Matt Barkley's USC career ending with a whimper - but no whining The day after USC's November loss to UCLA, Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley made his way to Coach Lane Kiffin's office and sat down on the couch. Less than 24 hours earlier, Barkley had been flat on his back on the rain-slicked Rose Bowl turf, a crunching hit from a Bruins linebacker injuring his right shoulder and forcing him to leave the stadium with his arm in a sling. Now, with the senior's season and USC career possibly over, a somber Kiffin tried to console the player who passed up the chance to earn NFL millions and came back for a final campaign with the Trojans. But it was Barkley who provided perspective. "Remember Coach," Kiffin recalled Barkley saying, "this is a sport. This doesn't define who I am. If there truly is some emotional pain there, Barkley is keeping it well hidden. And he's certainly not talking about it. Barkley has not practiced for the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl against Georgia Tech, has not addressed the local media in weeks and has declined requests for one-on-one interviews. "He doesn't want to be the focus right now," an athletic department spokesman said. It's an unexpected but perhaps understandable turn for a 22-year-old who returned for a shot at winning a national championship and the Heisman Trophy but experienced a disappointing 7-5 regular-season finish instead. Senior center Khaled Holmes, Barkley's teammate since high school at Santa Ana Mater Dei, said that behind closed doors the two team captains were at times "down in the dumps" about the way their final season was playing out. Barkley "maybe more so because of what he gave up to come back and the opportunities he had," Holmes said. Barkley, though, remained positive in public and with teammates. "But, you know," Holmes said, "he's human too." Barkley's smile stretched the width of the giant Coliseum videoboard. He had just established a Pac-12 Conference record for career touchdown passes, and now thunderous cheers from more than 80,000 fans rained down on him during the Trojans' Oct. 20 game against Colorado. Barkley happily mugged for a sideline camera that projected his larger-than-life image to an adoring crowd. It was the last time in 2012 that Barkley looked so joyous on a football field. Ten months earlier - a year ago Saturday - Barkley had stood up in front of a giant, sparkly Christmas tree in Heritage Hall and announced during a nationally televised news conference that he would put off entering the NFL draft, citing "unfinished business" and hinting at glory awaiting a USC program emerging from some of the most severe NCAA sanctions in college sports history. But shortly after the season began, things started to go awry. In September, Stanford pummeled Barkley and surprised the top-ranked Trojans, putting a national championship and the Heisman in doubt. USC rebounded with four consecutive victories, but then lost four of its last five games, the shoulder injury forcing Barkley to sit out the regular-season finale against Notre Dame for the second time in three years.