Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times addresses the issues surrounding ormer USC quarterback Matt Barkley as he prepares to be drafted this week:
“The next player who regrets staying in school after his draft stock plummets probably will be the first. So it’s no surprise USC quarterback Matt Barkley wouldn’t change a thing.
‘‘No, no regrets that I came back last year,’’ Barkley said at the NFL combine. ‘‘Haven’t looked back once. Wouldn’t change my USC career for anything.’’
It’s difficult to define just how much Barkley lost by returning to USC for his senior year. After a stellar junior season, he was rated by some draft analysts among the top 10 players in the draft. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. rated Barkley with Robert Griffin III and said it’s unlikely he would’ve lasted past the Cleveland Browns at No. 4 (the Browns took Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden).
I watched Barkley do Jon Gruden‘s Quarterback Camp segment recently (below). I thought it was funny that someone, probably his agent, instructed him to take notes as Gruden pontificated just so he wouldn’t have to sit there with a vacant expression and shake his head up and down like a bobble head doll.
It didn’t work.