Samuel Richard Darnold (born June 5, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, where he became the first freshman to win the Archie Griffin Award, and was selected third overall by the New York Jets in the 2018 NFL Draft. At age 21, he was the NFL's youngest opening-day starting quarterback since the AFL–NFL merger. Darnold served as the Jets' starter from 2018 to 2020 until he was traded to the Panthers in 2021.
Darnold was born in Dana Point, California on June 5, 1997. He started playing basketball when he was five years old.
Darnold attended San Clemente High School in San Clemente, California. After playing baseball in his freshman year, he played football and basketball. During his high school basketball career, Darnold excelled, and was named South Coast League Most Valuable Player twice, along with being named to the all-CIF team. Basketball coach Marc Popovich stated Darnold's basketball skills helped translate into football, being the "only guy [I've] ever had who could get a defensive rebound and launch a 70-foot pass on target, pretty much in the same motion, to a guy breaking out in the fastbreak. It was almost Wes Unseld-like." Popovich added that Darnold could have played college basketball in the Pac-12 Conference or the Mountain West Conference "at worst."

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