It’s Official: Matt Barkley Returns For His Senior Season at USC
It’s official. Matt Barkley is returning for his senior season at USC, foregoing the chance to be a top ten pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. The stage setup sort of gave it away. He’ll get ripped by some for having the audacity to shirk the shield. He’ll get praised by some for “staying in school,” but ultimately this is about what he values. College is college. The NFL is a job.
Barkley went to USC to go to Rose Bowls, to compete for BCS titles and to win the Heisman trophy. Next year is his first opportunity to do so. He is the guy who held USC together through a dark period. He could be the hero who returns them to the top. He gets that opportunity once. The NFL money will be there in 2013. He might not maximize his earning potential, but how do you put a price on a dream college season?
This is huge for USC and Kiffin. Scholarship reductions start this winter. The Trojans essentially have a one-year window next year to shoot for a BCS title before depth issues drag them down. They have the supporting cast returning. They just needed the best quarterback in college football. Expect a top five ranking.
[Photo via Getty]
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74 Responses to “It’s Official: Matt Barkley Returns For His Senior Season at USC”
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December 22nd, 2011 at 4:08 PM
Martin Havlat’s out for 6-8 weeks. Shocking.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:10 PM
Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same. Having every ridiculously hot girl at USC probably throwing themselves at you constantly might make the choice even easier.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:12 PM
Glad he is staying. He hasn’t always been my favorite… as far as Trojan careers, he’s second to Leinart, who was a great college QB. Palmer couldn’t ever hit a goddamn WR more than 25yds down the field…
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:13 PM
He’s no STAFFDADDY!
/Huskerdawg’d
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:14 PM
they will be pretty salty next year. i think this all but seals rgIII going to the nfl.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:15 PM
Couldn’t he have just announced it without the big presentation? Or is that disdain saved only for LeBron?
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:17 PM
A simple press conference to answer a question he’s been getting 9247802973 times a day for months on end doesn’t compare to LeBron having an hour long special on ESPN about how big of a twat he is.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:17 PM
+2 baseball caps on a table for ESPNU Signing Day show
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:19 PM
eh, probably didn’t like the prospects of that team would draft him, and would rather be top dog on a college campus rather than an overhyped QB that can’t live up to expectations, a la the sanchize.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:20 PM
right, because no one was asking LeBron any questions leading up to his announcement.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:21 PM
I don’t get this…it’s not like mediocre USC QBs lack the necessary means, the necessary means, to get women.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:21 PM
Good call Darrell! These two are obviously the same thing.
/wanking motion
//he’s an idiot to go back. Get paid now, college ain’t going anywhere.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Finally, 9 years later, we’ll get that LSU-USC championship game.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:23 PM
He’ll get insurance, win a Rose Bowl and get more money in the long run.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:23 PM
Calling a press conference is normal. People will have questions. Media members not named Jim Gray will be allowed to ask questions. They will all get their answers at once. He streamlined it.
This is different than LeBron…he did it for the kids.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:23 PM
Not if he gets hurt or has a subpar season. Strike while the iron is hot, and all that.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:27 PM
Finally, 9 years later, we’ll get that LSU-USC championship game.
Honey Badger makes Barkley his bitch.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:28 PM
It could be argued that his iron would look a little hotter not standing next to Luck. He could go #1 overall next year. Pay for the top 5 is similar, but pretty steep drop off by the time you get to 10.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:29 PM
probably the biggest motivating factor
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:30 PM
There was more of an argument to be made for Andrew Luck making a mistake because of the impending CBA changes regarding rookie salries…now Barkley can spend next season gearing up to be the #1 pick and gets to avoid Cleveland this time around, a win-win if you ask me
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:31 PM
I will believe any of these guys are staying school once the deadline to file papers for the draft has passed.
Once the bowl game is over and the reality of passing up 20+ million has hit Barkley he may change his mind. Probably not but I wouldn’t be surprised. Not like his coach sticks around on one team for too long.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:31 PM
Probably a good choice considering how good USC will be and the competition at the QB spot in this year’s draft. Hope for his sake he doesn’t pull a Leinart.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:32 PM
Fuck USC
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:32 PM
That and all the college-aged ass he’s pulling
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:33 PM
It didn’t seem to hurt Sam Bradford’s and Andrew Luck’s draft stock. In fact, Barkley has a chance to improve his draft stock for next year since he is behind Luck at this point and could fall behind RGIII before April. Now he is clear cut #1 QB going into 2012 CFB season.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:34 PM
It could also be argued that this year is as hot as it’s going to get. You never know who is coming over the horizon next year the way RGIII did this year. Lots of guys like Rob Bosco or Ken Swilling stayed a year too long and lost money.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:34 PM
/farts
Is it time to go home yet?
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:34 PM
Fall to the 10th pick?
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:35 PM
Couldn’t he have just announced it without the big presentation? Or is that disdain saved only for LeBron?
/swims right past that stinkbait….
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:35 PM
Which sucks. I’d like to see RG bring Baylor to the BCS promised land. And it seems like next year would be a prime opportunity.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:37 PM
no shit. I bought a bottle of bourbon at lunch and it’s been calling my name all afternoon.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:37 PM
I agree. There are two sides to this one. He is definitely rolling the dice.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:40 PM
It could also be argued that this year is as hot as it’s going to get. You never know who is coming over the horizon next year the way RGIII did this year. Lots of guys like Rob Bosco or Ken Swilling stayed a year too long and lost money.
If he is a guy that’s going to get exposed as crappy when scouts give the tape a harder look, it won’t matter if he comes out this year or next, because he’d get plenty of scrutiny the next 4 months. he’s played a lot already, more tape will only help him.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Impregnate a basketball player?
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Dude is going to have his Masters by May I thought. Why would he stay?
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:42 PM
the clippers better watch out.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:44 PM
Says he wants to go to law school, and Baylor is arguably the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best law school in Texas. He seems to have a thirst for knowledge, an odd quality for your typical college athlete.
I think he’d be a moron to return, seeing as how he’s already blown out a knee, but I think (could be wrong) that he recently said something to the effect that playing in the NFL wasn’t really his goal in life. Could just be a lot of smoke he’s blowing up everyone’s ass, but he doesn’t seem to be wired like that.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:45 PM
I thought all female basketball players were lesbos. See post this morning.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:45 PM
I do, it’s Tyler Wilson.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:45 PM
Blake Griffin’s got them birthin’ hips.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:46 PM
Matt Barkley looks like a less sad version of Fetch.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:47 PM
except that an additional year means Barkley gets all of the scrutiny Luck received this year.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:47 PM
Go from #1 lock to 10th, hold out, suck, have confidence crushed, then drift into obscurity
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:50 PM
So he’s going to play ball and go to law school!!!? It doesn’t seem feasible to me, but maybe some of the lawyers on here who have done the law school thing can get into that.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:50 PM
except that an additional year means Barkley gets all of the scrutiny Luck received this year.
Luck went from #1 overall to #1 overall, and got to have another year of fun before he has to get a job. If you can play, it is going to work out for you either way.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 PM
It didn’t seem to hurt Sam Bradford’s
Didn’t Bradford almost have to stay due to his injury?
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 PM
Fall to the 10th pick?
I firmly believe that if Leinart came out as a junior, scouts would have taken a harder look at his tape and he wouldn’t have gone the #1 that people thought right after the season ended. he would have fallen that year for the same reason he fell after his senior
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 PM
It’s just Baylor’s law school. He can handle it.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:53 PM
So he’s going to play ball and go to law school!!!?
Didn’t Steve Young do this? Not full time school but still had the JD soon after retirement.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:53 PM
Just because Barkley is a pro doesn’t mean he can stop getting college ass. Dude shoulda gotten paid
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:54 PM
I don’t believe he was a lock for #1, especially with his weak arm, plus the elbow surgery he needed that year. Still, Top 10 money is not a bad place to fall to.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:55 PM
Exact opposite. He stayed and got injured. Then came out after he missed most of his final season.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:55 PM
I doubt he’ll get more money, as he’s basically taking a year away from his NFL career, but his insurance will cover a very nice lifestyle, and I’m sure the girls at USC > girls in Cleveland.
And Duffy, don’t be an idiot. College IS going somewhere. He can’t retire at 35 and go back to USC for his senior year and hook up with all the co-eds he wants.
/realizes the futility of telling Duffy not to be an idiot
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:56 PM
i don’t think you’d want to go to any team that would take the hot hand over the truly talented player anyway. Not saying Barkley is on part with Rodgers, but the Packers did their homework and took a great opportunity, while all the other teams who took QB’s were dazzled by the hot hands.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:56 PM
He was going against Alex Smith if he came out. I think he would have gone #1.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:59 PM
He was going against Alex Smith if he came out. I think he would have gone #1.
so was Aaron Rodgers. people make mistakes. it is more art than science.
/science
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:59 PM
Hilarious that Alex Smith was #1 and Rodgers was something like #23 or #24
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:59 PM
It’s just Baylor’s law school. He can handle it.
one of the top litigation schools in the nation, you know that.
but for all he says, i think he leaves.
December 22nd, 2011 at 4:59 PM
lol.
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:00 PM
Okay… that was Vega and not Duffy that was being an idiot. Should look more than glancing at avatars.
/sorry Duff-man
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:00 PM
Is it time to go home yet?
Pouring rain and horrendous traffic in Atlanta. I’m about 1.5 miles from the pink pony and about 26 miles from home. What should I do?
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:02 PM
Say RGII passes him this year and he falls to the 8th pick. #1 overall money next year > #8 overall money this year.
The diff is ~ $7 million for 2011 draft picks (Newton and Locker).
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:03 PM
Pony! Not safe to drive in pouring rain.
/Other people’d
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:07 PM
A lot of teams were turned off by Rodger’s hatred of cancer patients.
/SC’d
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:09 PM
that decision pretty much makes itself, does it not?
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:09 PM
The NFL pretty much stays with its consensus top from the end of the Bowl games through the draft pretty much every year. The only exception I can think of off the bat is the Mario Williams pick. Coming back for another year increases the amount of scrutiny you come under. Even Luck has gone through it to the point that there are teams out there that say they would take Griffin over Luck straight up.
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:12 PM
so Barkley is a Jets fan, huh?
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:14 PM
“one of the top” sounds made up. But I didn’t say Baylor Law sucked. Just that, you know, it’s Baylor Law. He won’t have many, if any, ivy league grads he’s competing against on the law school grading curve. Plenty of bright people go to law school there, but Griffin is obviously not going to fail to fit in.
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:15 PM
Courtney Brown, if I remember right. Thought that Arrington was getting a lot of run as the top guy at the end of the season…
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:17 PM
That’s definitely true.
If he knows how to take amphetamines and tear pages out of books, he’ll be fine.
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:20 PM
I don’t believe Newton was thought of as the top pick until late in the process last year.
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:23 PM
Number 1 picks are never overrated.
/Aundray Bruce’d
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:31 PM
Happiest person: Lane Kiffin
2nd/3rd happiest: Robert Griffin III and his agent
December 22nd, 2011 at 11:14 PM
Once the bowl game is over and the reality of passing up 20+ million has hit Barkley he may change his mind.
Uh, which bowl game is going to change Barkley’s mind?