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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – Shortly after, the Jets selected a quarterback from the University of Southern California with the third overall pick in April. Outgoing President Josh McCown received a text from his eldest daughter, Bridget.
"He's less than a year older than me," she said. "Crazy."
McCown, 39, could only laugh. He would still be fighting to get the starting position for the Jets for a second consecutive season, but this year he would lose that battle.
The Jets' confidence in the brain decided he just could not wait to announce the most promising prospect of his quarter in 50 years. At 21 years and 97 days, Sam Darnold will become the youngest quarterback to throw a N.F.L. the first game of the season since 1970 and the second youngest quarter to take part in a match. Only Tommy Maddox, who replaced injured John Elway of the Denver Broncos at Week 11 of the 1992 season, started at a younger age (21 years and 81 days).
This, of course, is a different time, a different city, a different franchise, more desperate. The Jets fished four more quarters in the first round since Joe Namath in 1965. It did not work well. None could ultimately match what Namath did once: win a Super Bowl.
With Darnold, there's a buzz that eclipses even the hype around Mark Sanchez, another American. product, which started as a rookie nine years ago and took the Jets at two A.F.C. consecutive The championship games before his career Jets have experienced a descent to a famous "escaped" and ended in a poor record of 33-29.
Sanchez was often considered immature, someone who adopted the playboy lifestyle and traps of a big football star. Darnold is a self-described introvert. He returned to his hotel room and ordered pizzas the night he was enlisted.
Darnold's father called him Flatline for his stoicism.
"He does not act like a 21-year-old boy," said his former US representative. center, Nico Falah, now a teammate of the team training with the Jets. "He's acting three or four years older than his age."
Yet, Darnold is also something else – a true product of the left-hand side of the 21st century, which brings many New Age accessories that may accompany some high-class athlete's style in this part. of the world nowadays. Darnold has adopted yoga and guided meditation, via the Headspace app, as a bi-daily routine to channel attention. He co-organized a podcast to get out of his comfort zone and overcome his shyness.
His desire to strengthen the mental side of his performance has fostered a special relationship with a prominent sport psychologist, Michael Gervais, who has worked for the Seattle Seahawks for eight seasons and is known for his attention and deep fears. on the surface. Gervais considers Darnold to be exceptionally cerebral, which is fine, except that Jets fans – little known for their patience and tolerance – need him to hit the receiver in the middle of the post.
Will Darnold's attention help this cause? Given the scenario on which Darnold is about to intervene, Gervais said, the mental composition of the watch will be just as critical as his physical gifts.
"It has a unique situation," said Gervais. "He is a rookie who starts in one of the most intense professional environments – New York – with a group of alpha competitors."
But Gervais added, "Sam's orientation is to learn, grow and understand. This will create a lot of space for him to work on his craft. I do not think Sam will be caught in the noise as much as people are afraid of being caught in the trap. The best athletes in the world understand that controlling what they control is a requirement.
The rise of Darnold has been rapid. In second year at San Clemente High School in California in 2012, he played receiver and linebacker. He was so neglected as a junior that his coach, Jaime Ortiz, sent magnetic tapes of basketball to football recruiters to highlight his athleticism. At Camp Elite 11, a competition to name the 11 best quarterbacks in the country, Darnold came in 12th.
But he has shown a remarkable speed in its adoption. As a red shirt rookie in the United States, he set fire to the scout team, Falah said. Now he has an arm of lightning that can be incredibly accurate.
He's not likely to turn heads with a flaming speech or an explosion of locker room, something his former teammates have said never be his style. They rallied to his actions.
Darnold still sports the Vans board shorts and sneakers that have formed his "uniform" off field as a surfer from Southern California, though he's not surfing. He also wears a red bracelet in the honor of his friend Nick Pasquale, who was hit by a car and killed while they were in high school.
"Leadership is more about consistency of authenticity in stressful environments," said Gervais. In other words, "we trust people when we know how they will manifest".
Darnold gave no indication that his internal temperature has changed since the Jets traded to write it in April.
"I'm sure he has some ups and downs," said Todd Bowles, the stoic coach of the Jets. "He's probably hiding it as well as I'm doing right now."
After recently practicing, Darnold said he understood the expectations for the first choice of a franchise at seven years of his last playoff experience, and he developed a support group to handle them.
"I have very good friends, a very good family, very good guys in this locker room, on which I can support when things are happening or whether it's bad or good," he said. -he declares.
He is not immune to nerves. Last fall, he co-hosted a weekly podcast with Yogi Roth, a former college receiver and now a Pac-12 analyst. But that is Darnold who was invited to lead the show, with guests like the former N.H.L. star Luc Robitaille and actor Will Ferrell.
This was an unusual arrangement for a university athlete. Darnold, on the first episode, said that he was shy growing up and still not comfortable in front of a mic.
"I think I'm a better listener than I am a talkative," he said on the show.
He and Roth met every Monday night for a production meeting. They recorded the next day, in the basement of the heritage room.
"I told him you had to treat him as one of your most important courses," Roth said. "He's leaning right in there."
The goal, of course, was to make Darnold more comfortable, to be up to the media and to think quickly outside football. Darnold, said Roth, possessed the trait which, according to him, is the most underrated in the quarters: the desire to "seek" information.
"Many elite athletes are thinkers," Roth said. "I really think that the essence of the craft is an artistic one. And often, creative minds are calmer. It does not mean they are soft or weak. It's the contrary. "
Among the guests of the podcast, there was Gervais, whom Darnold met for the first time when the psychologist spoke at Camp Elite 11 in 2014. Darnold, the Californian, absorbed the message of Gervais on the establishment of executives appropriate psychological Both stayed in touch.
"He's curious, he's deeply committed to learning and he's just figured out for himself where his strengths of character thrive in quiet, hostile environments," Gervais said.
There can be many hostile environments to come. The Jets were 5-11 the last two seasons and some N.F.L. The rookie quarter has been successful in recent years (Matt Ryan in 2008, Robert Griffin III in 2012, Dak Prescott in 2016), Grand Slams such as Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning have struggled early in the season. the first week.
The Jets, however, are ready to embrace the future. "Our guy came in and learned everything," Bowles said. "And he will play early."
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