Warning! Spoiler alert ahead!!!
If Matt Barkley decides to return to USC for another season, the Trojans will fit comfortably inside my way-too-early Top Five that will be “unveiled” to little fanfare the day after the BcS title game. In fact, there would be a fairly decent chance that Lane’s boys, if Barkley’s one of them, would be much closer to No. 1 than No. 3 when it’s released to no pomp and even less circumstance.
The rub is, though, Barkley returning.
Most observers expect the quarterback to make himself available for the 2012 NFL draft -- he has as expected submitted his paperwork to the NFL draft advisory committee -- as he’s projected to be a Top Ten selection by draft “gurus”, and could very easily slide inside the Top Five pending his pre-draft workouts and team needs. The junior, though, has given no solid indication publicly as to which way he might be leaning when it comes to his football future.
On the Versus show “Sports Talk” Wednesday night, Barkley sat down for a conversation and, well, judge for yourself if he gave any additional hints as to which football tack he may or may not take in the next month and a half or so. My impression from the clip? He probably ain’t coming back, but the draw of the returning talent makes it not a done deal quite yet...