Matt Barkley had a decision to make after his 2011 USC football season. He could have come out for the 2012 NFL draft instead of staying another year at USC and waiting for the NFL. Yet, Barkley referred to “unfinished business” at USC as the reason for running it back with the Trojans.
Obviously, that decision did not work out for Barkley. USC was viewed before the 2012 season under then-coach Lane Kiffin as a major national contender, but the season fell apart, much as the 2023 campaign did for another quarterback — Caleb Williams — who stayed one more season instead of flying to the NFL. USC’s 2012 season ended in a miserable Sun Bowl loss to Georgia Tech. In 2013, Lane Kiffin was infamously “tarmac’d” after an ugly loss to Arizona State.
It is fascinating to look back at Barkley’s 2013 comments to Jon Gruden at the coach’s quarterback camp, if only because Caleb Williams is the latest USC quarterback to step into the NFL world and all the scrutiny that involves.
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