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04/14/2012
Defense Wins USC Spring Football Game Despite Long TDs By Morgan, Vainuku
Trojans conclude spring drills in front of 15,515 in Coliseum.
03/05/2012
USC Football Spring Practice Starts Tuesday
Trojans looking to take care of "unfinished business."
2012: Kessler will battle for the backup quarterback spot as a redshirt freshman in 2012.
2011: Kessler, who enrolled at USC in the spring of 2011 after graduating a semester early from high school, redshirted as a freshman quarterback in 2011, his first year at USC. He served as the backup quarterback.
HIGH SCHOOL: His 2010 honors included Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, U.S. Army All-American, USA Today All-USA second team, Rivals 100, Prep Star Dream Team, Super Prep All-Farwest, Prep Star All-West, Orange County Register Fab 15 second team, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West first team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Gatorade California Player of the Year, Cal-Hi Sports All-State first team, Max Preps All-State Division I first team, Bakersfield California All-Bakersfield Player of the Year and All-Yosemite League Offensive MVP as a senior quarterback at Centennial High in Bakersfield (Calif.). He completed 175-of-251 (69.7%) of his passes for 2,831 yards and 36 TDs with just 2 interceptions in 2010 and rushed for 324 yards on 75 carries (4.3 avg.) with 8 TDs. He also averaged 36.4 yards on 32 punts in 2010, with a 13 pinning opponents within the 20-yard line and a long of 60 yards. Centennial was 10-2 in 2010.
As a 2009 junior, he was named Cal-Hi Sports All-State Underclass first team and Bakersfield Californian Area Player of the Year as he completed 188-of-312 passes (60.3%) for 2,195 yards with 14 TDs and 6 interceptions and also ran for 12 TDs. Centennial was the 2009 CIF Central Section runnerup.
As a sophomore in 2008, he completed 133-of-288 passes (63.6%) for 1,878 yards with 10 TDs and 7 interceptions and he also ran for 373 yards with 13 TDs.
He also played basketball at Centennial, where he averaged 29.5 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists and was named the Bakersfield Area Player of the Year (becoming the first player to be so honored in both football and basketball).
