Ever wonder what happened to former USC quarterback Max Browne? Mike Vorel of the Seattle Times wrote a beautiful, poignant longform piece on the Trojan signal-caller last week, exploring Browne’s inner journey. It’s a must-read.

Every USC football fan can immediately identify Max Browne. He is simply known as “the man Sam Darnold replaced” early in the 2016 season. Clay Helton inserted Darnold into the starting spot just in time to save that season (and frankly, Helton’s career as a head coach), but fans understandably ask, years later, “Why wasn’t Darnold the starter on Day 1 if he was that good?”

While USC football flourished under Darnold, Browne had to live with the reality of falling short in his dream of being a heralded quarterback for the Trojans. He transferred to the University of Pittsburgh and got a chance to play, but he got injured. His career — so luminous at the high school level — simply didn’t pan out in college, and there was no NFL payday at the end of the road.

Vorel’s story looks at Browne’s ascendant high school years in Washington state (at Skyline High School); the difficulties Browne encountered at USC; and the new reality of Browne’s present moment, in which he pursues new challenges with vigor — just not on the field. Browne is a football analyst covering the Trojans and the Pac-12 for multiple outlets, including Sirius XM radio.

Browne displays deep awareness and emotional intelligence in understanding what he went through, and in realizing why those moments of trauma — overwhelming at the time — don’t have to have the last word in defining Browne’s life or how he thinks of himself today.

Some especially strong quotes from Browne in Vorel’s Seattle Times piece:

“One of the analogies I heard was, in the year 2000 if you were a five-star recruit and things didn’t work out, it would be like falling off a two-story building and spraining your ankle. But nowadays with social media, if it doesn’t work out, it’s like falling off a 10-story building. It can be a broken leg or worse,” said Browne, 26, who worked for two years in social-media marketing.

“Back in the day, everyone wasn’t connected to every single update you had. My parents and loved ones and high-school coaches weren’t able to follow the beat writers at the USC practice on Twitter. Now it feels like everyone knows every nuance of my college career, and it’s awesome when things work out, but it’s tough when things don’t. There’s nowhere to hide.”

Also this:

“I felt like I was a mentally strong kid. But at the same time, when you’re seeing those things and I’d had nothing but success in my entire athletic career, it was tough. It was really tough. There were two years or so of unfavorable reviews.”

“There’s a fine line,” said Browne, who credits work with a sports psychologist for help during his time at USC. “We talk about ‘Mamba Mentality’ and pushing yourself and doing another rep and being your worst critic or your biggest motivator. But the flip side of that is, I think there was a time there in my first two years at USC when I was my biggest enemy. I didn’t give myself an opportunity to make mistakes. Because in my head, and in other people’s heads as well, I was expected to play right now.

“There’s a blessing of being a five-star recruit, don’t get me wrong. But I think the curse of it is that the second you step on campus, there is an urgency to play and produce right away.”

Caught in the fierce grip of his own expectations, not to mention the wider expectations from fans and the media, Browne had a very difficult time confronting a tsunami of pressure. Vorel’s story (read the whole thing) looks at a man who had to patiently come to a place of self-acceptance, learning to be kind to the most important person of all:

The one we have to look at in the mirror every morning.