Matt Barkley Announces Return to USC for Senior Year

Matt Barkley is not ready for the NFL. Not yet, anyway.

The junior signal-caller announced today on ESPN that he will return to USC for his senior year rather than enter the NFL draft.

Barkley was largely considered one of the top three quarterback prospects and would likely have been a top 10 pick in the 2012 draft. Instead, he’ll return to college where he’ll be a Heisman favorite leading the Trojans’ quest for a BCS National Championship.

It is not a huge surprise that Barkley is returning, but he is taking a big risk by doing so. The last Trojans quarterback that pulled this stunt, Matt Leinart, lost millions of dollars and has yet to hold down a starting job in the NFL.

As NFL draft expert Scott Wright points out, Barkley isn’t giving himself much of a chance to maximize his NFL contract:

But Barkley isn’t concerned with money. Ever since he was a little kid, he wanted to play at USC, and with his return, he’ll have a legitimate shot at completing something truly special as a Trojans quarterback. He’ll also be the top quarterback prospect in the country going into next year. There is still the chance that Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III of Baylor and Landry Jones of Oklahoma return as well, but as a draft prospect, Barkley leads the charge.

His numbers this season were actually better than that of former USC Heisman winners Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer. Now, he'll get a chance to push them even further as well as possibly join them as a Heisman winner and/or a national championship-winning quarterback.

With so much emphasis placed on the financial aspect of joining the NFL, it is great to see someone like Barkley finishing what he started for his program and teammates. He chose not to leave USC when they were slapped with a two-year postseason ban, and it is only fitting that he closes out his career with a shot at a national championship.

The 2012 NFL draft now belongs solely to Stanford's Andrew Luck. The 2012 college football season belongs to Matt Barkley.