SEATTLE — Max Browne can tell you when he knew Sam Darnold was dangerous.

It was the summer of 2015, and Browne — a former five-star recruit and Gatorade National High School Player of the Year at Skyline High School in Sammamish — was a redshirt sophomore quarterback at USC. Cody Kessler was the Trojans’ cemented starter, but Browne appeared to be next in line the following fall.

That is, until a true freshman and future Seahawk exploded onto the scene.

“He had an easygoing nature about him,” Browne said of Darnold, an unrefined four-star recruit from San Clemente, Calif. “I always got the sense that he was confident and had self-belief but never an ounce of arrogance, which I think is rare, especially with quarterbacking.

“The confidence and self-belief usually come with everybody’s favorite word: swagger. Sam didn’t have swagger, in the normal sense people think, the style and the bravado and all that. He was just himself, but still exuded that confidence without saying a word.”

Darnold’s actions mattered more. Browne recalls a training camp practice in 2015 when Darnold — a true freshman who had recently arrived on campus — improvised in the backfield, before uncorking a 50-yard dagger down the sideline.

Tee Martin, USC’s offensive coordinator, danced and declared: “He’s a young Brett Favre!”

The comparisons flowed freely. After usurping Browne for USC’s starting job in September 2016, Darnold didn’t look back, throwing for 7,229 yards and 64 total touchdowns in two scintillating seasons. That included 453 passing yards and five scores in a Rose Bowl win over Penn State that transformed Darnold into an NFL draft darling. In 2018, the New York Jets bet their franchise on “a young Brett Favre” with the No. 3 overall pick.

But even back then, Browne saw the secret.

Darnold’s talent took him to the NFL.

His temperament took him to the Super Bowl.

“It’s not that he had some different perspective than all of us. But I do think he had a different temperament,” said Browne, now a college football analyst for ESPN. “All those USC quarterbacks, for the most part, you walk in there and it’s not that guys are nervous. It’s not that guys are stiff. But there’s just an intense undercurrent to how guys go about their business.

“I never got that from Sam, whether he was a true freshman, first day of practice, learning his playbook, trying to find his way, or whether he was clearly on the path to be the next great USC quarterback midway through that 2016 season. He never changed. [They say] if you get too high for the highs, you’ll fall for the lows. If you pay attention to the compliments, you’ll also pay attention to the criticism. There’s a lot of quarterbacks that do that.”

Not Darnold.

Which is how he survived a dizzying descent — from the disastrous three-season stint in New York, to the stalled comeback in Carolina, to the backup blip in San Francisco, to the ruined revival in Minnesota.

It’s not that Darnold didn’t care as much as other USC quarterbacks; he did. It’s not that he wasn’t as relentlessly competitive; he was. But in a merciless pressure cooker, he didn’t let the weight of expectation, praise or criticism crush him.

As former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett wrote in his draft report of the quarterback, which he read to Darnold during an NBC segment in October: “[He’s] not affected by failure — interceptions, bad game. He just keeps coming.”

Darnold’s never been swayed by outside noise — positive or negative, then or now.

“I just don’t think Sam ever bought into that game,” Browne said. “He was the same dude when things were going great, not necessarily buying into the praise. I do think that temperament very much is a huge reason why he was able to weather the storm for the Jets/Panthers/Niners chapter and not lose confidence when others likely would have.”

That unkillable confidence has come in handy. In last weekend’s NFC championship game win over the rival Rams, Darnold exploded for 346 passing yards, three touchdowns and zero turnovers. After becoming the first quarterback to win 14 games for two teams in back-to-back seasons, he’ll attempt to seal his renaissance with a Super Bowl win.

But regardless of the result against the Patriots, don’t expect Darnold to be influenced by football’s biggest stage.

“Everyone wants to make a narrative about this guy. But he’s been the same guy since he walked in the door,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said Sunday. “So you do not want me writing the stories, because I would not write the narratives that were out there. I’d be really boring.

“I’d be like, ‘This guy’s the man, and his teammates love him, and he’s competitive as crap, and he’s tough, and he’s really talented, and he’s a winner.’ That would be the story. So don’t let me write the story.”

In the past eight years, Darnold’s story has been written a thousand different times. He’s been anointed, buried and every option in between. His career has been eulogized by critics before he ever called it quits. But his temperament remains untouchable.

Darnold is dangerous because he doesn’t read, believe or subscribe to anyone else’s story.

He’s never been a young Brett Favre. He’s always been himself.

“One of my high school receivers was Austin Bui. He’s the head equipment manager for the Seahawks,” Browne said Tuesday. “He FaceTimed me today, and Darnold popped on the FaceTime. It’s the same Sammy D that I met back in the spring of 2015.”

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