SANTA CLARA — USC owns a long history in the Super Bowl.
Going into this year, according to the school, 120 former Trojans were on Super Bowl rosters, with 48 winning one or more titles.
Receiver Lynn Swann, running back Marcus Allen and linebacker Malcolm Smith were Super Bowl most valuable players.
“We’ve got our fingerprints all over that game,” Allen said of USC players.
Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart are among Trojans quarterbacks who played in the NFL. But USC never produced a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl.
Until now.
On Sunday, Sam Darnold will lead the Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium.
“It’s so crazy,” Darnold said. “Just because I grew up idolizing a lot of those guys.”
Darnold was the third overall pick in the 2018 draft by the woeful New York Jets. After three seasons, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers. In 2023, he was the backup for the San Francisco 49ers — losers to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII — a year that helped him reset before signing with the Minnesota Vikings.
Darnold led the Vikings to 14 victories and a playoff appearance, but the team opted not to re-sign him, and the Seahawks gave him a three-year contract that included $55 million in guarantees.
Under coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and with weapons such as receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp, Darnold passed for 25 touchdowns, with 14 interceptions, while leading the Seahawks to a 14-3 record and the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs.
“I’ve always believed in myself, and I’ve always had confidence in myself to do my job,” Darnold said. “And I learned. I learned a ton from mistakes I made early on in my career, and I feel like that kind of mindset has kind of got me to this point.”
Former USC quarterbacks are collectively celebrating Darnold, and the journey he endured to reach the NFL’s biggest stage.
Sam Darnold walks on the practice field at San Jose State University on Wednesday ahead of Super Bowl LX.
(Eakin Howard / Getty Images)
“He’s been turned down, cut, not believed in,” said Palmer, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft. “All the doubt is tough to deal with. You keep a proud smile on your face as you’re going through it, but it’s just tough on anybody.
“And so for him to finally get to the Super Bowl and have this opportunity, it’s so well-deserved.”
Leinart, a backup for the Arizona Cardinals 2009 Super Bowl team, is similarly elated for Darnold.
“For him to represent all of us, not just quarterbacks, but all the Trojan family,” Leinart said, “we’re fired up.”
Allen included.
“If there was a great example of a USC Trojan with that ‘Fight On’ attitude,” Allen said, “It’s been him.”
Five USC quarterbacks were on rosters, for all or part of a season, of teams that made the Super Bowl, but they did not play in the game, including Leinart, Rob Hertel with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1981, Rob Johnson (Tampa Bay, 2003), Rodney Peete (Carolina, 2004) and Matt Cassel (New England, 2008).
Three USC quarterbacks — Willie Wood, Pete Beathard and Mike Rae — played in the Super Bowl.
Wood played at USC from 1957 to 1959, and was the first black quarterback in what was then the Pacific Coast Conference. No NFL team drafted him, but the Green Bay Packers signed Wood and he became a Hall of Fame safety who intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards in the Packers’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I in 1967. Beathard, Len Dawson’s backup, completed one of five passes for 17 yards for a team that featured Mike Garrett, the Trojans Heisman Trophy-winning running back.
Rae, the starting quarterback for USC’s 1972 national championship team, backed up Kenny Stabler for the Oakland Raiders team that won Super Bowl XI in 1977. Rae scrambled twice near the end of the Raiders’ 32-14 victory over the Vikings at the Rose Bowl.
Now, nearly a half-century later, Darnold will start for the Seahawks.
“He started his career with a bad team … and now he’s in the Super Bowl,” Rae said. “Gosh darn, you’ve got to slap him on the back.”
A few former Trojans quarterbacks came close to leading their teams to Super Bowls.
Pat Haden started for the Rams in 1978 when they lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship game. Late in the 1979 season, Haden suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand and Vince Ferragamo — a former California and Nebraska quarterback — stepped in and led the Rams to Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In 2015, the 12th of his 14 NFL seasons, Palmer led the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC championship game, where they lost to the Panthers.
Mark Sanchez, the fifth pick in the 2009 draft, led the New York Jets to the AFC championship in his first two seasons but lost to the Indianapolis Colts and Steelers.
Darnold got over the hump by passing for three touchdowns in a 31-27 victory over the Rams in the NFC championship game at Lumen Field in Seattle. Darnold has not had a pass intercepted in his last three games, a streak that includes playoff victories over the 49ers and Rams.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel lauded Darnold’s toughness, pointing to a sideline pass he completed to Kupp despite being “nailed” by the Rams in a Week 16 game.
“He didn’t shy away. He didn’t duck. He didn’t fade back,” Vrabel said. “He stood there and faced the fire, which is what you have to do in this league if you’re going to be an elite quarterback.”
Paul McDonald, the starter for USC’s 1978 national championship team, said Darnold’s talent has always been there. He finally found the right situation.
“Right team, right supporting cast, right coach that believes in you and a system that works for your strengths,” said McDonald, who played seven NFL seasons. “All those things have to kind of fall into place.”
Cassel saw it first hand.
He backed up Palmer and Leinart at USC before playing 14 NFL seasons, including three as seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady’s backup with the Patriots and one as the starter.
For Darnold to find the right situation, lead his team to Sunday’s game and become the first former Trojan to start is “remarkable,” Cassel said.
“He’s achieved something that nobody else has,” Cassel said. “That’s the cool part — it represents not only his story but the university.”
On Sunday, Darnold will be one of four former Trojans playing for the Seahawks, a group that includes defensive linemen Leonard Williams and Brandon Pili and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu.
If Darnold leads them to victory over the Patriots he will make more history as the first former Trojans quarterback to win a Super Bowl as a starter.
“It’s just an honor,” Darnold said, “an honor to be playing this game, to be representing the university.”
And all the Trojans quarterbacks that came before him.
Staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report
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