Mitch Mustain puts football behind him, signs reported rookie deal with White Sox

Remember Mitch Mustain? Former college quarterback who had a controversial freshman year at the University of  Arkansas before making a highly-publicized transfer to USC, where he rode the pine and made only one start?

Yeah, he's trying to play baseball now.

According to NWAHomepage, the 23-year-old Mustain says he has signed a rookie contract to pitch for the Chicago White Sox. Once considered the top high school quarterback in the country, Mustain previously said he was aiming for a career in the Arena Football League while working at a car dealership in Bentonville, Ark.

Now he says he plans to put both jobs on hold:

"I don't want to work a 9 to 5 job, I don't want to get into that, I wanna play ball," Mustain told NWAHomepage.  "Being away from the game and watching everybody else play, you know, its like a kid sitting in time out, I want nothing more than to get back into it. For the first time in a long time, I just wanna play."

The righthanded Mustain hasn't pitched since high school, but that probably doesn't irk the White Sox that much considering they're employing a manager with no managerial experience. And with ESPN's Keith Law ranking the White Sox dead last in his system rankings this week, the club would probably give Dave Mustaine a shot if they thought he could bring anything to the table. Mustain — the athlete, not the Megadeth singer — says he threw 90 MPH for the Chicago White Sox scout he tried out for.

In all likelihood, Mustain won't even reach the low bars set by two former college football players — Joe Borchard and Josh Fields — who have gone through Chicago's system in the past. But best of luck to him as he tries to make the jump from an annual "where are they now?" feature to the pages of Baseball America.

Big BLS H/N: South Side Sox

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