With the departure of Justin Herbert to the Charges in last year’s NFL draft, the Oregon Ducks have a vacant spot at the starting QB position. Well, a vacant spot that is projected to be filled by Tyler Shough, a 6’5”, 220-pound redshirt-sophomore according to Mario Cristobal.
So as we wait for the season to start, let’s take a quick look at who Shough is.
The prostyle quarterback graduated from Hamilton High School in Chandler, AZ in 2018. Over the past two seasons, he saw limited snaps behind four-year starter Justin Herbert. But when he did hit the field, he delivered by having a college completion percentage of 80% (12/15) and an average of 9.6 yards per pass to go along with 3 touchdown passes.
But, what type of player was Shough back when he was the man in his high school days?
During his junior year, the first year he started on varsity, he put up over 2000 yards passing with an average of 177 yards per game. These aren’t outstanding numbers by any means compared to other top high school quarterbacks like Trevor Lawerence and Justin Fields who also graduated in 2018. For perspective, Trevor Lawerence was putting up over 3000 yards each of his four years as a varsity starter (almost obtaining 4000 yards his junior campaign).
Shough didn’t hit this prestigious 3000-yards-in-a-season mark until the following year where he put up 3071 yards and drastically improved in virtually every single relevant category.
Other than that, Shough was never a big name across the country, but that hasn’t held him back from developing.
Oregon has a projected top-5 defense in the country, so the real question is: will the offensive be able to keep up?
Shough has potential and even hype. Herbert has full confidence in him. He has a new, QB-friendly offensive coordinator. All that’s left is for Shough to grow further into the QB his teammates and coaches expect him to be.
With his raw talent and Oregon’s stellar defense, a bold but not ridiculous claim would be to say that Oregon finally has a chance to get back in the college football playoffs.
But because of Covid-19, I think Shough and the Ducks will settle for going 7-0 as of right now.
Regardless, I’m ready to watch some Oregon football!
