Niner Noise
FanSided

Week 8 college football quarterback stock report for 49ers

By Aaron Tan

BERKELEY, CA - SEPTEMBER 23: Sam Darnold #14 of the USC Trojans passes against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at California Memorial Stadium on September 23, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA - SEPTEMBER 23: Sam Darnold #14 of the USC Trojans passes against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at California Memorial Stadium on September 23, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images) /
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BERKELEY, CA – SEPTEMBER 23: Sam Darnold #14 of the USC Trojans passes against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at California Memorial Stadium on September 23, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA – SEPTEMBER 23: Sam Darnold #14 of the USC Trojans passes against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at California Memorial Stadium on September 23, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images) /

Sam Darnold, USC Trojans

USC quarterback Sam Darnold was a revelation for the USC Trojans last season, leading his team to nine straight wins including one in the Rose Bowl. I loved watching Darnold last season — he was poised, smart, and accurate. I wanted him to be the future quarterback for the 49ers.

However, Darnold hasn’t lived up to the sky-high expectations set for him this season, to say the least. Darnold has thrown at least one interception in seven out of eight games this season.

You could argue that USC got as badly beat as the 49ers did this week. USC lost to Notre Dame 49-14, and as a result, game flow worked against an accurate performance analysis of Darnold, who didn’t even play the full game.

Regardless of that fact, here’s what I noticed about Darnold against Notre Dame.

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A positive takeaway I found was that Darnold didn’t miss open receivers. Whenever there was a cornerback playing soft coverage, Darnold would display excellent timing with his receivers and hit them right in their hands. However, Darnold has a tendency to throw the ball into tight windows, and he misfires on a lot of those passes. This makes Darnold prone to turnovers. He threw a bad interception in the second quarter straight in the cornerback’s zone. Darnold also attempted a dangerous throw into the endzone that should have been picked.

Another quick negative I saw was Darnold’s awkward decisions to start scrambling. Darnold ran the ball nine times for seven yards in this game, and is averaging 0.4 yards per carry on the season. The Trojan quarterback often seeks to run the ball and misreads running lanes. He does not have the speed to outrun defenders and always gets minimal yardage as a result.

Darnold’s draft stock is trending downwards after his breakout season, and while I think he still has massive potential, you just have to wonder if this season’s version of Darnold is the one we’re going to see for the rest of his football career.