When Sam Darnold gets drafted Thursday, he will become the youngest quarterback selected since the 1970 merger. Darnold, who turns 21 on June 5, redshirted one year at USC, then started 24 of 27 games the past two seasons.

Staying at USC was an option for first-team All-Pac-12 QB, but the draw of the NFL was too much to pass up.

"I think just building relations and really understanding what the best decision was for myself," Darnold says. "That's what it came down to. My whole life, I've been trained from my parents to think of others and put others before myself, but this, I needed to make a selfish decision. I needed to understand what was right in front of me. Was it gonna change next year if I stayed? Probably not. The only difference was I could have dropped. I was just thinking of all those things and when I thought about that, I just put it into perspective. At the end of the day, it was a hard decision, but I think it was the right one. I know it was the right one."

Darnold made these comments at a Thuzio event, moderated by former NFL quarterback Jordan Palmer, in Los Angeles on April 11. Palmer, now QB-training specialist, has been preparing Darnold in advance of the draft. Palmer's older brother, Carson, won a Heisman Trophy as a QB for USC.

Darnold is projected to be a top-five pick at the draft, which will be held in Arlington, Texas, for the first time.

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