USC Football: Sam Darnold is the Trojan Horse of the 2018 NFL Draft
Sam Darnold, USC Football’s starting quarterback, has failed to live up to expectations. Selecting him first in the NFL Draft would be a huge mistake.
Coming into this season, USC quarterback Sam Darnold was advertised as the Heisman-winner and No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. He has shown us that he is none of these things in his first five games of this season. Need proof? Let’s take a look at some blind resumes of current college football quarterbacks.
Quarterback A
94-of-144, 65.3 percent completions, 1,374 passing yards,13 TD, 3 INT, 171.1 QBR
Quarterback B
113-of-175, 64.6 percent completions, 1,389 passing yards, 9 TD, 8 INT, 139.1 QBR
Quarterback C:
94-of-149, 63.1 percent completions, 1,389 passing yards, 10 TD, 3 INT, 159.4 QBR
Who are you picking? QB A, to me, looks like the obvious pick, then QB C. QB B would be last. But once you put names to these college football quarterbacks, the conversation starts to get confusing. If the high numbers of interceptions didn’t tell you already, QB B is Sam Darnold.
QB C is the reigning Heisman-winner Lamar Jackson. And QB A is Florida-transfer and current West Virginia signal caller Will Grier.
Out of the three, Darnold has the most multiple interceptions game this season. He has three, Jackson has one and Grier has none. Both Jackson and Grier have not had a game with more interceptions than touchdown passes. While Darnold, already has two of those such games.
Sam Darnold has not lived up to the preseason hype. Many predicted him to have the sweep: an undefeated season, Heisman Trophy, National Championship and the No. 1 NFL Draft pick. As of now, one of those things are on hold. Three of them are definitely out of the window. His high number of interceptions alone has to be alarming to any NFL scout.
Next: Latest 2018 NFL Mock Draft entering Week 5
At moments, Sam Darnold looks great. He shined against Stanford, throwing for 316 yards, four touchdowns with two picks. He had a potential career-defining drive against Texas. But so far in his career, he has had games like Washington State and Western Michigan where he looks like he needs more game reps in college. Darnold has only started 15 games in college that just one full regular season and postseason.
It was easy to fall in love with Sam Darnold after his Rose Bowl game last season. But it was also easy for the people of Troy to fall for the Trojan Horse.