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USC Morning Buzz: A Cautionary Story For QB Derby

With a big quarterback decision looming in August, here is a story from 2016 that I have never written but will recount for the benefit of new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell.

About two weeks before USC played Alabama in 2016, Clay Helton told his coaching staff Sam Darnold had outperformed Max Browne and would be the starter. The coaches adjusted the game plan for Darnold to start the Alabama game.

The next day, the coaches heard media reports that Helton had named Browne the starter.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to play the best player and who’s performing the best,” Helton told reporters when he named Browne the starter. “You can’t look at your other players in the eye and not play the best player.

“Usually if you’re not playing the best player, you’re losing games. They usually find a new head coach, so you’d better put the best 11 out there that you can put out there.”

  • An update: I’ve heard Helton was on crutches because he had bone spurs. Conflicting injury stories? Just like when a USC player gets hurt. Either way he is on crutches.

19 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: A Cautionary Story For QB Derby”

  1. “Usually if you’re not playing the best player, you’re losing games.”

    – Clay “Steve Sarkisian’s Errand Boy” Helton

    That would explain Errand Boy sticking with J.T. Daniels and compiling USC’s (5-7) 2018 won/loss record.

    J.T. Daniels and Errand Boy could only manage to put up 3 pts. on Stanford in 2018…Gawd Damn How Embarrassing!

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    1. Again your stupidity shines trollboy! That was the game where he smashed his hand on the helmet of the stanfurd linebacker?? Of course it was, and he was pulled and taken to the locker room in the first quarter, then played the rest of the game with a bruised hand. If you’d ever done a lick of work in your life you’d know the pain associated with that.

      Pick a different game Trollboy . You again spin the truth until it isn’t recognizable.

      Trollboy

      💋

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      1. UCLA 34 – Felony U 27

        JT panics and launches perfect balloon pass to the only player available – a Bruin DB.

        Later, JT “the Alligator” claims he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds, but still couldn’t explain why his OOB pass hit the Bruin DB in the numbers. LOL SUCCXsters.

        #Ding goes the Vic Bell.

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      3. Trollboy.
        You’re so disingenuous it’s not funny…you pick a game where he was concussed?? Seriously, your a fool.

        Your agenda exceeds you.

        💋

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Wrong, Pudly. It’s very recognizable. It’s so finely tuned. So nuanced. So fair. It’s gotta be tebow.
        #Yep.TebowAllTheWay……

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Stupid freddie…why u askin me? I like you had no say in the matter. I know they held him out of practice twice that week though.
        It’s easily substantiated by checking the replay on YouTube.
        Pound sand freddie. BTW, nice mess those Narbonne boys made for themselves. Hahahahaha

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  2. If it weren’t for Michael Pittman having to go up and adjust to catch an errant underthrown pass, J.T. Daniels wouldn’t have completed a pass where the ball traveled more than 10 yards vertically vs Stanford.

    LOL!

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  3. That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. I wish I had those 14 seconds of my life back. Flow, that’s your juicy Thursday?! Lame ass shit. You post this with such arrogance. You actually think Harrell reads this garbage?! Only we do! And again with kicking a grown man when he’s down. Flow, you’re dropping faster than Chaz Buckets. And that’s low.

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    1. Clay Helton’s second rate coaching is common knowledge…nationally.

      Graham Harrell should know this, but he isn’t all that bright…so maybe not.

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  4. That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. This was your juicy Thursday story?! I wish I had those 14 seconds of my life back. Flow, you post this with such arrogance. You actually think Harrell reads this garbage?! Only we do! And again with kicking a man when he’s down. Such a goddamn tool, Flow.

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  6. Good coaches play the best players, not inexperienced clowns like Clay Helton, so look for JT to start the season, until they pull him after a 1-5 start .

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    1. J.T. Daniels won’t make it to 6 games.

      Daniels and Helton will go 1-3 before he’s yanked. Swann will reassure Trojan fans that Errand Boy is his guy and that he just needs more time to get in sync with the changes made to the coaching staff.

      Nothing is ever Errand Boys fault…he’s such a nice guy.

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  7. Even with Darnold, the Bama game would have been a blood bath. Just not as much of an embarrassment. The team was completely unprepared to play, and there was no single player who could have changed the outcome.

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    1. You are right about that. USC was out played thoroughly. It was like watching a high school team playing a pro team. By the second half USC looked shell shocked the line couldn’t block, the quarterback looked like a deer in the headlights and the defense was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
      The real problem is I could be describing almost any game in the Helton era. Even when we had better players (most every game) they weren’t used correctly or overused until it was easy to beat them.
      Help us Obe wan Harrell you’re our only hope!

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