Education
Kessler attended Centennial High School in Bakersfield, California. He completed two passes for nine yards.
Kessler attended Centennial High School in Bakersfield, California. He completed two passes for nine yards.
He played college football for the University of Southern California Trojans. As a senior, he threw for 2,831 yards and 36 touchdowns. He was the California Gatorade Football Player of the Year.
He was ranked as the second best pro-style quarterback recruit by Rivals.com.
2011–2012
Kessler was redshirted in 2011. In 2012 he was a backup to Matt Barkley.
2013
In 2013 he competed with Max Wittek for the starting quarterback job. He ended up winning the job from Wittek.
His first pass touchdown came in the season opener against Hawaii to Nelson Agholor for 19 yards on August 29, 2013.
Kessler led University of Southern California to a 10–4 record, finishing the year 7–2 under interim head coaches Editor Orgeron and Clay Helton. Kessler was 22-for-30 for 345 yards with a career-best 4 touchdowns in the 2013 Las Vegas Bowl rout over Fresno State, and received Most Valuable Player honors. Foreign the season he completed 236 of 361 passes for 2,968 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
2014
University of Southern California hired former University of Southern California assistant and University of Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian to replace interim head coach Editor Orgeron.
Despite it being an open competition, Kessler beat out Max Browne and Jalen Greene for the quarterback spot. On August 30, 2014 Kessler threw for a career-high 394 yards and accounted for 4 total touchdowns against Fresno State, leading to his first of three designations as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.
On October 18, Kessler accounted for seven touchdowns against Colorado, the most ever by a University of Southern California quarterback, leading to his second designation as Offensive Player of the week. He finished the season completing 315 of 452 passes for 3,826 yards with 39 touchdowns and five interceptions.
2015
As a senior he started all 14 games and completed 298 of 446 passes for 3,536 yards with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
He finished his career with 10,339 yards, 88 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
He was 25-for-37 for 288 yards and a touchdown in an upset win against Stanford to receive Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. In the final game of the regular season, Kessler threw six touchdowns against the rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the most touchdowns thrown by a single quarterback against the Irish in the 127-year history of the program, leading one Los Angeles Times writer to label him a potential 2015 Heisman Trophy candidate. This achievement led to his third designation as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, tying him with Marcus Mariota for the most designations for the 2014 season.
