College Career
Palmer attended the University of Southern California, and played for the USC Trojans football team from 1999 to 2002. He arrived on the USC campus and immediately competed for the starting quarterback job with Mike Van Raaphorst. Van Raaphorst won, but due to his ineffectiveness, Palmer was named the starter in the ninth game of the season, becoming only the second true freshman ever to start as quarterback for the Trojans. Palmer roomed with fellow USC football players and future NFL players Troy Polamalu and Matt Cassel.
After three underwhelming years at USC, Palmer had a breakout senior year under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who was brought in the year before by head coach Pete Carroll. The revamped Trojans offense led to Carson Palmer becoming the fifth Trojan to win the Heisman Trophy, after running backs Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), and Marcus Allen (1981). Palmer was the first Trojan quarterback to be so honored; his successor, Matt Leinart, won it as a junior in 2004.
Palmer completed 309 of 489 passes for 3942 yards and 33 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions during the 2002 season, and later led the Trojans to an impressive 38–17 victory over the University of Iowa in the Orange Bowl. His completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns were all USC single season records. In a November 30 game against Notre Dame, Palmer threw for 425 yards and led his team to 610 yards of total offense, the most ever gained against Notre Dame in each category. Following his 2002 senior season, Palmer was a first-team All-Pac-10 selection and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. He finished his college career as the Pac-10 Conference's all-time leader in passing yards (11,818), completions (927) and total offense (11,621), along with 72 career touchdown passes, a USC record at that time (since surpassed by Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley).
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