USC Football: Is it time to pump the brakes on Sam Darnold hype?

Sophomore USC football QB Sam Darnold has been hailed as a guaranteed No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, but can he live up to the hype?

No player in college football has received as much praise entering the 2017 season as USC quarterback Sam Darnold. Through 10 stars last year, Darnold won nine games with the Trojans while throwing 31 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. Darnold also led USC to a huge 52-49 Rose Bowl victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Let’s just take a look at some of the good words that fellow players, coaches, and news outlets have had for Darnold in the last month. According to NFL.com, Stanford head coach David Shaw, part of a fellow Pac-12 team, said that Darnold is the “best quarterback in the nation.” Considering Shaw coached former legendary Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, his words should be taken seriously.

Bleacher Report did an entire piece on how Darnold is the “real deal” and how his “lack of flair should not fool you.”

Darnold has the ability to extend plays himself and make USC fans hold their breath during the course of each offensive play. His style of play is very entertaining and catches the attention more than almost anyone else on the field.

The fact of the matter is with Darnold is that he does not have the same proven experience as other quarterbacks that he is getting compared to or above right now.

According to Odds Shark, Darnold is the heavy favorite to take home the Heisman Trophy in 2017. He has better odds than superstar quarterbacks like Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, former Heisman winner and Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, and Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett. Each of those three either had a better stat line in 2016 or have a longer tenure of success in college football.

Darnold has so much hype and expectation on his shoulders for 2017 that really anything but greatness will be disappointing. That’s a lot to live up to for a player who does not even have a full year of starting experience under his belt. USC seems to get hyped up every single year and more often than not they do not meet expectations.

According to Reign of Troy, Darnold was having some accuracy troubles and throwing interceptions frequently in practice. Getting so close to the kick off of the 2017 season, that’s not good news for USC fans. It might be nothing to worry about, but Darnold did average nearly one interception per game last year.

As you watch Darnold’s highlights, the potential to throw more interceptions in 2017 is definitely a legitimate possibility. Darnold has a tendency to make quick decisions on the spot that can make his coaches hold their breath. He also tends to lay his body on the line to make plays for the USC offense. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but that could also lead to an injury.

Chances are that Darnold has a great season in 2017 and is a Heisman finalist when it’s all said and done. However, it’s too much to put any pressure like this on any player in college football, let alone one with less than a full season of experience.

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With the amount of talent surrounding Darnold on offense including running back Ronald Jones and wide receivers Steven Mitchell and Deontay Burnett, he’ll have the support he needs to succeed. It’s just a matter of USC finally living up to the preseason hype.