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With less than two weeks remaining before a Sun Bowl game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the quarterback situation for the USC Trojans is far from set, as senior Matt Barkley has yet to return to practice, according to a report from Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Barkley is still trying to recover from a shoulder injury suffered in a loss to the UCLA Bruins. In the following week, Barkley sat out while redshirt freshman Max Wittek took over against the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and completed 14 of 23 passes for 186 yards and one touchdown in a loss.
Per Sugiura, Barkley is not expected to return in time for USC's first practice in El Paso on Dec. 26. With the 2013 NFL Draft less than four months after the Sun Bowl, it's possible that Barkley will not want to risk pushing his shoulder past its limits. Wittek and Barkley are currently listed as the co-starters at quarterback for the Trojans.