By WFAN.com
Mark Sanchez is probably the last name that New York Jets fans want to hear about in the aftermath of Gang Green having just drafted Sam Darnold, but as Darnold revealed to WFAN in an interview Friday, he and Sanchez will likely chat over the next few days.
"He didn't give me any advice, but he did reach out to me. He said he wanted to have a sit down and talk to me face-to-face," Darnold told WFAN's "The Afternoon Drive with Carlin, Maggie and Bart."
Darnold confessed that his impending conversation with fellow USC alumni and former No. 5 overall pick of the Jets in the 2009 NFL Draft will be about "what to expect."
Perhaps more relevant and more importantly, a current cluster of Jets players — Leonard Williams, Josh McCown and Jamal Adams — also reached out to Darnold on draft night, to which the quarterback said, "just getting those texts from guys who are great leaders in the locker room was amazing."
Someone else who Darnold raved about was Jets offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates.
"In my experience playing football, there's a lot of guys who can coach, but there's a lot of guys who are really smart who can't coach, and they can't teach. You want to be able to have that good combination of both and I think coach Bates — just in the short time that I've been able to visit with him — is really good at that."
Darnold will be looked upon to emerge as a franchise quarterback of the Jets — the first since Joe Namath — but he's currently one of five signal callers on their depth chart. However, he told CMB that he'll stay humble and just be consistent, deflecting any talk of becoming the face of the franchise.
"I'm just going to be the same guy, day in and day out. I'm going to be the same guy with my coaches, same guy with my friends, same guy with my teammates…I'm going to be the same person and very consistent in the way that I work and that's just kind of how I am, and how I'm going to be," said Darnold.
To listen to the complete interview, click on the audio player above.
