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Dangerous Darnold At USC

USC quarterback Sam Darnold has been a star for the Trojans this season.
USC quarterback Sam Darnold has been a star for the Trojans this season. (USA Today Sports)

Because of one player, Southern Cal’s football future is bright.

Sam Darnold, a 19-year-old redshirt freshman quarterback for the Trojans, has turned around the fortunes of the program since being inserted as the starter prior to a Week 4 loss at Utah.

After a 1-3 start to the season — including an embarrassing 52-6 loss to Alabama in the opener — the Trojans have won seven straight games and risen to No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

And it all starts with Darnold, whose dual-threat abilities have carried USC.

“As long as he’s there and playing well, he’ll compete for a Heisman and they’re going to compete for something special, that’s going to be the expectation for USC,” said Chris Swanson, the publisher of TrojanSports.com.

Darnold completed 69.7 percent of his passes (23-of-33) in a Nov. 12 matchup at No. 4 Washington. The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder threw for 287 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and also ran for 15 yards on four carries.

He supplanted former five-star prospect and No. 1 quarterback in the Class of 2013 Max Browne. Browne was named the starter after preseason practices concluded, though Darnold gave the redshirt junior a good battle.

“A lot of people thought that Sam Darnold won it in the fall and was the better quarterback, but at the end of the day, Clay Helton had to make the decision and he just decided to go with the older, more experienced guy that still had a lot of pedigree,” Swanson said. “Max Browne was the former No. 1 quarterback in his class, and he saw that game against Alabama coming, and he just decided to play it safe and go with the older guy.”

The Trojans offense struggled during their 1-3 start, losing to Alabama, Stanford and Utah. Browne was 55-of-87 passing for 474 yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions in his first three games as the starter.

First-year head coach Clay Helton — who served in an interim role last year after Steve Sarkisian was fired — told reporters that his team “needed a spark” when he made the switch to Darnold, a former four-star prospect who chose USC over Colorado State, Duke, Nevada, Northwestern, Oregon and Oregon State.

“The quarterback change did help, because a lot of players on the team thought it was a hotly contested battle,” Swanson said. “There were players on the team that definitely felt like Sam Darnold would give their offense a better chance. Just that change, and feeling like it’s a fresh start a little bit, helped.”

Since that loss to Utah Sept. 23, USC hasn’t looked back. The Trojans have wins over Arizona State, Colorado, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, using an effective running game of sophomore running back Ronald Jones and senior Justin Davis.

Jones had 893 yards and 10 touchdowns through 11 games, while Davis had 528 yards. Still, it’s Darnold that makes USC’s offense go, Swanson said.

“Sam Darnold might be a once-in-a-generation-type talent at quarterback, and they’re a completely different team with him,” Swanson said. “I think the world of Max Browne. With a quarterback like Max Browne or a Cody Kessler, who’s a third-round draft pick, they’re probably a fringe top-25 team, but Sam Darnold is the difference maker. He’s incredibly talented, he’s hard to defend, hard to sack and it seems like the offense goes with him.”

Defensively, USC is strong across the board. The Trojans have high-quality linebackers in Porter Gustin, Uchenna Nwosu, Cam Smith and Michael Hutchings which makes running the ball tough, and their secondary is among the most talented in the country.

“Obviously everyone knows about Adoree Jackson at corner, so that’s the type of guy you can’t really throw at him,” Swanson said. “Iman Marshall has been a target because of that, he’s a former five-star recruit and a really good cornerback as well. At safety they have a nice rotation going in with some veteran names who have started like Chris Hawkins and Leon McQuay III and Marvell Tell III who’s a young star. It just seems like they’re kind of solid at every spot.”

Defensive tackle is perhaps the weakest spot on the USC defense is at defensive tackle, and even still, the Trojans ranked 31st in the country in rushing defense through 11 games, allowing 131.8 yards per game.

“That’s the one position where they’re growing up and don’t have stars,” Swanson said of defensive tackle. “They just need more depth there, and that’s a reasonable issue. Outside of that, they’re really strong at every position I would say.”

Thanks to a softer second half of the season and Darnold’s progression, USC has significant momentum to close out the season. The Trojans were ranked 23rd in this year’s preseason poll, but expectations will be much higher entering 2017.

“The expectations for them will to compete for the conference title and compete for a national title,” Swanson said. “It’s USC, they always have that expectation. They had those kinds of expectations even when Steve Sarkisian was here and when Lane Kiffin was there toward the end they were preseason ranked very high. Especially if they win out, (they could) even be a top-five team (in the preseason).”

And again, it begins and ends with Darnold.

“If he’s there, everyone’s going to think this kid’s eventually going to play himself onto a big stage and win something big,” Swanson said. “That’s kind of what happens when you’re a big name quarterback at USC.”

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