Pittsburgh quarterback Max Browne done for season
After leaving USC for a better opportunity at Pitt, Max Browne’s season and college career are now over.
A little over a year ago now, Max Browne was supplanted by Sam Darnold as USC’s starting quarterback. He decided to go to Pitt as a grad transfer last spring, while taking a parting shot at USC regarding a perceived lack of opportunity.
Browne won the starting job for Pitt, as expected, but he was splitting time with Ben DiNucci and DiNucci started against Georgia Tech on Sept. 23. Brown left last week’s game against Syracuse in the third quarter with an injury to his throwing shoulder, and he was immediately expected to miss at least a few weeks. But the prognosis has worsened, and Browne’s injury will bring a permanent quarterback change for head coach Pat Narduzzi.
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi announces quarterback Max Browne had shoulder surgery and is out for the season.
— Brian Batko (@BrianBatko) October 12, 2017
Browne has shoulder surgery in Wednesday morning and his 2017 season, as well as his college career, is over. He’ll finish the season having completed 96 of 135 passes (71.1 percent; seventh in FBS) with five touchdowns, two interceptions and a 142.4 passer rating over six games.
DiNucci will start Saturday, as Pitt (2-4) takes on No. 20 N.C. State (5-1) at home and looks to pull a significant upset. The sophomore signal caller is 36-for-65 for 442 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions this season, with most of that (25-for-44, 338 yards) coming against Oklahoma State off the bench and in his start against Georgia Tech in back-to-back games. Freshman Kenny Pickett is all but certain to have his redshirt burned to become DiNucci’s backup for the rest of the season.
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All in all it’s a dismal end to Browne’s college career. The former five-star recruit out of Sammamish, Washington will finish with eight starts between two schools. Narduzzi did guess that Browne could start throwing in seven or eight weeks, if he didn’t try to rush his recovery, so he could still get some looks from NFL teams during the pre-draft process next spring.