It’s Perry’s Turn to Take Command of Trojans : USC: Sophomore from Texas is expected to become the starting quarterback next season.

The departure of Todd Marinovich has focused the spotlight on Reggie Perry, the only quarterback on scholarship at USC.

A sophomore from Denison, Tex., Perry has taken three snaps at USC--all in the final series of a 56-7 victory over Oregon State last November at Corvallis, Ore. He has yet to throw a pass for the Trojans, keeping the ball once and handing off twice.

Although he hasn’t played extensively in a game since his senior year at Denison High almost 2 1/2 years ago, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Perry almost certainly will be the starting quarterback when the Trojans open the 1991 season against Memphis State on Sept. 2 at the Coliseum.

“I’m definitely a little rusty, but hopefully I can work that out during practice,” Perry said. “With the great athletes we have here, it’s more than a game-like situation when you go out to practice.”

Perry passed and ran for more than 3,000 yards in high school.

“Now’s the time for him to come to the front, and he’s ready, willing and able,” Coach Larry Smith said. “Experience is the only thing he lacks.”

USC is expected to sign three high school quarterbacks this week--Rob Johnson of El Toro, Kyle Wachholtz of Norco and Smith’s son, Corby, of Los Angeles’ Loyola High--but only Perry will be eligible to participate in spring practice this April.

Smith said that flanker Curtis Conway, a high school All-American as a quarterback at Hawthorne High, also will be used at quarterback during spring practice.

“It’s just a look-see type thing to see if he can handle some of the running stuff,” Smith said. “I need to have at least one other guy in case something happens to Reggie. At the end of eight practices, which are mostly going to be run-oriented, we’ll move (Conway) back to flanker (for the final seven spring practices).

“I’m looking way ahead. If something happened to Reggie in the middle of the season and the three young ones aren’t ready, what would we do? We’ve got to have an alternative plan. And that alternative plan might be--and could be--moving Curtis.”

For now, though, the Trojans are counting on Reggie Perry.

“This is definitely something I couldn’t prepare for,” Perry said of Marinovich’s decision to make himself available for the NFL draft. “It’s a shock how everything happened so quickly.”