Jaxson Dart sidelined after undergoing surgery to repair torn meniscus

Jaxson Dart will not be available for USC against Oregon State on Saturday after the true freshman underwent minor surgery earlier this week for a torn meniscus he suffered last week against Washington State.

The injury occurred early on Dart’s fourth drive after entering the game for injured starter Kedon Slovis. On second-and-two, Dart kept the ball on a zone-read play and easily picked up the first down. Instead of sliding, Dart went headfirst over the top of cornerback Jaylen Watson (photo above), who seemed to catch Dart’s knee with his shoulder.

Dart came up with a significant limp, which he carried for the rest of the game, but he did not miss any plays due to the injury.

The injury makes his performance the rest of the game (391 yards passing, four touchdowns) even more impressive. His ability to play the game with that kind of aggressiveness immediately endeared him to Trojan fans and made it a national coming-out party for Dart, though it could serve as a learning experience on how to stay healthy at this level.

A source indicated to WeAreSC’s Scott Schrader earlier in the week the hope was Dart could be back as early as the Oct. 9 game against Utah. Though, that timeline could be in flux depending on recovery.

Dart undergoing surgery for a meniscus tear was first reported by Keely Eure of USCFootball.com.

Dart was not in attendance for practice on Tuesday or Wednesday. Head coach Donte Williams did not address the injury or his status.

Slovis to start against Oregon State

With Dart unavailable Saturday, it goes back to business as usual for the Trojans, with Slovis leading the way. There was plenty of talk of a burgeoning quarterback battle this week. However, that subsided quickly when Dart was unavailable to practice. Slovis impressed Williams this week with his ability to bounce back after last week’s game.

“I see somebody that came to practice and they came hungry, as far as they battled back from an injury the previous game,” Williams said. “He came out to practice and he was throwing that ball around. He was taking shots down the field.

“[Slovis] already has command of this offense and a lot of guys in this locker room, including myself, believe in him. He’s won a lot of football games here and he’s played against a lot of different defenses. I saw somebody who is coming back that has just resumed their role…which is the starting quarterback. So far this week, he’s been able to do that…I look for really good things from him this coming game.”

Slovis completed his first pass for eight yards against Washington State. He was knocked out of the game with a neck injury sustained during a sack on the first drive of the game.

This season, Slovis is completing 65% of his passes for 487 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. After averaging 8.9 yards per attempt in 2019, he saw that drop to 7.3 in 2020. That average sits at 6.1 yards per attempt this season. It will be interesting to see if Slovis can break out against an Oregon State pass defense that allows 254 yards per game though the air, which ranks No. 100 in the country.

True freshman Miller Moss will serve as the No. 2 quarterback. Moss took one snap against Washington State when Dart went to the sideline after his helmet came off during a play. USC has no other scholarship quarterbacks available. The Trojans could go with walk-on transfer Brendan Costello, who redshirted in 2019 as a freshman at Oklahoma State.

On Tuesday, Williams said the Trojans still needed to come up with a third-quarterback contingency plan if Dart was unable to play. He said the Trojans could go with a Wildcat look if needed, though he did so with a smile.