Southern California head coach Lane Kiffin is setting the bar high for junior quarterback Matt Barkley.
Top NFL Draft prospects Barkley, Luck want higher completion percentages in 2011
Kiffin told the Los Angeles Times he wants Barkley completing 70 percent of his passes this season. In 2010, Barkley completed a solid 62.6 percent of his throws. If Barkley can improve in that area, he may challenge Andrew Luck of Stanford as being the top quarterback eligible for the 2012 NFL Draft.
Its not like Luck is sitting back on the 70.7 completion percentage he had last season, though. In an ESPN the Magazine story last week, Luck said he wants to complete 75 percent of his passes this season.
Cam Newton, this year's No. 1 overall pick, completed 66.1 percent of his passes in 2010. Eighth overall pick Jake Locker completed 55.4 percent of his passes and 10th pick Blaine Gabbert completed 63.4 percent.
Of course, completion percentage is just part of the inexact equation on how to evaluate quarterbacks as pro prospects. In the update Lewin Career Forecast 2.0 by Football Outsiders, career starts, multiple rushing stats and BMI should also be considered.
According to the LCF, Andy Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals was the top quarterback prospect in this year's draft followed by Ricky Stanzi (Chiefs) and Colin Kaepernick (49ers). Luck would have been rated higher than everyone had he come out.
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