Quote:There's a lot of good QB prospects in next year's draft. That's why I'll be paying attention closely to this college season. But heading into 2017 I am mostly interested in these three in no particular order just yet:
1. Luke Falk - Washington St. - He's played primarily out of the spread offense in college but he's very accurate with the football but he'll more than likely need a lot of work and time to develop. He's somebody I'd feel comfortable with in maybe RD2 or RD3 next year or even in the top ten if we're there again if they manage to win football games despite average play from Bortles in 2017.
2. Jake Browning - Washington - I liked what I saw out of him last year. He was highly productive. Got schooled at times in the conference game they lost to Alabama. But, he still has a lot of upside. Again, depending on how 2017 plays out he could honestly be a top ten selection or maybe a day two option. Played through a shoulder injury on his throwing arm though and is recently coming off of surgery. Hopefully it doesn't set him back much.
3. Sam Darnold - USC - Going on a 9 game winning streak will get somebody's attention. But he played very well and protected the football a lot. He has the prototypical size and arm ability you want to see in a QB. Could be Carson Palmer 2.0.
As the go to left coast guy I have to chime in here.
1. Outside of the Apple Cup, Luke Falk was great all year. Washington was one of only three teams to have three defensive backs drafted. The others were Colorado and Buffalo.
He completed 70% of his passes with 38 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He is 6'4".
2. Jake Browning has never had a big time arm, but in the November 22 game against Arizona State the true Sophomore injured his shoulder. This limited his effectiveness throwing the ball deep to the fastest receiver on planet earth. The only two teams that they lost to knew it, USC and Alabama. He had surgery for it in January and was cleared to practice in April,
Still, He completed 62.1% of his passes for 3430 yards (8.8 yard average/attempt) with 43 touchdowns (tied PAC-12 record) and 9 interceptions.
3. If Alabama had to play USC with Sam Darnold at quarterback that game would have been a much different story. In the first half, you could tell that the Trojans had the talent to play with the Crimson Tide. I mean, they recruit in Hollywood, it's not that hard. The problem was that Max Browne was just terrible at quarterback. The USC offense scored only 23 points in their first three games going 1-2.
Then Darnold started against a very good Utah team and scored 27 in his only loss of the season. The Trojans never failed to score less than 26 for the rest of the year, which was in a 26-13 victory against Washington in Seattle.
