Sam Darnold was part of a talented Class of 2015 group of quarterbacks, many of whom went to Pac-12 schools. And he was ranked behind almost all of them. Let’s see who was ranked ahead of him by Rivals. And I’m not picking on Rivals because I usually defer to them over Scout.
Player/National Ranking
Josh Rosen 2
Blake Barnett 41
Travis Waller 49
Brady White 65
Jake Browning 84
Ricky Town 127
Sam Darnold 179
I included Barnett because he is from Corona and faced USC in Game 1. Barnett and Town already transferred. Waller is a reserve at Oregon. Rosen starts for UCLA, Browning starts for Washington and White is the backup at Arizona State. The most amazing ranking in retrospect was Town, who is now at Arkansas.
I remember clearly SW ,a number of useless,critical comments you posted here about USC for passing on other QB’s .Having Town ,and offering Sam when others were not commited and avalible.Maybe share that insght with us. Maybe those posts?
Exactly!
What is the point of the post? Is Scott saying that Darnold is the best quarterback out there? Who recruited him? Hmmm… I think it was Helton.
Darnold grew up a USC fan and chose the Trojans very early during June before his SR year over UTAH and DUKE. SC recruited itself here.
“I want to stay in Southern California for the rest of my life. I realize that. If you have a degree from USC and stay in So Cal, you have connections like no other,” Darnold said. “It was a pretty easy decision after that. That’s something I looked at and it pushed me to USC. It felt really good.”
Thanks Jack, good info there.
It’s always been the USC fans who bring the info here that’s worth reading. That’s the only reason to come, in addition to harassing the feeble-minded Troll Meat.
Wrong, you come here because you have no life, Jacqui the trans.
I never listen to rankings. There’s an old saying: “polls are like rear ends everyone has one and they all stink.”
Anyone who saw Town throw knew he wasn’t very good. His motion is awful, his arm is weak, he just wasn’t that good. On top of that, he played in a league that has zero talent.
Town threw a heavy ball. Like it was wet. Crazy how he fell so far in his senior year.
Re-ranking: 1. Rosen, 2. Browning, 3. Darnold
Rosen’s still wearing the skid marks from the USC slaughter. Even when USC is bad with Kessler, Rosen’s worse. No wonder STAN didn’t want him. They didn’t need him when they just gutted you little runts again in the Johnnie Morton Corner of the RB. Another face plant, reverse fumble Rosen-style. Nice to see history repeat itself with the Trojans and Cardinal again humiliating ucla.
Hey, this is a 19 year old kid you are talking about. Don’t be so harsh. Yes you beat him last year as an 18 year old. The least you can do is acknowledge that. What will you say if he wins his last two games against SC? You think Arnold is everything based on one win over a very poor team. So, if Browning and UW leave “skid marks” all over SC as expected, does Arnold stock go down based on the loss? And finally, just how did you humiliate the Cardinal? I though they won the last game. Idiot!
I never said USC humiliated STAN you moron. I said STAN humiliated you little gutties Troll Boy and that Rosen flopped big-time against both USC and STAN. We both own you buddy and your over-rated, big-headed, fumbling QB. Maybe it’s the refs’ fault? Nah. 40-21 poor baby.
As of now yes. Darnold will overtake Browning by the end of the season. But based solely on individual play.
You made a mistake, reverse the order.
Yeah. You’re right…and SI and the NFL scouting community are wrong. Dream On!
Oregon signed Travis Waller two years ago, but have been starting transfers from division II schools the past two seasons? Look for Mark Helfrich to get the boot at seasons end, because he’s let the program slip too, far.
Let’s not be so quick to crown Darnold after 2 games. While I’m really excited about his potential and the flashes he has shown, he is still just a Freshman playing in his first season of college football. Teams still don’t have a lot of tape on him and will adjust to his style of play.
He is a gunslinger who makes quick decisions which is one of his best traits, but he should have had at least a couple of balls picked by Arizona State. Smart defensive teams may bait him into false reads and interceptions.
He has all the tools to be an all time great USC quarterback: strong arm, accuracy, good feel for the game, and quick feet, but the reason he was so low in the recruiting rankings was cause he missed a lot of time due to injuries. In fact, he was knocked out of his last high school game in the playoffs due to a concussion.
One things for sure, Darnold, Browning, and Rosen are gonna be fun to watch competing against each other these next few seasons.
He’s (Darnhold) the real deal – there is nothing in his makeup that emits ‘caution’ ‘uncertainty’ or ‘confusion’. He’s a born leader
He is a QB with a middle linebackers mentality. A deadly combination.
He wants to win and that’s contagious to the entire team especially the ‘O’ line.
I predict Darnold will end up better than all. He has that all important intangible that Peete, Palmer and Leinart had and the rest of our QBs lacked. Darnold’s gonna be special and is even fun and disarming in interviews. He’s just starting out but is gonna be something. Tough thing is that there’s so much more pressure on Darnold because of better coaching at ucla and UW. Darnold’s now really viewed as USC’s potential savior while Browning and Rosen are admired but not suddenly placed in this unique save-the-program stance.
And Lamar Jackson was a 3 star way down the list.
Four star rivals, was offered by UF, FSU and was thought to be a lock in either. Bobby Petrino makes 4 star players 5 star players. USC is making 5 star players 3 star players in some cases. So that’s done. https://n.rivals dot com/content/prospects/7973
That’s because Both Helton’s and T recognized his talent. It doesn’t matter if the kid wants to come to USC. If a player has the talent he will be offered a scholarship. No talent no offer.
Sam has had some initial success and that initial success in itself can be something a young QB has to overcome. I think this is a crucial time for his development and I don’t think we need him to throw for 300+ Saturday and run a lot of keepers. I would love to put this game on our RBs and O-line and just pound these upstarts from Boulder. Let’s keep JD on track and make every effort to get Rojo going. The only way you are going to get more snaps for your backs is by calling more run plays and blocking them up. Forget the track meet stuff that colorado wants to play, pound ’em.
I would love to hit Colorado quickly with a couple of quick scores, I think that would demoralize them and put the real fear in them. Then run it down their throat the rest of the night.
I understand your desire to do that, but I think we need to really beat somebody up now. You have an upstart team in your division that feels like maybe it’s their time. A lot of those guys are from the area and they are going to try to come to LA and show out. They probably wanted to play here and we need to remind them that they weren’t good enough to do that. I would hope that we run the ball in such a way that they know we’re putting the smack down on purpose. We need to serve notice to this program in particular and put a seed in their minds. I would also hope we stay aggressive on D because you can get sacks and picks against these guys if you are aggressive.
Sam did exactly what we needed him to do and now we know we have that. If we want to keep the kid neat, we’re not going to be a one trick pony and let coaches scheme entirely for him when they play us. I’m assuming you have your starting RT, captain back so let’s go ahead and get him and the O-Line firing out and getting bodies on people. Get the backs lathered up, be in the backfield on defense and find the ball (Adoree) in the D-back field.
Maybe CH should think about having Matt Fink practice with the 2nd unit when he comes back.If Darnold gets hurt and can’t play then Fink might give USC the best chance.
I agree, except Jalen Greene should be our backup. He’s a lot more like Darnold than Browne would ever be. I feel sorry for Browne, but he had his shot and he doesn’t have it. At least he’ll leave USC with his Master’s and a year of eligibility. But Greene needs to be prepped in case we need to go to a back-up.
There are two important things to point out: First, he missed his Junior season in high school which lowered his ranking. Second, I think a lot of his development occurred on the practice field as a scout team QB. It’ll be interesting to see who the backup will be if Darnold goes down to injury (I hope it is Greene). Mobile qb equalize the playing field for the Trojans.
Wolf has had a man-crush on Darnold since Day 1. I hope as much as anybody that he will be all that, but it will be interesting to see what happens when he has a bad day — it will obviously be the coach’s fault.
This is meant to fool the dumb. The kid was a 4 star player with a slew of offers despite having not played his junior year with a broken foot that could have been career ending then a broken finger. A 6’5 220lb as an athlete was also being considered not just for other positions, but other sports playing baseball and basketball.
Max in any other situation would be finishing off a stellar career on the way to the NFL if not already there. USC is becoming a place where talent goes to die. Fortunately for Sam, the desperate coaches are just giving him the ball and saying “bail us out” with your athleticism. See how far that goes.
Btw, Lamar Jackson was the 17th ranked at his position and also 4 stars, so no, people are not overlooking talent. He was considered a Florida, Florida State lock, then a Clemson lock (ironically) before surprising going with Louisville.
But don’t let the facts get in the way.