I know I bash USC QBs a lot but I think Barkley may be one of the best pro prospects I've ever seen.

When I watch Matt Barkley play, I see Jeff Garcia with a bigger arm and a better feel on touch passes. Barkley would really fit well into a West Coast system in the NFL.

Barkley's biggest issue is consistency. He'll complete like 5 straight bonafide NFL throws then miss a wide open guy on consecutive plays. I'm not entirely sure what the cause is though though, it's nothing glaring, but it's something that is a recurring theme with him. It's game to game too. He couldn't miss against Arizona, then misfired a bunch against Cal. Good Barkley is a absolute stud. The problem is he's not always there.

My guess would be his footwork... his footwork is rarely all that good, but he makes good throws in spite of it. That could explain the inconsistency.

I didn't know where to put this, so I figured this would be a decent place to put it instead of a new thread. One of the criticisms of him in his sophomore campaign was his deep passing. He worked on that during thatsummer (also got a shiny new WR in Marquis Lee) and those numbers became other worldly last year. http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/po...s-heisman-hope

Alright, and now for the cold water. Apparently, Barkley measured in a shade under 6'2 recently. Very few quarterbacks under 6'2 have gone in the top ten, and the only recent one that sticks out to me is Michael Vick. Not saying it's going to be a deal breaker, but...

Where did they measure him? Since when do people start measuring guys who are still playing? I think you're referring to Brock Huard, who eyeballed him and said he looks a shade under 6'2''. It might be true, who knows, but I read somewhere else that both Tyler Wilson (listed at 6'3'') and Barkley were the exact same height when standing next to each other at the Manning passing camp. That means Wilson is likely sub 6'2'' also if Barkely is.

So after an up and down senior season, what do you all think of Barkley now?

Lets just say I'm glad Miami has Tannehill instead

Im unsure about Barkley as a pro prospect. I think he'll go in the top 20 but he's got some flaws in regards to accuracy, athleticism and arm strength. His accuracy can get inconsistent but it's not horrible, he isn't very athletic, and his arm is closer to mediocre than strong. These would be less of a concern of mine if he was a real brainy player who masterfully manipulated the football field, but I don't take him that way. I would be lying if I didn't admit that I wonder just how much he's benefit from the presence of 2 great receivers in Marquise Lee and Robert Woods. In short, I think he may be more of a project still than many people know and if he doesn't land in the right situation in the NFL he could fail quickly. He's not the polished and NFL ready player a lot of people were expecting him to be so if he gets dropped into some horrible situation where he's expected to step in immediately and become the future it could be too much too quickly for a kid who still needs to work on some things. In the right system with the right coach, ample time to learn and a lack of pressure I think Barkley could become a very productive NFL player some day.

Barkley definitely knows how to manipulate a defense. He's very good at looking off his receivers etc.. He's not athletic, but he generally has very good pocket presence. His accuracy is also generally very good to outstanding. His issue, and it's a big one, is that he makes poor decisions and that issue is compounded with the fact he doesn't have prototypical physical attributes to get away with some of those chances he takes. I think the latter issue isn't huge if he just improved his decision making. He has a tendency to fall in love with certain players, and force feeds them regardless of how the defense plays them. To be sure, he benefits from having two incredible WRs, but I think it has also been to his detriment given his tendency to fall in love with players. To put it in perspective, 184 of his 246 completions this year have been to Lee and Woods. That's ridiculous. Complete lack of balance. And you know defenses know this, so they gear to stop these two guys, but that hasn't stopped Barkley from getting the ball to them, even at the cost of a few turnovers a game. If he didn't get hurt, he would have broken his own USC single season TD record, almost 1000 yards passing over back to back games, etc... so he can make plays. The problem is that it's been at the cost of a bunch of turnovers. I think Matt can be a very good QB in the NFL, but he will need to adjust his game and reduce his appetite for big plays. He's got very good accuracy, and an ability to find holes in defense, but they will eat him alive if he thinks he can force the ball all the time at that level. and I think I'd still rather have him over Tannehill. The rg3 debate is pretty ridiculous in hindsight though

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So USC has now announced that Barkley is officially out for the Sun Bowl, and Max Wittek gets the nod, officially ending Barkley's four-year run as the man.Lots of folks, including myself, now have him dropping into the second round. What do you guys think about Barkley as a pro?

I will get into this more in depth at some point, but Barkley is a 1st round talent to a horizontal offense in a warm weather climate. The problem is that none of the teams that operate that type of offense appear to be picking in a spot that would suggest they would take Barkley. As a result, he probably will get picked up at the top of round 2 unless someone moves up to get him. The things Barkley does well, he does very well. That didn't change from last year. I hope his shoulder is healthy enough for the Senior Bowl because I would really like to see him go and compete in what I think is the best forum for him to stop the negative trend with his draft stock. I do not believe that the combine or private workouts will be a great venue for him to change the conversation with him and if he is healthy enough and just uses the shoulder as an excuse not to compete in Mobile, it is a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Max Wittek is doing his best to show that in fact, not everybody is able to look good with these two WRs. I can't wait for Max Browne!

I was just reading up on Browne. Not at all impressed with Wittek today. He's got an arm, but he's struggling with the playbook and not anywhere near the same page with his receivers. Any sense with Browne that he has a shot to start next year?

Wittek is absolutely awful today. He has single handily sucked the life out of the entire Trojan team. With that said, I have no idea if Browne has a chance to start. The thinking around LA is that it's an open competition, with Wittek and Kessler as the front runners, with Browne technically in the mix but who knows if Kiffin will give him a real shot as a true freshamn. We dont really have much history to go by with Kiffin. He inherited Barkley, and Barkley was already the clear starter. When he was with Tennessee, he inherited Jonathan Crompton, who was a senior. So, nobody knows where he stands with true freshman QBs. Browne will be an early enrollee though so he will have plenty of opportunity to show what he's got.

He can't do much worse than Wittek has today. This latest interception was just awful, eyes on Woods the entire way, never bothered to either look off the dropping Mike or even check to see if he was there.

That was easily the worst game a USC QB has played in over a decade. That beats the infamous Aaron Corp vs Washington game where USC fans had previously regarded as the worst USC QB game during the same time frame. Interestingly, both these games came in the Matt Barkley era, where Barkley was unable to play

Hijacking this Barkley thread for my comments on Max Browne, but I watched the entire Army HS game today, and Browne reminds me a LOT of Matt Leinart, but a right handed version. He throws a bit cleaner ball than Leinart did, but he's a tall lanky touch passer kind of QB. I'm excited by what I saw, and hope he wins the job next year!

For the little bit I was awake for, Max Browne looked very, very good. He's got a shot to start next year.

Well, so much for that misguided rumor. 6-foot-2 1/2 with large hands apparently. Pretty much what he has been listed all along.