Matt Barkley Learned Lesson From Peyton Manning Last Summer

Peyton Manning (18) during the 2013 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. The NFC defeated the AFC 62-35. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

If you’re an aspiring NFL quarterback, there’s no better person to imitate than Peyton Manning.

That’s especially true for USC quarterback Matt Barkley. There have been many former highly-touted USC quarterbacks that have sunk upon entering the NFL (e.g. Matt Sanchez, Matt Leinart).

Barkley wasn’t able to throw at the NFL combine this past weekend due to a shoulder injury, so he had to nail his interviews. One (public) interview he nailed was with Peter King of Sports Illustrated.

Barkley attended the Manning Passing Academy last summer.

"“I learned a valuable lesson from Peyton, about sometimes you have to be a d—…Doing what is asked is not enough to win in the NFL, I know that. You’ve got to do more. And I intend to.” – Matt Barkley to Peter King (SI)"

Barkley was referring to Manning’s preference of directing his teammates during the off season. Manning will tell his receivers when and where to be somewhere. Barkley intends to demand a similar level of respect in order to gain authority. To do that, first, he has to play well. Then, he can tell his NFL teammates to get in for a workout long before mid-April.

In other words, Manning surely has off season plans for his teammates, and those will go into effect before April. The word is “Go.”

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