Ready For His Close-up

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Carson Palmer phoned a few days ago. Matt Leinart text-messaged the same day. John David Booty also checked in.

The former USC quarterbacks offered Mark Sanchez similar advice for today's season opener against Virginia:

Soak it up. Live it up. Remember this game and the ones that follow because these will be some of the best times of your life.

Oh, and one other thing.

"Don't get nervous," Sanchez says, recalling the message from the men who led the Trojans to six consecutive Bowl Championship Series bowl games. "Just prepare."

Sanchez, a fourth-year junior, might be more seasoned than his predecessors were to take over as starter. And he is hoping that gives him a head start on furthering their legacy.

Palmer was not even a year out of high school when he started the ninth game of his freshman season in 1998 under Coach Paul Hackett. Leinart never threw a college pass before he started the 2003 opener at Auburn as a third-year sophomore. Booty was a mop-up man for Leinart until he started the 2006 opener at Arkansas as a fourth-year junior.

Sanchez, 21, is a veteran by comparison. He started three midseason games in place of Booty last year, pulling out a victory over Arizona, picking apart Notre Dame and nearly engineering a comeback victory at Oregon.

The audition eliminates much of the uncertainty that accompanied the transitions from Palmer to Leinart and from Leinart to Booty.

"It just feels a little different," Coach Pete Carroll says. "We had a couple big battles with Mark, big games. He handled those."

Not that Sanchez's debut lacks intrigue.

Three weeks ago, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Sanchez suffered a dislocated left kneecap and crumpled to the ground during warmups for practice. He has recovered to start against the Cavaliers, but can he sustain a hit? Will the knee hold up in what could be soggy conditions at Scott Stadium?

"I'm not even thinking about it," he says.

Although Carroll said Sanchez will wear a knee brace today, he was without one during a light workout Friday for the first time since his injury. And he moved smoothly, even leaping to dunk a ball over the goal post crossbar.

Sanchez is focused on starting the same way Leinart and Booty did under Carroll -- with an efficient performance and a victory.

"I don't feel nervous like I did for the three games last year," he says. "Just more excited. A different kind of nerves."