MAIN MENU

Matt Barkley Home
Matt Barkley News
Video Highlights
Matt Barkley Links
USC Trojans
Sitemap
Contact Us

MATT BARKLEY NEWS

• USC football: Matt Barkley named Pac-12 offensive player of week
• USC Trojans Football: Matt Barkley The Maestro In Upset Of Oregon
• Matt Barkley Heisman campaign begins
• USC huge win at Oregon
• Stopping RB Polk is biggest key
• USC's Matt Barkley finds love and perspective in Nigeria
• Record-game For Barkley; Woods and Lee Shine in 48-41 Win Over Arizona
• USC Football Returns Home To Host Arizona
• Bank Of The West Weekly Football Honors
• FB | Jones still out with injury, to miss game Saturday against Southern California
• Trojans in need of better effort
• Scoggins: For Kiffin, misery doesn't love company
• USC Football Notebook: Barkley, Woods on same page in scrimmage
• USC's Matt Barkley named to 2011 Manning Award watch list
• USC FOOTBALL NOTES: Barkley shaky in first scrimmage
• Pio Vatuvei Verbals To USC Trojans Football
• USC's Matt Barkley, 5 other Pac-12 players named to 2011 Walter Camp watch list
• Southern California Trojans football
• USC Trojans Football: The Nickell Robey Story
• USC football: Issues come to the fore in the fourth
• Trojans release new numbers fot the fall roster
• No changes on the horizon for USC's football uniforms
• USC football: Nick Perry has a big number in mind
• OT Smith helps keep first-round grade at USC pro day
• Injuries will impact USC practice
• USC linemen the next Cam Newton?
• USC hires Nebraska's Gilmore as WRs coach
• USC Trojans redshirt freshman WR Kyle Prater breaks foot
• Eight USC Trojans invited to 2011 NFL Combine
• USC's Johnson, O'Dowd, Wright to take part in 2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl
• Amir Carlisle and Anthony Sarao Choose USC
• USC Recruiting | Trojans eyeing McKeesport DL recruit Delvon Simmons
• USC football: Is Lane Kiffin too unemotional?
• USC signs two more JC gridders
• Football recruiting: Losing Aaron Douglas hurts
• USC Football Recruiting: One More Verbal and Closing the Book on a Busy Weekend
• USC football: Breaking down Matt Barkley’s season
• USC seniors deserve a better ending
• USC Football Hosts Notre Dame In Famed Intersectional Rivalry
• USC Football: Was the Arizona Game a Sign of a Modified Spread in 2011?
• Barkley named semifinalist for O’Brien Award
• USC FOOTBALL NOTES: Passing comment serves as motivation
• Report card: Grading the Trojans (vs. Stanford)
• USC Football | Sarkisian shows he has transitioned from student to master
• Jupiter and Havili named USC Credit Union Student Athletes of the Week
• USC Football: Robert Woods' 97-yard kickoff touchdown return
• USC's Tyler goes from forgotten to first
• USC leans on Matt Barkley's leadership
• Mater Dei WR Blackwell among best in California
• USC Football Success Factors in 2010 And Beyond
• Laying the Foundation: USC Football Recruiting, 2011
• Joe McKnight doesn't mind the comparisons to New Orleans Saints' Reggie Bush
• USC Trojans to face Boston College Eagles in Emerald Bowl
• Corp gets the nod in Saturday's game against Washington
• Colts sign rookies Austin Collie (WR, BYU) and Fili Moala
• The Sideline Report: '09 College Football Preview
• USC 101: History of the Song Girl
• USC football: The best DBs, OLs in the nation?
• USC football: 5 most indispensable Trojans
• Ryans set to help Cushing
• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 4)
• UCS's Pete Carroll to Author "Win Forever" Book
• Trojans' quarterback Barkley getting into a groove
• Trojans' defense is quickly making strides
• 2009 NFL Draft Preview: Clay Matthews
• Lions coach Jim Schwartz will keep open mind at draft
• Waiting game finally over for Chiefs' Cassel
• Odd questions are the norm for prospects at the NFL combine
• Longevity runs in Matthews family
• Pythons kept at bay by brilliant Baxter
• SIGNING DAY 2009 : West Helena's Winston highlights Razorbacks' 2009 commitments
• USC's Sanchez among 12 Trojans invited to NFL combine
• Should He Have Stayed One More Season? Mark Sanchez Enters the NFL Draft!
• Carroll apologizes to Sanchez for demeanor
• Carl Smith And Mark Jackson Join USC Football Staff
• High School Football: Matt Barkley Leads White Team to Victory in Under Armour All-America Game
• Next Season Could Be A Test For Carroll, Trojans
• Trojans offensive line will have holes to fill
• Trojans' Moala will try not to cry
• Trojans' outlook: Up in BCS, down in Rose Bowl hopes
• USC blanks Arizona State, 28-0
• USC Seeks Upward Mobility
• QB Tuel takes aim at Centennial
• USC linebacker Cushing could be sidelined for Oregon State game
• Matt Barkley, Nation's Top HS Football Prospect, Opens Season on ESPN2

Next Season Could Be A Test For Carroll, Trojans

As the University of Southern California Trojans prepare for yet another Rose Bowl and the chance to destroy another Big Ten team’s hopes of winning in Pasadena, Coach Pete Carroll may be embarking on his biggest challenge at USC since he took over eight years ago.

Are the Trojans suddenly without a top-flight recruiting class? No. Are they losing most of their key contributors to graduation and/or the NFL draft? Possibly, but more importantly, the best coach in college football has been slowly losing pieces of his coaching staff over the past few years and now has basically turned over his entire staff on both sides of the ball in the last three years. Of course this wasn’t Carroll’s choice and actually is a sign of much success —to have so many of your assistants highly coveted is the highest sign of respect —but combine that with a few key starters departing, and the success that USC has enjoyed as of late may not come quite as easily.

The latest in a long line of migrations from USC is newly named Washington head coach, Steve Sarkisian. Before him, it was DeWayne Walker, who joined Rick Neuheisel across town at UCLA before the season. And before that it was Lane Kiffin and Norm Chow. Why do I bring this up now? Because continuity is the key —especially at the collegiate level —to long- term success. Having continuity in your program starts with the head coach but the everyday, hands-on duty is that of the assistant coaches. No coach is more hands-on than Carroll, but trying to teach specific fundamentals and techniques to roughly a hundred 19 and 20-year-olds is about as difficult as keeping track of their mobile phone minutes. It’s not tough, it’s impossible. And that’s why you need loyal assistants who can deliver the message you want delivered and never waver from it.

Head coaches lose assistants all the time, so what Carroll is going through hardly registers a blip on the crisis-meter but it does warn of possibly more turbulent times ahead. With USC, that may mean two losses instead of one or none next season. Or, dare I say, three losses? I know the Pac-10 doesn’t scare many people right now, but there is enough talent in California alone to fill all 10 teams in the league. And USC could look a little different next year if certain players get favorable reviews from NFL draft experts.

Suppose, for example, that quarterback Mark Sanchez leaves school for this April’s NFL Draft. Next year’s starter will then be current red-shirt freshman Aaron Corp, third-year sophomore Mitch Mustain or true freshman Matt Barkley. Not a problem, right? The Trojans are so good at developing quarterbacks that there’s one playing right now in the NFL who never started a game at USC. Which is true, but who do you think helped develop the Patriots Matt Cassell? Besides the Patriots themselves, that would be among others, Sarkisian.

Replacing Sarkisian will be Carl Smith, who coached the USC quarterbacks in 2004 when Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders. But the loss of team MVP Ray Maualuga, linebacker Brian Cushing and defensive end Clay Matthews among others, and possibly linebackers coach Ken Norton, could make 2009 a tough season for the Trojans to win the Pac-10, let alone the national title.

The Pac-10 has upgraded the level of their coaches in the last few years with few ‘cupcakes’ left in the conference. Oregon is always good, Mike Riley has a good thing going at Oregon State and the same can be said for Mike Stoops at Arizona. Now with Sarkisian taking over in Seattle and Neuheisel with a year under his belt across town, the landscape of the Pac-10 is changing. And so is USC’s, but will it be for the better?

The Prediction Game

Other than big games, I’m not one for making predictions, especially three years down the road and here’s why: in sports (and life) one rarely knows what will happen next week, let alone a year or two down the road. That is the joy of life —it can be one wild ride. That brings me to what occurred last week in Foxborough, MA, but first, let’s go back almost three years to the day.

In late December of 2005, USC was preparing for what turned out to be the Game of the Century (up until that date). It was Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush against Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. And riding the pine again for the Trojans was Chatsworth’s Matt Cassell. Fast-forward three years to last week in Foxborough and it was Cassell leading the Patriots to their 10th win in 15 tries in 2008, and Leinart providing mop-up duty in a 47-7 thrashing at the hands of his former understudy, Cassell. That’s the beauty of sports and life —you never know what will happen next.

Time is now for Dodgers, Ramirez

As this went to print, Mark Texiera had just inked an eight-year deal with the Yankees after all other suitors backed away from the negotiating table. The same seems to be happening in the Manny Ramirez sweepstakes —baseball clubs with seemingly endless supplies of cash to throw at free-agent ballplayers are suddenly becoming fiscally responsible. That is why the time is now for Dodgers GM Ned Colletti to act. I wrote last week how his patience has been smart and effective in this off-season but with Ramirez still out there, the Dodgers and Ramirez’s agent, Scott Boras, should be able to come to a compromise that makes both the club and player happy. I know I just used “compromise” and “ Boras” in the same sentence, but after seeing that the market is quite cooler than anyone thought for all free-agents, both sides must realize that L.A. is the place for Ramirez.

 

 

 

 

(More on www.canyon-news.com)

MORE MATT BARKLEY NEWS

Message: This news feed will stop on Jan 23 2012. Thank you for your custom.
Jan 30 2012 2:34PM GMT

Football recruiting: Morris may be a pleasant surprise for Tide
Montgomery Advertiser Jan 30 2012 2:34PM GMT Florida State. "You see Alec Morris here, he's serviceable. Alabama hasn't needed to have Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley or Matt Stafford out there to win. So field generals are good. Quarterbacking one of the premier programs for two seasons in

Football recruiting: Morris may be a pleasant surprise for Tide
Prattville Progress Jan 30 2012 12:20PM GMT Florida State. "You see Alec Morris here, he's serviceable. Alabama hasn't needed to have Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley or Matt Stafford out there to win. So field generals are good. Quarterbacking one of the premier programs for two seasons in

Local roundup: Disc golfers Criss, Hokum win open divisions at Felton Freeze
Santa Cruz Sentinel Jan 30 2012 10:59AM GMT the Intermediate flight, La Selva's Ryan Gonyea shot a 2-under 112 for the win, San Jose's Matt Barkley took second with 117 and Monterey's Sean Allen took third at 119. CYCLING The fourth race in the Surf City Cyclo-X series course was held Sunday at

Kiffin, Orgeron Keep USC on Track
DawgsBite.com Jan 30 2012 6:37AM GMT of Robert Woods and Marquise Lee among others, and some teams could lose some of their leaders like Matt Barkley. ?Getting or keeping those guys on campus while trimming the roster of non producers will help lessen the impact of the scholarship

Holler: RG3 holds the key
PackerReport.com Jan 29 2012 2:22PM GMT flat on their faces, the quarterback market is as hot as it has ever been. The decisions of Matt Barkley and Landry Jones, both of whom would have been first-rounders, to stay in school increased Griffin?s value. Unlike most aspects of life, where

Top recruits don't always work out for teams
Individual.com Jan 29 2012 9:28AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. Class of 2008 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio

Mock draft begins with Luck, trade for Griffin
SI.com Jan 29 2012 7:58AM GMT read is that Tannehill is the most likely candidate. Washington's desperation at quarterback is obvious, and no Matt Barkley or Landry Jones means the Redskins might have to roll the dice on the former Aggie. Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina. The

Top recruits don't always work out for teams
Pittsburgh Tribune Review Jan 29 2012 7:23AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State,

Top recruits don't always work out for teams
Pittsburgh Tribune Review Jan 29 2012 7:23AM GMT Missouri, Gateway (Mo.): Academics forced him to JC for two years, Missouri backup for half of 2011. 5. Matt Barkley, QB, USC, Mater Dei (Calif.): Threw for Pac-12 record 39 TDs, early Heisman favorite for 2012. 1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State,