Sears is actually 4th string on the USC depth chart.
Some think (and I have no idea if they know anything) that his family told USC start him or he transfers so USC picked JT Daniels to start and buried Sears.
He looked ok against Arizona State last year but USC still lost the game.
While I can see why a player from San Clemente picks USC over Duke I really don't know why he stayed after last season. While USC said the QB job was open this year, clearly Daniels was the front runner and if healthy will be ahead of Sears next year as well. So in my mind he made two bad decisions - picking USC and then staying at USC.
SoCal