Excellent Read about Sam's personality from his best friend

https://nypost.com/2018/05/03/friends-dish-on-competitive-calm-kinda-goofy-sam-darnold/

They were childhood friends and travel basketball teammates once on the San Clemente Shock, one a quarterback, the other a wide receiver, San Clemente High School graduates and then teammates and roommates at USC.

No one knows Sam Darnold, future franchise quarterback for the New York Jets, better than Jake Russell, his best friend.

“Pretty much everything we always did together we made into a competition, whether it was shooting in his backyard, like seeing who could hit the most shots in a row from the elbow, or just like playing video games at his house or catching the biggest wave out in the ocean, like we were bodyboarding together, and we made each other laugh a good amount,” Russell told The Post by phone.

And now they go their separate ways, Russell back to USC as a walk-on reserve receiver and special teamer, Darnold to New York to bring a franchise starving for a young franchise quarterback back to the top of Mount Namath.

“I think if the Jets have been looking for a franchise quarterback,” Russell said, “they’ve definitely found someone to do that.”

Let Russell start by taking you into the San Clemente High huddle.

“Regardless of the situation he gets in, like he always had a really calm demeanor and he doesn’t let anything get to him,” Russell said.

“Sometimes we’d get down, or like the other crowd would be going pretty wild after making a big play, we’d always get back in the huddle and Sam would be like, ‘Guys, we’re all good.’ Like, ‘Stay calm, just keep doing your job and executing our stuff, we’ll be OK.’ That was always like super-reassuring, super-nice to have in the huddle just because it settled everyone else down. His ability to keep kind of an even demeanor under pressure is really something we loved in the huddle.”

Now allow Russell to tell you about his friend’s arm.

“I always kinda took it for granted because the ball would always kinda be in the perfect spot for me to catch it,” he said.

And oh, that flea-flicker touchdown pass he caught against Newport Harbor. “Sam just launched it probably like 60 yards,” Russell said.

Ice in the huddle. Fire with the football in his hands.

“Once you really get to know him, he’s just like a super-funny kid, kinda goofy sometimes, likes to have a good time, and when he knows it’s time to be serious, he’ll flip a switch and he’ll become one of the most competitive people you’ve ever met,” Russell said.

Jonathan LaBonty, another of Darnold’s roommates and a former USC teammate, can vouch for that.


“We play this game called Spike Ball, it’s like a game you play at the beach, you hit a ball off like a little net on the ground, four people play it, partners of two,” LaBonty told The Post by phone.

And if Darnold lost? “He would be absolutely furious,” LaBonty said. “He wouldn’t want to talk to anyone for a while.

“I don’t play video games with him anymore ’cause if you beat him in video games like Madden or something, he won’t talk to you for a little bit.”

Darnold sounds very much like Eli Manning and Josh McCown.

“He really points out what everyone else is doing well and he’ll be the last one to say that he did something great,” Russell said.


New York won’t buckle Darnold. “He just controls what he has to control and kinda goes about his business,” Russell said. “I don’t think any of the criticisms or anything that happens in New York will get to him too much.”
Blue-Collar Sam.

“I would not consider him a New York Broadway type of person, he’s not on Wall Street, he’s the type of guy who’s like … he’s a blue-collar quarterback,” LaBonty said.

Russell: “In high school he was always one of the biggest guys and he had really bright red hair, everyone knew Sam for his red hair, so like ‘Oh, Big Red.’ Then Clifford was The Big Red Dog, so we called him Clifford for a little bit.

“After we won the Rose Bowl, we always joked around with him about his mole a little bit on his face, so we started calling him the Rose Mole. We’ll see if anyone in New York can come up with something good for him out there.”

LaBonty offered this message about Sam Darnold for long-suffering Jets fans: “Get ready to see a kid sell out on the field for you week after week. He’s a born winner, he’s won everything he’s ever been a part of. He’s going to win games, he’s going to do things there that Jet fans haven’t seen in a while.”

Sam The Man.