USC football: Pete Carroll taking wait-and-see approach with Matt Barkley’s shoulder injury

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USC Coach Pete Carroll said freshman quarterback Matt Barkley told him today that his bruised right shoulder “felt pretty good.”

But Carroll said a determination about Barkley’s status for Saturday’s Pacific 10 Conference opener will be made as the week progresses.

“We’ll just wait and see how he feels when it comes time to throw the ball,” Carroll said during his weekly news conference at Heritage Hall. “He’ll get work in practice, but we’ll limit his throwing if we do any at all today.

“Aaron [Corp] will take the bulk of the snaps and we’ll just go into tomorrow and see where we are.”

Barkley was injured during the second half of USC’s 18-15 victory at Ohio State. He stayed in the game and led USC’s game-winning scoring drive in the final seven minutes.

Barkley took a few snaps at practice on Monday but did not throw the ball.

Corp began training camp No. 1 on the depth chart but lost his opportunity to start when he suffered a cracked fibula during the third practice.

As the Trojans moved closer to their opener against San Jose State, Carroll said he would be hesitant to play the third-year sophomore if his injury prevented him from performing at his full capability, especially as a runner.

Will Barkley be held to the same standard with his arm?

‘Every situation has its own set of circumstances,” Carroll said. “In this case, Matt’s got to be able to throw the football and he’s got to be all right doing it, so we’ll have to wait and see if he is.”

--Gary Klein