USC on USC crime as Hue Jackson takes unnecessary swipe at Cody Kessler

Ex-USC coach Hue Jackson took an unnecessary jab at former Trojan quarterback Cody Kessler during a radio interview about his time as the Browns head coach.

When former USC football assistant Hue Jackson did a radio interview in Cleveland to promote his upcoming book about his time as head coach of the Browns, he ended up word vomiting all over the place.

There was some Trojan-on-Trojan crime included in that.

Jackson described trying to arrange a trade with the Bengals for quarterback A.J. McCarron. The deal didn't get done and the Browns drafted Kessler in the third round.

Famously, Jackson defended the Kessler pick at the time

"He's everything that I think you look for in a quarterback," Jackson said. "I understand where everybody's coming from...You gotta trust me on this one."

Now he's changed his tune considerably.

“You think I didn’t know who that player was...was I happy with that pick? Absolutely not," Jackson said on the radio, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. "That’s what analytics drafts.”

Kessler doesn't deserve that one.

The quarterback was never going to be a star in the NFL, but he was a third-round pick. You're not picking guaranteed stars when you're taking a quarterback in that round.

RELATED: Ranking the 10 best USC quarterbacks ever

For the record, Kessler was a fine quarterback with USC. He had the best passing season in Trojan football history in 2014 and still has two of the top six seasons on record. It's not his fault the Browns picked him. In fact, it's a shame they did because he ended up with a franchise that clearly didn't believe in him.

Hue Jackson's swipe at Cody Kessler was uncalled for

Every coach is going to sugarcoat his draft picks, even if they weren't his idea. But Jackson is the one who went out and pushed the idea that he knew best about Kessler. He made it seem like there was some grand plan.

The crazy thing about this bitterness is how it was over A.J. McCarron. Would he really have made the difference for Jackson's Browns? He's had an unremarkable career as a backup with Cincinnati, Oakland, and Houston. In fact, Kessler and McCarron are basically the same level of quarterback at this stage in their careers.

The "football vs. analytics" debate on this one had no winners.

If Jackson had been pushing for the Browns to draft Dak Prescott, the conversation would be worth having.

Jackson's comments reek of pettiness, throwing a player under the bus for no good reason. Bad form.