The descent from the top can sometimes be a free fall. In what has seemed like a continuation of the 2012 season, former USC quarterback Matt Barkley continues to be marred by criticism.
Barkley, who prior to the 2012 season was thought to be the No. 1 quarterback and quite possibly the No. 1 player taken in the 2013 NFL Draft, has been tabbed by some draft experts as a player worthy of a third- or even fourth-round grade.
West Virginia’s Geno Smith and Florida State’s E.J. Manuel are rated higher than him by some experts.
A hot topic in the midst of all the skepticism directed at Barkley is his arm strength, or lack thereof. He didn’t get the chance to prove critics wrong in that area at last month’s NFL Scouting Combine. Barkley wasn’t medically cleared to throw, still rehabbing from the sprained AC joint he suffered at UCLA last November.
He will throw at his Pro Day on March 27. It’s there that Barkley, who says he’s thrown deep balls “with great velocity” during his rehab, plans to prove his arm is as strong as it needs to be.
Barkley shared with Sports Illustrated that he was “rehabbing really seriously” and his rehab was similar to that done by players returning from Tommy John surgery.
“I’ve definitely gained some zip on the ball,” Barkley said to SI. “I’ll be able to throw the ball better than before I was injured.
“My Pro Day will dispel those myths about my arm.”
As he’s been sliced and diced and put under the microscope during the draft process, questions about his mechanics and his decision making have also surfaced, stemming from the step backward he took in 2012.
He threw a career-high 15 interceptions in 2012, coming off of a 39-touchdown, seven-interception campaign in 2011 that made him the toast of the football world.
“Every year is not going to be the same,” Barkley said. “Think about it. You can’t get better every single year. It’s physically impossible to keep throwing more yards and more yards and more yards every year, so there’s going to be some years where it just doesn’t click or some things don’t go the way as planned and that was just one of those years.”
One scout reportedly placed the blame of Barkley’s 2012 season on the coaching staff, to which USC head coach Lane Kiffin offered a response.
“Any time that interceptions go up like that, you got to look at yourself as the head coach and play caller and find ways to do things better,” Kiffin said. “Like I’ve said all along, Matt was a product of things out of his control.”
What a difference a year makes.
At the end of his junior campaign, Barkley was being mentioned in the same sentences as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. He was a sure-fire first rounder and by all accounts was going to battle RGIII to be the second quarterback taken behind Luck.
No one knew the 2012 class — throwing Russell Wilson in the mix as well — would be so dynamic that three rookie signal callers would lead their teams to the playoffs.
Now anytime Barkley is mentioned in a sentence with the 2012 rookies, it’s relating to how he won’t be able to duplicate the success they had last season.
“I don’t feel like there’s any pressure on my part to live up to them,” Barkley said.
Nor does he feel any need to be placed in the same box as recent USC quarterbacks that have been taken in the first round — Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and Mark Sanchez.
There are plenty of similarities between them. All four prepped at Orange County high schools, while Leinart and Barkley attended the same high school, Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif.
However, Kiffin pointed out a glaring difference in Barkley and two of the three most recent first rounders.
“In (Barkley’s) career he was a product of a much different defense than the other Heisman quarterbacks here,” Kiffin said.
Palmer’s 2003 Orange Bowl championship team featured the emergence of the “Wild Bunch II,” which allowed just 284 yards a game. Key members of the group dubbed the best defensive line in college football were still around when Leinart quarterbacked the Trojans to the 2004 National Championship. That group allowed just 279 yards per game.
To Kiffin’s point, Barkley never enjoyed that type of production in his four years as a starter. The best USC defense, statistically, in the Barkley era was during his freshman season, when they gave up 340 yards a game.
The training ground Barkley has had to deal with during this stretch is one that few others can replicate.
He spent the last eight years as the starting quarterback at two very high profile programs. Four years at Mater Dei High School and four at USC.
Barkley was named the National Player of the Year after a stellar junior year at Mater Dei. Following a senior season in which he threw 23 touchdowns and 18 interceptions, questions swirled whether he was still worthy of top billing, similar to what he's going through now following his senior year with the Trojans.
“When you come to USC, you’re in the media spotlight,” said Clay Helton, who spent the last three seasons as USC's quarterbacks coach. “We’re the pro football team of Los Angeles and that’s the way we look at it. The quarterback at USC has to know that when he’s here he’s going to execute and he’s gotta deal with media and he’s gotta deal with tough questions. He’s been very fortunate to be (the starter for) four years at USC and to have that pressure on him.”
Still, that pressure may not be greater than the pressure he puts on himself. Despite all the skepticism surrounding him, he’s announced that he’d like his eight-year run as a starting quarterback to become nine.
“What I hope to do is start right away and to make an impact right away,” Barkley said. “My ultimate goal is to be playing come September.”
