Re: Table For One: A Day of Infamy, by Grady Jim Robinson
Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:43 pm
Mustain Starts Over at USC
by Kelly Whiteside
by USA Today
May 28, 2007
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Mitch Mustain sounds every bit of the 1,500 miles from home these days. After transferring to Southern California following a tumultuous time at Arkansas, Mustain is asked how much he's looking forward to starting over.
"A ton," he says over the phone.
Mustain went 8-0 as a freshman starter but ended the year as the backup quarterback. In December, Mustain was the target of a vicious e-mail sent by a Razorbacks fan, a friend of coach Houston Nutt's family. Last month, another Arkansas fan filed a lawsuit against two university officials because the fan felt the university did not properly investigate the e-mail sent to Mustain.
Mustain decided to transfer because "I felt it was in my best interest to move away," he says. In 2005, Mustain was the consensus national player of the year after leading Springdale (Ark.) High to a state championship. Though he wavered on his commitment to Arkansas, he signed after his high school coach, Gus Malzahn, was hired as the Razorbacks offensive coordinator.
Given all the controversy, Arkansas' run-oriented offense and Malzahn's decision to take a job at Tulsa, Mustain asked for his release. "I tried to convince him to stay through the spring (with the team)," Nutt says. "I think he thought about it, but, really, deep down inside, his mother wanted him to leave."
"That's interesting," says Mustain's mother, Beck Campbell, an Arkansas graduate, when told of Nutt's comment. "Mitchell would have been a fourth-generation graduate. We did everything thing in our power to keep him here."
Campbell declined to discuss the details of the difficult times at Arkansas but says when her son told her he was leaving, she cried all day. "He felt he didn't have a choice," she says.
Mustain says he contacted USC and Tulsa. "I didn't want to be recruited again," he says. He remained at Arkansas for spring-semester classes and says he didn't face any overt criticism on campus. He's now attending summer school at USC and will have three seasons of eligibility after sitting out the 2007 season.
"I miss him already," Campbell said before flying to Los Angeles to visit him this past weekend. She says she also will miss cooking the four pot roasts or three pans of lasagna on Monday nights when Mustain and some teammates regularly came over for dinner. "Sometimes you go through adversity to get where you need to be," Campbell says. "Now he's where he's supposed to be."
Even if it's far from home.
-- Kelly Whiteside
by Kelly Whiteside
by USA Today
May 28, 2007
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Mitch Mustain sounds every bit of the 1,500 miles from home these days. After transferring to Southern California following a tumultuous time at Arkansas, Mustain is asked how much he's looking forward to starting over.
"A ton," he says over the phone.
Mustain went 8-0 as a freshman starter but ended the year as the backup quarterback. In December, Mustain was the target of a vicious e-mail sent by a Razorbacks fan, a friend of coach Houston Nutt's family. Last month, another Arkansas fan filed a lawsuit against two university officials because the fan felt the university did not properly investigate the e-mail sent to Mustain.
Mustain decided to transfer because "I felt it was in my best interest to move away," he says. In 2005, Mustain was the consensus national player of the year after leading Springdale (Ark.) High to a state championship. Though he wavered on his commitment to Arkansas, he signed after his high school coach, Gus Malzahn, was hired as the Razorbacks offensive coordinator.
Given all the controversy, Arkansas' run-oriented offense and Malzahn's decision to take a job at Tulsa, Mustain asked for his release. "I tried to convince him to stay through the spring (with the team)," Nutt says. "I think he thought about it, but, really, deep down inside, his mother wanted him to leave."
"That's interesting," says Mustain's mother, Beck Campbell, an Arkansas graduate, when told of Nutt's comment. "Mitchell would have been a fourth-generation graduate. We did everything thing in our power to keep him here."
Campbell declined to discuss the details of the difficult times at Arkansas but says when her son told her he was leaving, she cried all day. "He felt he didn't have a choice," she says.
Mustain says he contacted USC and Tulsa. "I didn't want to be recruited again," he says. He remained at Arkansas for spring-semester classes and says he didn't face any overt criticism on campus. He's now attending summer school at USC and will have three seasons of eligibility after sitting out the 2007 season.
"I miss him already," Campbell said before flying to Los Angeles to visit him this past weekend. She says she also will miss cooking the four pot roasts or three pans of lasagna on Monday nights when Mustain and some teammates regularly came over for dinner. "Sometimes you go through adversity to get where you need to be," Campbell says. "Now he's where he's supposed to be."
Even if it's far from home.
-- Kelly Whiteside