National Football League

Barkley confirms post-Sun bowl spat

Published Feb. 22, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Quarterback Matt Barkley says there was a shouting match among players in the Southern California locker room after last season's Sun Bowl loss.

Speaking at the NFL's scouting combine in Indianapolis on Friday, Barkley called the shouting ''normal'' for a football locker room. USC lost 21-7 to Georgia Tech.

Barkley says he and the Trojans' captains never allowed matters to escalate and the upperclassmen had things ''under control.''

Barkley could have left school early last year and been a first-round pick, but he returned for his senior season. Now he needs to show scouts that the injured shoulder that kept him out of the bowl game is healthy.