Sam Darnold Quick Thought

As Sam Darnold appears headed toward being a top 2 NFL draft pick, here’s a few things to remember: He didn’t graduate high school early, played another sport (basketball) in high school, didn’t become a slave to club 7-on-7 football and went to his neighborhood school (San Clemente).

In this day and age, that is a minor miracle.

59 thoughts on “Sam Darnold Quick Thought

  1. Club soccer teams, club baseball teams, club 7-7 football teams, it’s insane.

    Club soccer coaches who’ll tell you that your kid needs to be on a club team so they can get a college scholie, for $10,00 a year, and parents buy into this stupidity.

    How about putting that 10 grand into investments every year from the time your kid is born because the chance of your kid getting a college soccer scholie is about ZERO

    • Sounds like you had your kid in the wrong soccer club. That’s a YOU problem, idiot. It worked for me and experience was worth every penny

      • I have a kid in club baseball. He’s 14 and already has opportunities for scholarships. And he’s about the 10th best player on his team. A good program will find schools for kids. It’s what they do.

        • Exactly!….The networking system is already in place. Met a lot of great parents and established lasting friendships through the soccer club environment. I encourage any family that can afford it, to put their kids in a club program

          • Yes, it’s a great experience and worth it for that purpose. However, You’re an idiot if you’re looking at it as some kind of investment on your kid’s college education.

          • There’s no guarantee your kid will get any type of college financial assistance, but perfecting a craft/skill gives you a lot better odds.

            Guess I must be in the minority, my financial investment paid off. Call me the idiot that beat the odds

          • You’re not an “idiot” for it paying off. The idiots are the parents who view paying for club sports as an investment on a college schollie. The odds of earning an athletic scholarship are slim-to-none. Your child must be exceptionally good at their sport to have earned a schollie. 99% of kids are not that good or skilled. I played club soccer/bball as a kid for over 10 years, and my boys are currently playing club soccer. Obviously, I think it’s worthwhile. I just laugh at parents who are primarily motivated by college scholarships because almost all of them will be disappointed. My experience is that most of these “idiot” parents don’t have much athletic experience themselves. If they did, they’d know how good you need to be to get a schollie and realize their kids will likely never be that good.

          • There are tons of kids who are playing sports in college. Not D1, but playing none the less. My son plays on a club team where every kid who plays 18u will play college baseball. They need to have good grades so they can work athletic / academic scholarships, but it certainly happens. I do agree it’s not a free college route and nobody should plan that way.

          • When my daughter was a sophomore in HS she started playing in college showcases.

            It was at that time she began to receive interest from small colleges. The writing was on the wall and training started to accelerate at a more rigorous pace. The good part was I didn’t have to push her, it’s what she wanted.

          • I am not sure about soccer. But baseball in pacific northwest is club teams playing tournaments. They do have some regional teams you can tryout for, but they do not just select kids from a league, there really aren’t any. My kid is just starting high school age stuff and we are finding out that there are many baseball programs at colleges that struggle to find enough quality kids to play. The small schools go to every showcase tourney around. I think baseball is just dying slowly. Soccer has certainly replaced it, even up here where weather is not great.

          • My oldest played waterpolo and it was much smaller than volleyball which my younger daughter played..but because of it we played teams from around the world. Like everything else, you get out of it what you put into it…my kids loved it.

      • if he paid full price his kid must not have been very good. I paid only a 1/3 of the cost for my daughter to play club soccer she paid ECNL and traveled all over the country. The club paid for most expenses too.

        • I hear ya! When ECNL kicked in the price substantially increased. Visited other parts of the country that I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for soccer

    • my daughter in college played club soccer and her whole team received scholarships 2 player got full rides most of them received 2 year with option for 4 year.

  2. This is true Wolf. It is also true that Clay Helton recruited him. I know that stings.

      • He still found him, realised his potential and offered him a scholarship right? Did Saban offer Sam a scholarship? Maybe Saban already knew Sam would regress in his 2nd year after a great 1st year.

        We just cant get anything right!

          • While I agree, it’s also true that Alabama’s QBs would benefit from a more experience OC and QBC. We can’t be perfect. Sam got all the heisman hype while under the same OC and QBC the 1st year. It’s not all in the coaches hands. See the Alabama LB that tried to punch a coach and now is no longer with the team.

          • Imagine Sam with 5 years experience. Right now he is leaving with a total 3 at the position.

      • They originally wanted to see him as a linebacker but saw him playing QB and said forget LB.

        • Cute,,,,,trying to trick him into revealing his whereabouts, huh?
          #GetZipCode,Too
          #&TryForNearestCrossStreets

      • Yes and he recruited Browne. QB’s are hard to evaluate when stepping up to college level. Ask Saban who has had 3 QB’s transfer in last couple of years and Hurts will be #4 next year. Saban also has that little problem of starting the wrong QB but he did it for an entire season.

        • If anyone had looked at Browne or Town’s throwing motion they would have seen that they were not as good as advertised. Town played against zero competition. Maybe Gomer should look at the kid and not his stats.

          They must be hard to evaluate for Gomer, kinda like OL are for him since he can’t seem to recruit any good ones.

          Saben does have a lot of NC’s, right ? He is the best coach in college football, right ?

          • Finally! Go, Gomer! You’re actually 100% right on this one. How Helton could watch Browne in practice year after year and not see trouble around the corner will always amaze me.

          • Yes —but “normal” here means they’ll probably do it again……
            #”SoSorry!ThisIsDefinitelyGoingToStopSoon!”

          • Browne was Gatorade AA top recruit and #1QB. I guess a few people missed on him. Town was exposed at camps hence the reason USC went hard after Darnold. Saban is GOAT who has made the same mistakes we have to listen to you whine about with Helton 25 Times a day

    • Who will be Wolf’s next man crush? Daniels if he ends up coming to SC,especially if he doesn’t start right away or he gets thrown in too early. Wolf can work either story.

  3. Ladies and Gentlemen… Sam has left the building. We need more news about our current and future leaders.

  4. All the more amazing that Helton and staff were able to find him…. even if you argue he wasn’t effectively developed. They’ve got an eye for talent!

  5. And Sam Darnold used to pout all by himself on the sideline after all the Trojans 3 and outs and there were a lot of those. Darnold and Kessler are 1-2 as far as directing the most 3 and outs for a season in USC Trojan football history.

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