2012 NFL Draft: Why Teams Should Consider Drafting Matt Barkley over Andrew Luck

USC quarterback Matt Barkley should be strongly considered by NFL general managers to be drafted over Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck in the 2012 NFL Draft in April.

The debate between Barkley and Luck has heated up over the past week after Washington Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian said the following regarding the two Pac-12 quarterbacks.

Via ESPN.com:

"If I'm an NFL head coach right now, I'd pick Matt Barkley ahead of Andrew Luck," Sarkisian said in his weekly press conference.

The impressive thing about Barkley is his improvement from last season to this season in many important passing categories.

Take a look at Barkley's passing statistics from last season compared to this year.

Year	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	Completion %
2010	2791	26	12	62.6
2011	2782	29	6	66.8

As you can see from the table, Barkley has almost as many passing yards, more touchdowns, and a better completion percentage right now than he did all of last season. There is still two games left in the Trojans regular season this year.

Barkley's accuracy is really something that scouts will look at when monitoring his improvement as a quarterback.

He is not making crucial turnovers that are costing his team, and his accuracy has helped cut his interception total in half so far from last season.

Luck has fewer yards passing than Barkley and has one more interception. Luck's seven interceptions this year is just one fewer than he had all of last season.

While Luck has stayed the same or regressed a small bit from last season in terms of several statistics (not all though), Barkley has improved by a nice margin in several categories.

It is important to also note that Luck has arguably a better supporting cast than Barkley, especially with Stanford's very good tight ends.

Barkley is a sensational NFL prospect, and will have a long and productive pro career.

If Barkley has a good game against No. 4 Oregon on Saturday, then he needs to be mentioned among the candidates worthy of the top pick in April's draft.