Tuesday practice report: USC planning for Matt Fink, QB contingencies

Officially, USC coach Clay Helton said Tuesday that quarterback Kedon Slovis remains in the concussion protocol and is not medically cleared to practice, though he is "preparing mentally."

Everything offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said, meanwhile, indicates the No. 21-ranked Trojans are fully planning on third-string QB Matt Fink starting Saturday at No.17 Washington with the likelihood that he's the team's only available scholarship quarterback.

"If Fink were to go down you've got to have a plan. It's just not an ideal situation," Harrell said. "... Like I said, we'll figure it out. We plan on playing Fink, and again, if something happens, now you're in a scramble situation and you've got to make the best of what you got."

Asked whether he has to spend significant time this week preparing contingencies for that very scenario, Harrell again made the situation seem pretty clear.

"I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to win with Fink, but yeah, you're going to spend a little bit of time figuring that out," he said. "But we've got a quarterback we think can go win a football game and we are going to plan for him to go do that. If something else happens, again, you get creative and figure something out on the fly."

Fink did help USC to a big win last week, passing for 351 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in the 30-23 victory over then-No. 10 Utah after Slovis was knocked out the game on the second play.

It was the most extensive action the redshirt junior QB has seen in his time with the program as he had just 18 career pass attempts before Friday night. And while he played almost that entire game, this would be his first career start.

RELATED: Matt Fink on his opportunity: 'I'm going to … take that and run with it'

"It's kind of surreal. It's an amazing opportunity for me and the team to keep moving forward, keep getting better, keep winning games," Fink said after practice Tuesday. "It hurts to see anybody on the team get hurt in any way, shape or fashion, but again, it's a great opportunity for me to grow and for this team to get better."

Helton reiterated again what "a great story" Fink's moment was -- from spending time in the NCAA transfer portal after spring practice, to returning and ending up third on the depth chart after fall camp, to what he did in the spotlight Friday night.

Harrell, meanwhile, said he felt the same way about Fink's performance watching the tape as he did after the game.

"I thought we made a lot of plays, he was aggressive and played his style of football. So, happy with that. When you go back, there's reads you've got to clean up obviously, there's things that he could have done better. But at the end of the day he gave us a chance to win, he gave those guys a chance to make plays, he's got great players around him and they made plays," he said. "… He's going to have to go play well this week to give us a chance to win, but we expect him to do that."

And while Harrell wasn't particularly enthused to talk about what would happen if Fink got hurt -- after USC lost starter JT Daniels for the season and Slovis for the time being, it can't be ignored -- the Trojans are indeed working on those scenarios.

Walk-on QB Brandon Perdue, who also got his special teams reps in Tuesday while wearing his usual No. 27, would be the backup if Slovis is indeed unavailable, but his package of plays if needed would be "probably not real extensive," Harrell said. Wide receiver Tyler Vaughns also took some reps at quarterback Tuesday if the Trojans truly needed to get creative.

"Tyler's a great athlete and he can throw a football so we've given him snaps. I'd put Amon-Ra [St. Brown] back there. You've got to get creative in that situation. Tyler got to take a couple reps today just to be back there," Harrell said.

Meanwhile, Helton offered his assessment of Perdue, who last played QB in a game for New Mexico Military Institute in 2017 and went through this past spring as an emergency safety for the Trojans.

"The biggest thing is he's been the quarterback on our service team last year as well as this year. I watch all the tape and he goes over there and does a tremendous job and he's a competitor," he said.

Helton was also asked if he's ever gone into a game with his QB depth chart this thin.

"I've done it for 25 years so I've been in this situation one other time," he said. "I had a fourth-string quarterback one year, a walk-on quarterback, great young man named Brett Toney at University of Memphis, came in and won a big game for us vs. Southern Miss. It's taught me, like I've told our coaches, that's why you always prepare your team from the bottom all the way up and coach everybody as hard as you can. Because you just don't know when their time is going to come and you want to make sure everybody's ready and prepared for their moment. That's exactly what Matt Fink has done. ...

"We practice for every moment and every situation. You hope for the best, but you better prepare for the absolute worst."

**Want to keep reading? Get a FREE TRIAL with premium access to all of our exclusive content through Oct. 11. Stay on past the trial and unlock more benefits -- an extra 2 months free with a paid monthly subscription or an extra 6 months free on an annual subscription. Just follow this link and use promo code USCFREE. Valid for a limited time.**