USC quarterback Sam Darnold wears a red bracelet in honor of Nick Pasquale, the former UCLA walk-on receiver who died in 2013. Among three bracelets Darnold wears, the red one has Pasquale’s name printed in black letters. Pasquale, like Darnold, was from San Clemente High. (Photo by John McCoy, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

USC quarterback Sam Darnold wears a red bracelet in honor of Nick Pasquale, the former UCLA walk-on receiver who died in 2013. Among three bracelets Darnold wears, the red one has Pasquale’s name printed in black letters. Pasquale, like Darnold, was from San Clemente High. (Photo by John McCoy, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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USC quarterback Sam Darnold wears a red bracelet in honor of Nick Pasquale, the former UCLA walk-on receiver who died in 2013. Among three bracelets Darnold wears, the red one has Pasquale’s name printed in black letters. Pasquale, like Darnold, was from San Clemente High. (Photo by John McCoy, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



The exchange stuck with Sam Darnold.

It came after the quarterback, then beginning his junior season at San Clemente High, had led the Tritons to a dramatic comeback victory over Cabrillo on a Friday night in September 2013. Darnold led the offense on a pair of scoring drives in the waning minutes, including a game-winning draw play near the goal line, a score set up by another run of 60-plus yards earlier on the same drive.

Nick Pasquale, then a walk-on receiver at UCLA, stood on the sideline, visiting his alma mater, and approached Darnold after the 35-32 win.

“He was like, ‘Dude, keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to be a great player one day,” Darnold said. “And then yeah, that was basically it.”

Later that weekend, Pasquale was struck and killed by a car on Sunday, Sept. 8 during the early-morning hours. He was walking home from a friend’s house in San Clemente. He was 20 years old.

The scene replayed in Darnold’s mind throughout the following week and when people spoke glowingly about Pasquale at his funeral, with the San Clemente Presbyterian Church teeming to a point where crowds gathered outside.

“You don’t really think to tell him how much he means to you until he’s gone,” Darnold said.

His memory still lingers. Darnold, USC’s third-year sophomore quarterback, keeps a reminder. Among three bracelets wrapped around his left wrist is a red one in honor of Pasquale, whose name is printed in black letters on the wristband.

When the 87th renewal of the USC-UCLA football rivalry begins Saturday, Darnold will wear the red bracelet. Pasquale matriculated to UCLA. Darnold joined the Trojans several years later, but it’s a band he never removes, a visible tribute in each game, practice or stroll through the University Park campus.

“I personally don’t think it’s about football,” said Mel Pasquale, Nick’s father. “It’s about the relationships that we have. Yeah, it’s UCLA. Yeah, it’s USC. But at the end of the day, it becomes personal. And all that stuff kind of goes out the window.”

After his senior season at San Clemente High, Darnold was selected by coaches and teammates as the first recipient of the Nick Pasquale Triton of the Year Award as the team’s MVP.

Nick was a popular player for both the Tritons and Bruins. Darnold described him as a “role model” and someone he hoped to emulate.

“He was always so nice to everyone,” Darnold said. “Just a kind human.”

Darnold, among other impressionable underclassmen, was struck by his work ethic too.

Though standing 5-foot-9 and weighing less than 180 pounds as a senior, Nick earned a preferred a walk-on spot at UCLA, joining the program in 2012. He had been both a defensive back and receiver for the Tritons.

“He was just that typical San Clemente gritty kid,” said Jaime Ortiz, the Tritons’ coach and previously their defensive coordinator. “He didn’t pass the eye test, but he was going to hit ya.”

When San Clemente advanced to the CIF-Southern Section Pac-5 Division championship game in 2011, Darnold was among a few freshmen added to the varsity roster during the playoffs. He watched college-bound seniors, including Pasquale, offensive tackle Kyle Murphy, who ended up at Stanford, quarterback Travis Wilson, who landed at Utah, and Christian Tober, who became a walk-on receiver at USC, string together 12 victories, before ultimately falling to Santa Margarita.

Since 2013, Darnold has thought of Pasquale and kept perspective.

“If I’m doing something that’s hard to get through,” Darnold said, “or if I throw an interception, or I fumble a ball, or something bad happens on the field, or I get an assignment back and I got a D or an F on it, it might seem like for me or sometimes for a lot of people – we go to great schools like USC and people who put a lot of pressure on themselves – that might seem like the biggest mistake in the world.”

Five days after Darnold learned the news of Pasquale’s death in 2013, he suffered a fracture in his foot during the first half of a game at Dana Hills and missed the rest of the season.

“It was just a couple weeks of just crap,” Darnold said.

Mel and Laurie Pasquale, Nick’s parents, have noticed Darnold wearing the wristband for their late son in games and practices since last year, his first season as the starter for the rival Trojans. Mel recalled photo shoots earlier this summer of Darnold, whose image was splattered across the pages of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine, the red wristband fastened to his left wrist. Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr, a former UCLA teammate, also wears blue-and-gold wristbands for Nick during games.

“We notice it all the time, and we’re very proud and honored,” Mel said. “It’s really cool.”

It won’t change this week.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that Nick impacted Sam, because he impacted many, many people,” said UCLA coach Jim Mora, who first recruited Pasquale to Westwood. “And it doesn’t surprise me at all knowing the character of Sam Darnold.”