Never in my life can I remember more buzz surrounding a college quarterback than Andrew Luck. That’s not to say it hasn’t happened — I just can’t remember it. When teams lose their first few games of the season and fans are already talking about tanking on purpose, they have to be shockingly excited about the possibility of drafting the consensus No. 1 overall pick. At least one college coach isn’t buying the hype.
Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian, who used to coach at USC under Pete Carroll, said on Tuesday that he would take the Trojans Matt Barkley over Luck if he were drafting an NFL quarterback.
“I think Matt Barkley is playing at a high level,” Sarkisian said according to Shutdown Corner. “I said this earlier to the staff and I’ll say it to you guys — if I’m an NFL head coach I’d pick Matt Barkley over Andrew Luck. I think he is playing at that high a level. I think where he fits into the National Football League and his pocket presence and what Lane [Kiffin] is doing with him, the variety of offense that they’re playing with, his ability to make all of the throws, anticipate throws, throwing them on time, throwing them accurately, he’s fantastic to me. And I know him personally, so I have a little better insight of who he is, what we represents. I think he’s fantastic.”
Knowing him personally obviously also creates a bias, but Sarkisian is not the only one who feels that way about Luck. Barkley has thrown for 28 touchdowns and six interceptions compared to Luck’s 26 scores and five picks, so it is not unreasonable to compare the two.
The world of sports works in mysterious ways. When enough people buy into one particular player, you start to get the feeling the odds are stacked against that player. It is going to be extremely difficult for Luck to live up to the hype that is surrounded him. In order to do so, he will have to rescue the franchise that selects him. That could be the single most difficult thing to do in the NFL.
