Could Sam Darnold stay at USC through 2018?
By John Buhler
The USC Trojans have a great quarterback in redshirt sophomore Sam Darnold. There is a chance that 2017 may not be his last season at USC before going pro.
It seems that the USC Trojans are back under head coach Clay Helton. USC recruits itself, but the Pac-12 powerhouse football program had fallen on hard times in the wake of Pete Carroll’s departure to the NFL nearly a decade ago. Helton is the right man for the job. It also helps to have a potential NFL star at quarterback in Sam Darnold.
After only one year — not even a full one — starting for the Trojans, Darnold has already set the college football world on fire. In his redshirt freshman year in 2016, Darnold completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 3,086 yards, 31 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. He averaged an impressive 8.4 yards per attempt and boasted a 161.1 quarterback rating in his first year as the Trojans’ signal caller.
Darnold will be draft eligible after the 2017 college football season. While many have projected Darnold to be a top-five pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, there is reason to believe that he may not go pro after his redshirt sophomore season.
According to the NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, “sources close to Darnold tell [him] that they wouldn’t be surprised if Darnold played two more seasons at USC.” That means Darnold would play his redshirt junior season at USC in 2018 and declare for the 2019 NFL Draft presumably after graduation.
Would this be a good play for Darnold? Absolutely, as his raw quarterbacking ability isn’t going to deteriorate with one more year of college ball at USC. He could still use some refinement in the passing game mechanically before going pro.
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It serves him to not only see if he can win a national title with the Trojans in either of the next two years, but survey the teams picking atop the upcoming draft and go from there. He shouldn’t leave a great situation at USC for a horrendous one with a bad NFL team if he doesn’t feel he’s ready for it.