Introduction
Max Browne (born February 2, 1995) is a college football player. He is a quarterback for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers of the ACC Conference. He transferred to Pitt on December 15, 2016 as a graduate transfer. Browne committed to USC on April 4, 2012, during his junior year, and was considered the best quarterback recruit of his class by Rivals.com and Scout.com.
Early years
Born and raised in Sammamish, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle, Browne attended Beaver Lake Middle School and Skyline High School in Sammamish. During his high school career, he completed 73.5 percent of his passes for 12,951 yards and 146 touchdowns. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Washington in 2011 and 2012, and led the Spartans to three straight Class 4A state finals, winning the final two.
Following his senior season, Browne participated in the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl and was awarded the prestigious Hall Trophy as U.S. Army Player of the Year.
College career
On April 4, 2012, Browne committed to play football at the University of Southern California. He selected USC as his college destination over Oklahoma, Washington, and Alabama. In 2013, Browne was redshirted as a true freshman, after failing to beat out Cody Kessler and Max Wittek for the starting quarterback job. Head coach Lane Kiffin eventually named Kessler the starting quarterback in the fall. In 2014, after Steve Sarkisian took over as head coach, Browne again lost the starting quarterback battle to Kessler, who was named the starting quarterback during spring practice.
In 2015, Browne was once again the backup to Kessler. With Kessler's departure to the NFL after the 2015 season, Browne was the presumptive starter going into spring practice in 2016. Instead, he faced a stiff challenge from redshirt freshman Sam Darnold. On August 20, 2016, Browne was officially named the starting quarterback by head coach Clay Helton.
Browne started his first game as a Trojan quarterback in a 52–6 loss to Alabama on September 3. On September 19, Browne was replaced by Sam Darnold as starting quarterback, a move that prompted speculation that the redshirt junior would transfer at the end of the season to take advantage of his status as a graduate student to start immediately with a new team. He eventually transferred to the University of Pittsburgh.