The Opening Finals got underway from Beaverton, Oreg. on Thursday, featuring some of the most touted recruiting prospects in the country. Some of the bigger QB names include Clemson commit and 2018’s No. 1 overall prospect in Trevor Lawrence, five-star Justin Fields, and Virginia Tech commit Quincy Patterson.
USC QB Sam Darnold builds hype even while working as a camp counselor
The Opening Finals has a competition for QBs who are working as instructors, and Darnold aced it.
Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
One annual tradition is having current college quarterbacks serve as camp counselors. Those have included Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, and Clemson’s Tajh Boyd.
This year, one of those counselors is USC quarterback Sam Darnold, who is coming off of a 3,086 yard, 31-touchdown season during the Trojans’ final nine games. Not only did Darnold get to tutor young QBs, he put up the highest score ever for the event’s annual counselor competition.
Per Myerberg, some of the other counselors on-hand this weekend include Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph, BYU’s Tanner Mangum, and Grambling’s DeVante Kincade.
Darnold is no stranger to The Opening Finals. In 2014, before he was committed to USC, he attended the event alongside quarterbacks such as Blake Barnett, Florida State’s Deondre Francios, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, and former Baylor, now-Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham. At the time, Darnold was still a sleeper in the recruiting class, considering Duke Northwestern, and Oregon.
It’s no secret why the hype surrounding Darnold is so high entering this season after such a successful 2016 campaign and an impressive Rose Bowl victory over Penn State. Darnold will be key for the Trojans to be in the College Football Playoff conversation.
From the moment Sam Darnold took the starting QB job in Week 4, USC was different. The Trojans averaged 4.6 yards per play before he took over and 6.9 after, 20.3 points per game before and 38.6 after. The Trojans were the only team to beat Washington in the regular season — by 13 points in Seattle, no less — and the only one besides Michigan to beat Colorado. They beat a peaking Penn State in the Rose Bowl. They didn’t let lesser teams come anywhere close.
Per OddsShark, Darnold has +250 odds to win the Heisman Trophy. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt his hype stock when he’s making ridiculous throws like this one, from the back of a boat.
Just a couple more months until we get to see Darnold back on the field in a Trojans uniform.
