Wonder If This Will Be USC’s Advice For Sam Darnold?

USC quarterback Sam Darnold is currently the No. 1 pick in ESPN analyst Todd McShay’s mock draft. So will Helton have the same attitude on Darnold’s future as he did with linebacker Su’a Cravens two years ago?

“If (Cravens) said he was staying, I was going to pack is bags for him,” Helton said. “In that situation, when you’re going to be that high of a draft pick and doing the things he’s done, I was just very proud for him.”

103 thoughts on “Wonder If This Will Be USC’s Advice For Sam Darnold?

  1. Flow. Always the ultimate downer. Good thing Helton doesn’t feed on your negativity. Cravens was as good as gone. What else do you want Helton to say? Pull a PC on Sanchez? Get lost for a couple weeks, Flow.

  2. Let’s be truthful: Sam can get better. He needs work on ball handling, looking off his primary, developing touch on his long ball and leading receivers on short routes so they catch in stride. If Helton is honest with him, he’ll tell him that. Should Sam head straight to the NFL after the Cotton Bowl and wind up starting for Cleveland next year, it’ll be Matt Leinart all over again. It’d be great for him (and for us) if he stayed another year and matured as a player.

    • Sam’s got way more talent than Leinart, who was a total NFL flop and didn’t mature as a ballroom-dancing senior. Whenever Sam comes out, he’ll never tank like Leinart, who like Barkley, didn’t have the arm and was still too immature for the NFL when he finally entered.

      Credit to Leinart – he’s doing really well in the media world, which at this stage of the game, is what it’s all about for ex-NFLers.

      • Matt Leinart played 7 seasons in the NFL and grossed nearly $19 million. Now, he’s making $ in the media. FTFO Matt!

        • Would you call Matt’s NFL career a success?

          He threw 15 TDs in six years on 3 teams, always as a back-up.

          Leinart was a total bust as a 10th overall pick.

          Too bad those huge NFL Ks are never guaranteed.

          He was a great Trojan though and nothing can take away from his HOF college career.

          • Really? You’re asking for my net worth? Lots of people make a lot of money and didn’t have to win a Heisman to do it.

          • No offense, just saying Matt Barkley is a wealthy man in his career so far. If the rest of his life is dialed in, he’s a success.

          • You’re preaching to the choir. I’m big on Matt Barkley and always have been. In some ways, he saved USC football and was very instrumental in helping us through the sanctions. Great guy!

          • Any QB who makes it to the NFL has had a successful football career. There’s about 100 guys on the planet who can say they are on an active NFL roster as a QB. The guys like Ryan Leaf or Jamarcus Russell had huge personal problems that contributed to their failures. Matt is not one of those guys, he has played in the NFL for 5 seasons. He is more successful in his football career than 99.9% of all football players. Just because a guy doesn’t flourish in the NFL doesn’t mean they had a bad career.

          • Sorry, but NFL melt-downs like Cade McNown and Ryan Leaf have to take it on the chin as complete NFL busts.

            Where did I say Leinart wasn’t anything but great in college? I said he was a HOFamer. But he was an NFL bust by any measure, especially as a #10 overall pick.

          • They can be a “bust” in relation to where they were drafted. But they can’t help that. If they make the NFL, by any measure they are a success. Now, you can blow it up like Ryan Leaf with terrible personal problems. But if you are drafted high in the NFL, give it a run, but don’t make it, you are still better than almost everyone else who plays. Perspective. Most of us dreamed of being pro athletes and never even sniffed it, let alone division 1 college athletics. Barkley and Leinhart are studs, period.

          • We’ll agree to differ in a few regards.

            1) IMO, Leinart was an NFL bust. Easy call for me.

            2) Hardly any of us really dream of being pro athletes. You must be hanging out with a super athletic crowd because I only played with a few college players, could have only successfully played small college ball myself, and nobody I knew well remotely thought any of us were gonna play pro ball. I guess my group lacked dreamers.

            3) I don’t know what you’re talking about “studs” for. Irrelevant. I know a few studs in life and they don’t play professional sports, never wanted to and never have.

            4) I never said nor insinuated Leinart had any type of personal problems. Again, that’s your topic, not mine.

          • Weird turns here. Did not want to be contentious. Never mind. You and I both agree on leinart and Barkley being great Trojans. In my opinion leinart is best USC QB ever maybe even best player ever. I know that’s a big statement. Fight on Jack.

            For real you never dreamed of being a pro athlete? Every little kid I ever knew, or currently coach, dream about it. None of us, or any I knew, made it. But we certainly dreamed about it.

          • No, I never dreamed of being an NFL player, even though I was a very good HS player and got some recruiting attention. I had good reason to be realistic because when I got to USC and saw real life future NFL-types like Lynn Swann, John Vella, John Grant, Bob Chandler, Bill Bain and Sam Cunningham, some of whom were friends, it was clear I was from a different gene pool.

            IMO, Darnold is the best QB USC has ever had. I’ve never seen a USC player as clutch and indomitable as Sam. So, I wish we could keep him, but I personally think he’s ready for the NFL – if he wants it now.

          • Leinart made $ in the NFL, for most guys, that’s all you get. The fame and glory is secondary.

          • Let’s face it – we all expected Leinart to have a great NFL career. I know I did. Getting picked #10 is awesome.

            But his NFL success doesn’t really matter to me. He was fantastic at USC, and that’s all I really care about.

          • No we all didn’t … Leinart was a well trained qb in college ( except 2005 when Kiffy and Suck as they always do to qb .., ruin them )
            Leinart wasn’t a great athlete, wasn’t mobile , didn’t have a great arm. But was taught by Chow, was smart, and had great players around him.

          • Hah! Chow has been a disaster ever since he left USC. Did he just forget how to coach? Guess so. He’s been fired or failed at every job ever since.

            USC’s players gave Chow a lot to work with. Once Pete booted him, he couldn’t cut it and the game passed him by. Those are the facts. He couldn’t even get picked up as a Mater Dei asst now. Maybe Claiborne will hire him, though I doubt it.

        • and was a moderate talent even in college .. was smart and well coached (Chow) and had an unreal Oline and Reggie Bush , that helped !

        • I don’t think he was ever impressive in the NFL, at least not from what I saw or heard. I don’t think he got along with his ARIZ coach the first 3 years and that really got him started off poorly, which is a killer for NFL QBs.

        • Norm Chow created Matt Leinart. Everyone wanted Brandon Hance or Matt Cassel in 2003. Leinart came out of no where due to Chow.

        • Two things:

          1) Hasn’t Sam already been through this before? He was already favored to win the Heisman this year and didn’t even come close to getting an invite. Not even close. It took him half a year to get back to his old form.

          Plus, there are so many variables that make winning impossible. Saquon Barkley’s probably the best RB I’ve seen in the last 5 years and he didn’t get an invite either. And just because USC’s OLs may be more experienced doesn’t counter their lack of athleticism and strength. We don’t have a great S/C program and we also don’t have good OL coaching. Some will debate that, but if Callaway is so good, the USC talent must be really bad.

          2) The award isn’t as important as it used to be. People don’t care as much about it. More and more discount it, including me. Nobody can even define what it’s for. It apparently means the starting QB on the best team, unless there’s a big, tough, ALA RB out there.

          Being a #1 draft choice is a 1000X more important than winning the Heisman, which has just turned into a TV presentation affair. Who would you rather be right now: Unanimous Heisman winner Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold?

          I’d take Sam’s spot in a heartbeat, even though Baker has a shot at a NC. Sam’s gonna have a shot at a much better NFL career over the next 12 years and can leave USC with top 3-4 rankings for two straight years, an SI cover or two, bonafide athletic-hero status in L.A. and both Rose and Cotton Bowl wins.

          If Sam looks bad in the Cotton and SC loses, he should stay. If he kills it in the Cotton and SC wins with Darnold the MVP (like on his team, in the P12 conference championship and in the Rose Bowl win over PSU), he should move on in a blaze of glory and strike while the iron is hot.

          Both Barkley and Leinart stayed, never improved one iota that extra year or “finished any business” whatsoever and each lost millionzzzz of dollars and had short, clipboard holder NFL careers. Kessler’s another clipboard holder – 10,339 career passing yds never translated into being an NFL starter.

          If Sam comes back, great for USC. If he doesn’t, USC’s younger guys will step in and do fine while Max avoids a possible debilitating college injury and starts learning what USC can’t ever teach him about being an NFL QB.

          • We are all talking about one “expert” getting millions of clicks because he thinks Sam is the #1 pick. After the bowl games and things start to get serious, the nfl teams will come out about him, the #1 pick is generally not a secret. Then he will weigh it all and decide. If Sam is going to be the consensus #1 then by all means move on, but these “experts” annually get it wrong for the most part.

          • I doubt he’s outside the top 4, under any scenario, and the money and opportunity there is too hard to pass up. The NFL’s all about QBs. Without a really good one, you have no shot to go far in the league.

            As I said, if for some reason Sam bombs in the Cotton Bowl, that’s not a look he’d want to head into the draft with. But it he’s spectacular against the Bucks, as I believe he will be, he’ll have no reason IMO to stay at USC unless he just loves school and doesn’t want it to end yet. That’s fine and would be great for USC. But nobody knows how he feels about that and if they do, they aren’t saying.

            If he were staying, I think with his low-key nature, he’d announce like his room-mate has. But Sam’s holding out I think because he’s already serious about leaving. He can’t lose either way IMO. It’s a win, win deal. He’s got way more talent than Leinart, Kessler or Barkley had, and is surely as talented and ready as Goff, who is obviously overjoyed he left early.

    • Let’s be truthful, if you were 3rd year undergrad student at SC and a company offered you millions of dollars to leave for a job in the Midwest, would you stay?

      • It’s a good question, gt —-but let me flesh it out a bit: if I felt that another year of school would help me be successful in my profession, I’d stay in school. I’d assume that there would always be a job waiting for a better qualified person.
        I think the question is —will Sam be helped by staying another year at USC? Presently, probably not. On the other hand, if Coach Helton brings a first rate quarterback coach on board, I’d have to think Sam would profit (a lot) from the experience.

        • I agree about the qb coach, but I think more importantly is the quality playing time and seasoning he would get just playing another year. We have to remember he is now at the end of this 3rd year of ever playing qb.

        • The Anthony Barr hit on Barkley and the Goff experience with the Rams changed my mind about first round players like Sam staying and risking injury and/or dropping in the draft and costing themselves millions of dollars.

    • Sam isn’t learning a thing from this 3rd rate coaching staff at USC. Go get the money while u can Sam don’t risk injury to lose 3 games next year and get Gomer a contract extension.
      btw, he is long gone , he is not coming back

      • No NFL team is going to give in to Darnold’s purported insistence that he be allowed to bring Tyson Helton along with him as his personal quarterback tutor…..
        #ToughPackageDealToSwallow

    • Sam came to USC with one high school season of playing QB. His QB coach has been named Helton. Has he progressed as a player since his freshman year? Was he able to start as a freshman? Did the staff at USC build him into a starter, or was it just all Sam and osmosis that he is where he is.

      • I guess we have to be honest and admit that quarterbacks (Wittek, Greene, Browne, Kessler, Fink) haven’t developed tremendously under this coaching staff. I’d love it if they’d find somebody with recognized credentials to tempt Sam into staying for another year —-but I have a feeling they won’t.

  3. Interesting dilemma for Sam. Top money, potentially on a bad team, highly likely to be thrown in not ready, get hurt, bad NFL career, but rich. Or, stay get better, enjoy a great college season, win a Heisman, get on a good team (Goff, Wentz), have a good NFL career, Maybe. Speaking of coaching, a lot may depend on who on the SC staff can coach Sam up next year. Swann, Helton, what do you have to offer Sam?

    • Sam doesn’t have to go to Cleveland if he doesn’t want to. All his agent has to do is tell them he’s unsignable – and they will either trade him or his rights. No sense staying with some headache who can sit and wait you out. The Browns need a QB who’s committed to their rebuild, not some guy who’s not reporting to practice.

      • Is Cleveland the Rams when they signed Goff, or Philly when they signed Wentz? It is a crap shoot for these guys, is Cleveland ready to turn the corner?

        • I think Cleveland is worse, both in management, ownership and personnel. They always make the wrong move. Just look at their QBs they have on their team and you can see they have no feel for the type of QB they need for success there.

          • What of he just doesn’t like Cleveland, period? He can call the shots, like all #1s or #2s can. For all I know, he’s got distant Ohio relatives. If he wants to stay in the west, maybe he can wrangle an ARIZ gig. They need a QB bad now.

          • Goff had much more PT at QB than Sam. Sam is still learning the position to a point. Goff is a better passer than Sam, hitting his targets short and long. Sam not so much.

    • The rookie money has really changed since the 2011 CBA. Based on Garrett’s contract from last year, rough guess is that signing bonus for the top pick would be around $21 million, with a total rookie contract of around $31 million. In comparison, Bradford’s rookie contract from 2010 had $50 million guaranteed.

  4. My take is that financially, he doesn’t need to go. I think that he enjoys college life. I believe that he knows he could use another year to develop. I believe that his parents will talk it over with him. The team can be very good next year. My call, he will come back. 75-25. Fight on!

  5. You’re too much wolf……..when nothing is going on you always turn to your favorite punching bag, Clay Helton. Even the old dog deserve a pat on the head every once in a while

    • Agreed. 2 good seasons under his belt with great ones to come. Fight on! SW is so negative and has nothing for contempt for this staff, he has already played his cards. What happens if we go in another 5 or 6 year run competing for national championships every year? He has already made his bed, he will have no choice but to lay in it.

    • Our “old dog” does deserve that pat on the head, Gabby. I bet if he got let go, it would be a nice long time before another USC coach won a Rose Bowl and a Pac 12 Championship. Clay will be remembered fondly whatever happens from here. But our old dog looks to be stretching himself too thin. You can always tell when Clay is scared or tired —-he loses his sense of humor. At tonight’s presser he looked and sounded tired. Now, if he had a cracker jack staff backing him up, I wouldn’t be worried. But he doesn’t. If Clay isn’t able to put 100% of himself into bowl prep, were in trouble.

      • I agree – it’s the staff he’s chosen over the past 2+ seasons that is telling and that’s a direct reflection on he himself.

          • Helton better learn now the steps necessary to defeat a top tier such as OH St. Victory will bring the recruits I’d venture the ones not secured are waiting to see who wins these boqk games.

  6. First pResident Dump supports a fellow perv in a senate race, then his FCC kills net neutrality for every single one of us. And I sincerely ask: What has this great nation come to?

    I wonder how all of the DUMp supporters on this here little blog feel now…Probably still too “upid-stu” to figure out their ruler is conning them worse than anyone else.

    #ConMan #LockHimUp

      • Poor Gray Stool can’t stand that Crooked Hillary got shut down for good.

        Now, things are heating up for her too. The next few months should be interesting for the Queen Troll in view of the FBI emails which are coming out now via the Dept of Justice. Juicy stuff about loser Hillary and her cohorts cleaning out their cabinets with damning info they are desperate to keep secret.

        • Jacky, you know better than to lie like Gooboy22, otherwise I’ll challenge you just like I challenged him: go find a single post where I ever wrote that I supported Hillz or wanted her to win. Just like Goo, you’ll fall flat and look like a dummy in front of everyone because I don’t support any establishment politicians, including Hillz and Dump. The Republicrat parties are one and the same.
          Anyhow, don’t change the subject. Your dear leader, Dump, is the worst, most petulant president this country has ever seen and he’s not very bright. Then again, neither are you because you voted for him and you still back him. You poor, sad little man. Sad.

          • Gee, you don’t support any “establishment politicians”? Give yourself a plastic medal little gutty. You know where to pin it. I’m suddenly so proud of you. Now you’ve got some bruin “gravestone” material too.

            But isn’t there some arcane political board for you to spew on where people actually care what you think? Come on pota*rd. Get a grip.

            But thanks for the comedy. I enjoy laughing at you almost as much as your pitiful, loser football team, suddenly lead by Show Cause Chip, now a 350 pound Quarter-Pounder ad.

          • Wrong, the Slick Willey Schiester Obuma was the worst and will be forever. He was even worse than goober peanut head from Georgia, Carter.

          • gray stool actually expects us the believe that after his internet meltdown over Trump’s victory, he really didn’t want Hillary to win either! He is a real Terry Donahue ruin. He must have hated it when the NCAA did away with ties in college football.

          • You’re still responding after I called you out and you clearly showed yourself to be a proven liar?

            Haha. What a doof.

    • See what hate can do to a person? Because the progressive agenda is going out the window which they thought was the norm for the future. Things are being corrected and it is so unamerican to them. Trump is no worse than deep state obama.

      • Don’t insult President Trump by comparing him to Schister Obuma. Obuma was the worst president of all time, including past, present, and future. He tried making the US into a Marxist Totaliran country. I am surprised Obuma did not place martial law and not allow elections just so he could stay.

        • I think the idea was tossed around at the White House. I in no way was trying to insult Trump. But I am getting sick and tired of his thin skin and tweets. If he backed off I would be happier, and yes I still support him.

          • Trump saw what the Mediacrats did to Romney and Bush when they didn’t respond to the daily onslaught of lies and propaganda. Its like dealing with the ruin posters here. Allow them to get away with their crap and they take over.

    • Hey it’s the Big Mouthed Ruin Lib Nostradamus, how did that prediction of the ruins defeating SC turn out?

      grave soul Jack B • 2 months ago
      I’ll step in and predict a UCLA victory over USC.

      UCLA will likely lose against Washington and split one loss with either ASU or Utah, but will beat USC next month. Mark it.

      USC was exposed weeks ago and they are trending down. Did you see Darnold and Helton’s faces last night? Bewildered is too kind, even lost is too generous…horrified and confused is more like it.

  7. Speaking of Helton, I urge everybody to check out his Thursday post practice presser. The man’s exhausted. Pudly’s right —he’s all over the western half of the country recruiting. And it’ll pay off next year. But he doesn’t seem dialed in on the Cotton Bowl —not the way Coach Meyer seems to be, at any rate. I believe Clay is a solid coach —but I’m wondering, with all the distractions, if he’s had the time and the opportunity to really reflect on the fact that there are 2 ways to beat Ohio State —(1) the physical way Iowa did it and (2) the finesse way Oklahoma did it. USC needs to go with #2. Oklahoma will not be able to stop our short passing game and they won’t be able to get to Sam before the ball is in the air —-and, eventually, we can hit on the deep stuff. The gameplan has already been laid out for us. It’s just a matter of—is Clay so spread thin that he’s merely getting the team ready for a generic opponent? Or is he paying enough attention to realize Oklahoma gave us the blueprint to winning this particular game? With this staff, I take nothing for granted.

    • Michael, this new signing period is putting stress on every coach out there and those coaches preparing for a bowl game are working damm near 24/7. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

      • Maybe this is relevant and maybe it’s not —-but I’ll throw it out there for you, Trojan5: when you’re in monster litigation, all the attorneys, all the investigators and all the witnesses are under terrible pressure and are forced to spend brutal hours preparing. You’d think everybody would get equally tired. But it doesn’t work that way. Some people thrive on the long hours and some people get burned out. Clay seems to me to be a person who NORMALLY thrives on long hours—-but it looks to me like he’s at the end of his rope now.
        He’s had to deal with so much, tie so many loose ends —that he looks frazzled. If I were him, I’d give the home visits to some of the charismatic youngsters on the staff and give FULL attention to this game. Ohio State is gonna be staring him in the face before he knows it —-and he can’t ask for an extension on the basis of having squandered his time on recruiting.
        #It’sCommandPerformanceTime

        • I don’t think that CH has ever given us a reason to doubt his effort—though we have questioned results on occasion. Coaching at the big boy level is tough all year round, but the demands are x10 now. Let’s hope that we Are reading more into the presser than we should. And , God forbid the cold or flu goes through the locker room. It is that time of year. Later my friend. I don’t have the luxury of being on Hawaii time. It is time for this tired old man to get some sleep

          • Speaking of energy, Trojan5! I really have to hand it to you. It’s early here….and I’m already beat.
            Hope you’re right about me reading too much into Clay’s pressers! (I guess I’m having flashbacks to the Wisconsin Holiday Bowl).

    • I think CH is gonna be fine. The game’s a long way off. All this extra recruiting during bowl prep is new to everyone. I’m sure this is viewed as a negative rule switch at this time. All the extra pressure of another signing day has to be extreme.

      OHIO ST’s coaches are going through the exact same thing. No reason to think they have more stamina than ours.

      We’re a very healthy team again and have been more physical ever since ND shoved it to us. That’s the silver lining of that humiliation and I think it is helping us now.

      • Remember when McKay got beat by them..he made a promise and kept it. Hopefully Clay did the same thing, we’ll see..

        • If Clay could go on one of those McKay-type streaks against Notre Dame, I’d be the happiest little boy in the world. I remember a radio interview in which Coach McKay said, after the 24-7 victory over Notre Dame at South Bend (which followed our 51-0 defeat by Notre Dame at the coliseum), he walked off the field shivering with “kind of a feeling of redemption.”

      • I see no reason for Helton to be a ball of fire right now, this is the teaching, reviewing phase of game prep. Things should progress and intensity should rise as game day gets closer. This time next week it will be a different atmosphere, more excitement and life, the LOI’s will be in and everyone can get centered on the task at hand emotionally.

    • They will take off four days next week. He can relax and get some sleep. This is where he is making his money. He is owning up to it. He is accountable for USC and himself and is doing a good job, where the cheater Kelly is only recruiting and not coaching as well.

  8. im on the innernet and cant tollerate poeple having diferent opiniuns then me so i argue every litle thing, no wonder every one haits me, smdh

  9. AND how did that work out for Sua Cravens??? leaving early to play against real mature grown men…mature physically that is…

  10. He needs another year because he struggled with good defensive pressure throughout the year.

  11. Darnold could stay in school and take his chances of being drafted or traded to new Orleans, the Chargers, or Miami. They all need qbs to replace the ones they have now.

  12. What a Cry-Baby, Whining, bs post !

    How-do-you-sleep-night ???

    There is “No Wayl” that “You” are a Trojan Alumni !!!

    “No” one could possibly be so [ Antil-Trojan ] as YOU !!!

    Why anyone would/could hire You to “Write” supposedly neutral (At best) Sports Columns regarding the USC Trojans is beyond Me !

    Your obsession with USC seems Abe-Normal, why don’t You just write for UCLA, You would “fit” right in… ? ! ? ! ?

    UCLA Fans “whine” at a very highest level !!!

    Perfect

  13. If Helton attempts to push Darnold out the door as he supposedly did to Cravens, Helton will need to pack his own bags as Darnold is the reason Helton still has a job at USC today.

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