Dwayne Jarrett became USC's leading receiver in 2004. Donald Miralle/Getty Images

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- When he arrived in Southern California, the story goes, the kid was so homesick that he immediately wanted to hightail it back to New Jersey. Southern California was strange. The food was different. He didn't know anybody. And all day long, in his first foray into college life, it was nothing but football, football, football. If it weren't for all those expensive phone calls back home, Dwayne Jarrett might never have made it.

"My bill," he says now, a little on the sheepish side, "was sky high."

Yeah, college life can be hard sometimes, especially for a 17-year-old 3,000 miles from home. But Jarrett stuck it out, made some friends, started making plays for the top-ranked Trojans of Southern California -- a lot of plays, once he got down to it -- and now stands as a must-be-watched part of Tuesday night's Orange Bowl national championship game.

This year's BCS title game is a veritable showcase for the wet behind the ears. USC has Jarrett, a true freshman who celebrated his 18th birthday on Sept. 11 with the first touchdown of his career; sophomore tailback sensation Reggie Bush, the most breathtaking player in college football; and two freshmen and two sophomore starters on the offensive line. Oklahoma, No. 2 in the nation, boasts freshman running back Adrian Peterson and a kicker, freshman Garrett Hartley, who is so green he's never even attempted a field goal in college.

Peterson is the freshman everyone will be watching in this game between two 12-0 teams. He's a hard, physical back who ran for nearly 154 yards a game, averaged almost six yards per run and scored 15 touchdowns this season. He, literally, makes the Sooners run.

But Jarrett can't be ignored. He's a tall (6-foot-5), rangy pass catcher with soft hands that his teammates rave about. And, after All-America stud Mike Williams lost his bid for reinstatement and four-year starter Keary Colbert moved on to the NFL, Jarrett is clearly the best true wideout the Trojans have.

Matt Leinart, USC's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, knows that better than anyone. He knew it practically from the first moment he saw Jarrett in summer camp, when USC coaches made the forward-thinking move of making them roommates.

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"He was just a little kid out there and had to grow up fast," Leinart says now. "I kind of took him under my wing and just kept his head up, kept feeding him the ball even when he had a few tough games in the beginning where he dropped a few passes.

"It's just amazing how he's improved from game 1 to game 12. I think he's going to be one of the greatest receivers of all time. He's only a freshman at USC and just a phenomenal talent, just big, athletic and fast."

The Trojans, given their druthers, would have liked to break in Jarrett a little more slowly. But two days before the season started, a court decision stiff-armed Williams in his final attempt to get back to school. When the word came down, nothing had to be spoken between head coach Pete Carroll and Jarrett, who had discussed the situation all along.

Everybody at USC knew that it was time for Jarrett to either step up or be stepped on.

"He understood," Carroll says.

Jarrett started with two catches in the Trojans' opener against Virginia Tech, then brought in a four-yarder for his first collegiate TD, on his birthday, against Colorado State. He had some drops after that, but he continued to work at it, and as school began and he started making more friends, as Leinart and other teammates continued to build him up, Jarrett started to feel better. And play better.

He had 139 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Arizona State. He had two more TDs against Washington State, and 144 yards and two more scores against Arizona. He had a two-touchdown, 102-yard game against Notre Dame, too.

He has 50 catches this season, a team high, and 12 touchdowns, the second-best scoring year ever (behind Williams) for a USC receiver.

"He never puts his head down anymore. He dresses a little different, walks around a little different, and it's good to see that," Leinart says. "It's fun."

It's hard to hype this game more than it's getting hyped -- some are calling it, already, the game of the century -- but there's another wrinkle when it comes to Jarrett. When he lines up Tuesday, he may face, ironically, another true freshman, Oklahoma cornerback Marcus Walker.

"He knows a lot of things that seniors don't know," says Walker, who will give away at least a half-foot if he indeed matches up with Jarrett. "He positions his body real well. He's a lot like Mike Williams. A real big body."

For Jarrett, Tuesday night will be the culmination of the longest, most hectic, most challenging year in his young life. He went from almost transferring -- "I really didn't have a school in mind," he says, "but somewhere back East" -- to a step away from national champion.

"Once you get in the groove of things, things pretty much start to slow down," he says. "I knew I had the talent. I just had to settle down."

Yeah, Jarrett will tell you, it's a long way between New Jersey and L.A. But the trip he's made since has been even longer.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.