, a business student who is bright.

With the shoulder injury that knocked him out, Scarnecchia still traveled on the road, a part of the group that signaled in plays in USC’s no-huddle attack. He got to see the game from a different perspective, but added there has to be a certain level of want-to in order to get something out of it.

“You can just signal and leave it alone,” Scarnecchia said. “But signaling, you’ve got to learn the play and you’ve got to know the plays because if you are fake signaling, you’ve got to know how to do that. And when you’re in there and you’re signaling, you know the play that’s going to be called, so you can look at the defense and what they’re running, and you can just run through your mind, visualize it, how you would do it and how you see it. I think it helps you mentally with the game.”

As a third- and fourth-stringer in 2015, it was natural he didn’t see many reps. The staff split snaps a good deal last spring, as there were five quarterbacks fighting for the job, and he couldn’t work after the summer.

So suddenly, after McIlwain’s departure, his practice workload increased significantly with the second unit.

For his career, Scarnecchia has played in one came, coming in for the final drive of a blowout loss at LSU. He completed one pass for 9 yards and had a run for no gain.

Unless freshman Jay Urich or one of the walk-ons takes a leap, he’ll likely head into the 2017 season as the top backup. He had to wait out last season, but he was trying to make his preparations for a return.

“I really just wanted to take away the learning aspect of the game and just study film and learn as much as I could,” Scarnecchia said, “kind of be on the sideline and soak it all in from what I was seeing on the sideline, on the field. And going into the spring, I told coach, ‘I’m going to be an asset that they can use. Whether it’s signal calling, whether it’s going out in the field, I’m going to compete for the job. Whatever it is.’ ”

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 12:55 PM with the headline "USC’s Scarnecchia will attack any role he’s asked to fill."