I broke down the Trojan QB’s remarkable freshman year for a piece at SB Nation that just got published here. Darnold has obvious attributes that will make him attractive to the NFL after this next season assuming it goes as well as I expect it will.
Lightning quick release, strong arm, great athleticism, and a massive frame. They torched Washington throwing mesh and shallow cross combinations over the middle of the field and I’m certainly anxious to see how Tom Herman and Todd Orlando handle them next year in the Coliseum.
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Clay Helton has struggled to match the success of the Pete Carroll era at USC, his teams just aren’t as physically dominant. However, they were doubtlessly skilled in pass protection and throwing the ball last year and we’ve seen a few other teams this decade that couldn’t run well enough to beat great defenses but relied on those skills to still win titles.
That said, Carroll’s era is still the golden age of recent Trojan Football.