Matt Barkley just announced that he will pass on the NFL draft and come back to USC for his senior season. Good for him. He'll be a strong Heisman candidate, and a possible 1st round draft choice.
Barkley was already forecasted, if he came out, to be a top 5-10 pick in the 2012 draft. They were mentioning him in the same breadth as the other two top QB's, Luck and Griffin. I don't know the level of QB's or other elite players elligible for the 2013 draft, so he could very well be the first pick in thatdraft.
I hope it works out for him. On the one hand we criticize athletes for coming out early and not finishing their degrees. On the other hand, when an athlete does decide to stay in school, we question his thought process in giving up millions of dollars and not taking the guaranteed money to return to school where he could be injured or regress in his skills
This is fairly standard for high profile college athletes. Leinart did it when he came back for his 5th year. Luck also did it as well, so it's a common practice.
USC did a phenomenal job of stockpiling recruiting picks prior to their reduced scholarships as a result of the Bush penalty, and the bowl ban is over, so a BCS bowl is a good possibility. In 2012 USC will be ranked in the top 3 in preseason polls. Barkley will have most of his offensive back including the 2 best receivers in the country. He will go down as probably the greatest Trojan ever.
Now all I can hope for is that Jim Mora Jr. turns out to be another college Pete Carroll. Both have had inconsequential NFL head coaching careers. I think the UCLA AD is hoping Mora has a college career similar to Carroll.
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