There were still a few weeks until training camp started at TCO Performance Center, and Sam Darnold was back home in Southern California. After finishing a workout at San Clemente High School, where he became a household name more than a decade ago, Darnold took some time to talk to a youth camp. He offered words of encouragement while simultaneously reminiscing about a time not too long ago when he was in their shoes. That was more than six months ago, and, well, a lot has changed for Darnold in that span. Not only has he completely rewritten the narrative of his career, Darnold has successfully guided the Vikings to a 14-3 record heading into a win-or-go-home playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. It was originally set to be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., roughly an hour from where Darnold grew up, before a series of wildfires forced it to be relocated to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Though the playoff game is no longer right up the road, the town of San Clemente will still be following along closely, cheering for the quarterback they still claim as their own more than a decade later. “The people back home are very excited,” Darnold said. “It’s funny: My dad will send me pictures of random houses with Vikings flags outside.” With so much support back home, Darnold wants to keep making everybody proud. He knows that starts with the Vikings finding a way to beat the Rams in primetime and continuing their pursuit of the Super Bowl. “It’s a pretty fun deal,” he said. “Just to be part of something like this is very special. We’re not satisfied by any means about where we’re at or what we’ve done. We’ve got a long way to go.” As impressive as he’s has been on the field with the Vikings, Darnold doesn’t say too much during interviews, so it’s been hard to get a sense of who he is at his core. Here’s a deeper look through the eyes of the town that raised him. ‘He’s good at everything’ There’s a particular sequence from when Darnold was a sophomore in high school that still stands out to San Clemente head football coach Jamie Ortiz. At the time, Darnold was a starting receiver and linebacker because the starting quarterback was a senior. “We were playing El Toro,” Ortiz said. “He caught a slant and took it for a touchdown. Then, on the very next series, he got an interception and returned it for the touchdown.” A couple of weeks later, the starting quarterback got hurt, and Darnold got thrust into action. “We were playing Tesoro; he came in and led us to a win,” Ortiz said. “He threw a touchdown with under a minute left, and that’s when it was like, ‘OK. He can do this.’ He has always had the innate ability to make everybody around him better.” That was the first time good friend Jake Russell realized that Darnold was different than everybody else. “He got thrown out there and he lit it up,” Russell said. “That’s when were were like, ‘This kid is the real deal.’ ” It started to become even more apparent when Darnold was a junior and he was named the starting quarterback. Though it appeared San Clemente was well on its way to an impressive campaign, Darnold broke his foot and that was the end of that. “We were 2-0 with him,” Ortiz said. “We were 0-8 without him,” San Clemente went on a run when Darnold was a senior, and had he not suffered a concussion in the championship game, it might have resulted in him hoisting the hardware. “He’s a gamer,” San Clemente assistant football coach Troy Kopp said. “”He had the ability to be magical in clutch moments.” That carried over from the football field to the basketball court. “He was the best basketball player I had in my 15 years,” former San Clemente head basketball coach Marc Popovich said. “He would’ve been a really good college basketball player if that’s what he wanted to do.” Asked how Darnold played, good friend Nick Crankshaw didn’t hesitate: “He was a shooter.” “He could pull it from anywhere,” Crankshaw said. “He had a little spin move step back that he liked to go to. He was certainly a joy to have on my end. I’d pass him the ball and rack up a lot of assists.” Nowadays, Darnold often provides reminders of how talented he is, even when he isn’t trying to. “He’s become a really good golfer,” Russell said. “We were pretty similar for a while, now he’s shooting in like the low 80s and I’m shooting in the low 100s. Everything comes natural to him, and it’s always been that way since we were kids.” ‘A super fiery competitor’ Crankshaw met Darnold in kindergarten, and the two were always competing against each other in some way, shape or form. Whether it was video games at home, multiplication tables at school, or anything else in between, Darnold wanted to win in everything he did. A story Crankshaw loves to tell encapsulates that. Though he openly admitted that Darnold has always been a better shooter, Crankshaw proudly brought up the time he beat him at a game of “HORSE” during middle school. “He wasn’t used to losing,” Crankshaw said with a laugh. “He got so (ticked) off that he shoved me into the bushes and locked me in his backyard.” There are countless anecdotes from Darnold’s time in San Clemente that show his competitiveness. Like the time that Darnold broke a bone his foot in a football game and stayed in for a series to lead his team down the field for a touchdown. Or the time Darnold got so mad after a loss in a basketball game that he punched a locker and broke his hand. “As cool, calm, and collected as he is, deep down he’s a super fiery competitor,” Crankshaw said. “He has that burning passion, even if he might not always show it when he’s standing at a podium.” A year after breaking his hand, Darnold passed up on an opportunity to enroll early at USC, making sure he had a chance to finish what he started with his teammates. “I remember getting the call right before Christmas and he said, ‘I didn’t get to play basketball with my teammates last year and I really want to play with them this year,’ ” former USC football coach Clay Helton said. “Most guys would be thinking about their next chapter, and he’s worried about helping his teammates win a championship in a sport he’s not even going to play at the next level.” ‘The same guy he’s always been’ To truly know Darnold is to know his parents. His dad Mike is a plumber who still gets up for work every morning. His mom Chris is a former middle school P.E. teacher who now helps out with the girls flag football team at San Clemente High. Ask anybody about the way Darnold carries himself as an adult and they’ll immediately trace it back to the way his parents raised him. “His family is entrenched in everything that we do,” Ortiz said. “Our mantra is ‘ONE TOWN, ONE TEAM,’ and they embody that.” That explains why Darnold has never forgotten his roots. He takes a lot of pride in where he came from and has remained connected with San Clemente regardless of where his career has taken him. “He’s still very much a part of the community,” Popovich said. “I can’t overemphasize how awesome his family is. His humbleness comes from his parents. They did such a good job raising him.” The feelings that Darnold has about San Clemente are fully reciprocated by the town of 65,000 people. “I like to call it Sam Clemente instead of San Clemente,” Crankshaw said. The genuineness with which Darnold moves throughout the world is the biggest reason that everybody still seems to gravitate towards him. “I think a lot of people look up to him because of the way he’s gone about it,” Russell said. “He’s worked so hard to get to where he is right now.” Never mind that Darnold is having more success with the Vikings than he has ever had before. He has still made time for everybody that helped him get to this point. That’s what the town that raised him loves most about him. “Even with the stage he’s on and how well things have been going, he’s just a kid from San Clemente,” Crankshaw said. “That’s who he’s always been and who he’ll always be.” Related Articles Minnesota Vikings | Vikings vs. Rams: How to watch, game time, keys to the game Minnesota Vikings | Vikings vs. Rams: A wild card rematch goes the other way Minnesota Vikings | How the Vikings have ensured Khyree Jackson’s legacy lives on Minnesota Vikings | 2021 Rams provided Vikings with blueprint to Super Bowl run Minnesota Vikings | John Shipley: Did your Vikings Super Bowl dreams die in Detroit?