“I’ve seen Cyler (Miles) play a bit on film. I’ve watched a little practice with Troy (Williams) and Jeff (Lindquist), and I think there’s some good talent there,” Smith said back in January when he was first hired, before the signing of Carta-Samuels. “Just getting the chance to meet them here for a couple of days, I think they’re good kids. I really do. Sark was obviously a quarterback guy, so it’s not like I’m starting from ground zero.”
Whether Smith meant that tongue in cheek or not is pure speculation. But he definitely should have been if he wasn't. Sarkisian never produced an elite quarterback in his five years at Washington and none of his USC quarterbacks, when he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2001-03 and 2005-08, did anything in the NFL either.
He did manage to sign four 4-star quarterbacks in five years, an impressive note. But that's all it was. A posted note on an average coaching tenure. Star ratings have never meant anything except for the fan base of every college football program to compare the Joneses and the average joe. But none of the three remaining quarterbacks Sarkisian signed – Nick Montana left Washington and fell flat at Tulane – have materialized into anything compared to their hype.
Team Carta
I hate to break the "fuck Sark" circlejerk, but evaluating Sark on how his quarterbacks did in the NFL is fucking stupid. It's not his job to ensure his quarterbacks become good pro quarterbacks, it's his job to make them good college quarterbacks. He's mediocre in just about every aspect of coaching, but you'd have to have your head up your ass to not recognize that he's been an excellent quarterback coach at the college level. Since he started at USC back in 2003, his quarterbacks have been Palmer, Leinart, Booty, Sanchez,
Locker, Price, and now Kessler. Out of that whole group, Locker was probably the worst, which makes that a pretty good resume.