DALLAS -- Of course they backed him up. Of course they praised him. Of course you're about to read nice things regarding USC quarterback Sam Darnold.
It's what teammates do.
Just like last year, Ohio State is playing its bowl game against a future first-round NFL Draft pick, a franchise quarterback candidate who could be targeted by the Browns.
Then it was Clemson's Deshaun Watson. Now it's Darnold. Then, Watson had it all, the ability and the aura, and coaches and teammates who loved him.
That's what I came looking for this year. Does Darnold have something about him? Do the Trojans have something to say about him? Because all teammates will say good things about their quarterback. But sometimes you can get a feel from how they say it.
Like this.
"The best that I've seen," senior USC safety Chris Hawkins said. "He can do it all. Run, pass, change up the play. He can make something out of nothing. We've had him dead to rights before (in practice) and he's gotten out of it and threw the ball downfield 50 yards. And we're all wide-eyed, looking around like, 'What just happened?'
"He's special. He's one of those once-in-a-decade quarterbacks. They don't come around often. No. 1 quarterback in the country, and it's not even close. I played (UCLA QB) Josh Rosen, Josh Rosen was good. Very good actually.
"But Sam Darnold's special."
Like that.
If your team is pondering a franchise quarterback, you want to hear the kind of thing that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told Mary Kay Cabot about Watson last year, dropping a Michael Jordan comparison. It doesn't mean you have to believe them. But you want the people who know a quarterback best to believe it.
Not just praise. But passion.
Like this.
"I remember when he had just taken over the quarterback job," USC left tackle Toa Lobendahn said of Darnold's rise as a freshman in 2016, "and we were talking in our breakfast area, and the way he was talking about stuff, he was already sounding like a leader to me and he had just gotten the job. I was just very surprised the way he was talking about our team.
"You definitely see the way he plays that he can just make plays at any time. He's a playmaker and the way he throws the ball and the way he sees the field and keeps plays going, he definitely has that Brett Favre/Aaron Rodgers tendencies."
Like that.
This doesn't mean Darnold has to be the quarterback you want for the Browns if he decides to turn pro, and it seems like that's a strong possibility.
But you have to consider him. Don't dismiss him because he made a few too many mistakes this season or if he may not be ready to start week one as a rookie.
Because something is there with Darnold. It's obvious with the way he makes plays on the field, comfortable in the pocket and on the move. But there was something in these words, too, a clear belief from teammates that is going to be vital for the Browns quarterback who finally makes it.
Like this.
"I'd say he has the It Factor," USC tight end Tyler Petite said. "I'd say he has something that can't be coached or taught to anybody, something that you kind of have. And I'd say he's a gamer.
"It's just something that sets him apart from everybody else, and it's not one specific part of his game. It's just everything, the way he throws the ball, the way he runs it, the way his demeanor is, just how he keeps his composure in big games and some situations that some people would think are dire, where it's looking like we're probably not going to make it, but he just keeps the same composure that he always does. It's a combination of so many good attributes that you can't teach a player."
Like that.
So take this into account or don't take it.
UCLA's Rosen can be seen by some as prickly or cocky and Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield, as we all know, is a crotch grabber. Louisville's Lamar Jackson is doubted by some because he's such a skilled runner. Doesn't matter. That's silly stuff. If the Buckeyes were playing UCLA or Oklahoma or Louisville right now, this story would be about Rosen or Mayfield or Jackson and I'd imagine some teammates would have said at least similar things.
(I refuse to say the same about Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. I'll pass on that idea.)
Rosen may be a great option for the Browns. Mayfield may be a great option. Jackson may be a great option. Darnold may be a great option.
Options are good. Options can only help. So let as many future franchise quarterbacks fill this draft as possible. Let the good vibes flow.
Like this.
"He's a quarterback's quarterback," said USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin, who won a national championship himself as Tennesse's quarterback in 1998. "I've been around really good quarterbacks and sometimes when you're watching a game as a former quarterback you say, 'That was a good scheme,' or 'That was cute,' and then you watch dudes play quarterback and you're like, 'That is a quarterback.'"
"That is a quarterback," is what Martin said about Darnold when he was still a recruit at an USC camp. Martin kept asking about the kid making those throws. That's what Martin said when -- for the first time in his coaching career -- he started watching the first-team defense against the scout team offense. Darnold, running the scout team as a true freshman, was making so many plays.
That's what Martin says as he finds himself in play-calling sync with Darnold 95 percent of the time even though Martin coaches receivers, not quarterbacks, and doesn't get to focus on Darnold's position.
"He's very aggressive. If there's a little hole to get the ball in there, he's going to try to get that ball in that hole," Martin said. "He sees things and he sees it really fast. His process of elimination is uncanny. And he can do it all, whether it's the legs, whether it's the throws, deep throws, intermediate throws, seeing the pressures, adjusting protections, getting us into the right run play when we need to.
"Like I said, he's a quarterback's quarterback."
Like that.