Thursday was an emotional day for USC quarterback Mark Sanchez. He held a press conference to formally announce that he will enter the NFL draft. He thanked his friends, family and teammates. He laughed. He cried. He spoke of his “dream” to play professional. ↵
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↵And then his now-former coach Pete Carroll busted through the door to make an encore appearance as Buzz Killington, essentially saying that a) Sanchez made the wrong decision, b) there’s a 50% chance, at best, that he’ll succeed at the next level, given his limited experience in college:↵
Carroll: Sanchez Isn’t Ready; ‘He Knows That’
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↵Carroll’s frustration is understandable; his hopes for a National Championship next season may go out the door with Sanchez. But his comments were in poor taste. The kid has already made his decision, he’s not coming back, so Carroll might as well at least pretend to be supportive. (For the record, Carroll adding "and he knows that" after every negative he says does not qualify as "support".)↵
↵↵And, despite what Carroll thinks, there’s plenty to support because Sanchez made the right decision. With Tebow and Bradford both coming back next season, Sanchez is immediately bumped up to the second best QB in this year’s draft. Besides that, there’s nothing to support Carroll’s theory that his QBs who had more playing time while at USC excelled at the next level. Matt Leinart, who started three seasons in college, has been a bust thus far, while Matt Cassel, who threw 16 total passes while at USC, proved to be a top-tier quarterback this season.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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