| Dropbacks | Yards per att. | Passer Rating | TD % | Int % | Avg Depth of Target | Big Time Throw % | TO worthy play % | WR Drop % | % of Pressures Turned into sacks |
| Shough | 320 | 9.3 | 108.7 | 5.00 | 1.43 | 8.8 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 7.7 | 18.4 |
| D Smith | 164 | 8.4 | 98.4 | 8.09 | 3.31 | 13.2 | 4.1 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 14.8 |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| yards per run | yards after contact | Fumble % | 1st Down % | yards per scramble | | | | | |
| Shough | 5.7 | 2.97 | 10.64 | 53.19 | 7.24 | | | | | |
| D Smith | 4.6 | 3.04 | 19.44 | 38.89 | 5.916666667 | | | | | |
This is one of the most bizarre QB rooms that I can recall for Tech, or any school really. The guy that lead the team last year in dropbacks is gone. He transferred to Marshall, with nearly 99% of fans happy with that result.
Out of the 3 guys remaining, it's almost an even 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd split on who most want to win the job. I've never seen anything like it, especially when the chances are so high that the oldest, most experienced, and incumbent starter (Shough) will win the job. Unfortunately, Morton has no data to look at so he's not included in the chart above. He's also the least likely guy to win the job, so it makes sense to focus on Donovan and Tyler.
Tyler's stats include his time at Oregon. It wouldn't be fair to only look at his Tech numbers because (1) most of his dropbacks came against SFA or FIU, and (2) most of Donovan's dropbacks came against some of the best defenses in the conference last year (Ok. State, Baylor and Iowa State). No matter what, though, we have a super small sample size when it comes to both QBs. Additionally, most of the drop backs occurred when both QBs were young and new starters. They should -- keyword should -- be much better this year than what the numbers above show.
Shough is the more experienced guy; it's not by much, though. 320 is not a lot of dropbacks for a guy his age. It's a combination of him getting injured last year, and him splitting time at Oregon during a COVID-shortened season. He is older, though. And he's essentially not taking any classes. This guy will be spending as much time on football this year as any QB in the country. It's hard to quantify what that's worth.
One thing that stands out is the discrepancy in Avg. Depth of Target. Shough's targets have been, on average, 8.8 yards downfield while Donovan's have been 13.2 yards. Does that mean Donovan throws a better deep ball? I don't necessarily think so. It's probably because most of Shough's throws came in a different system at Oregon.
Shough's Turnover Worthy Play % also stands out. It's nearly 3x higher than Donovan's. That matches up with the narrative around Shough that he will make a few boneheaded decisions. The two most egregious ones last year can be partially explained, in my opinion. The pick 6 against SFA was probably Ezukanma's fault. They clearly weren't on the same page. The one against UT occurred a few snaps after he broke his collar bone. I'm not totally disregarding them, but it is worth mentioning.
Shough's passer rating is so much higher because of his higher completion % and lower Interception %. His completion % is higher, though, because he was targeting receivers so much closer to the line of scrimmage.
The running numbers are interesting to me. Shough has arguably been the better runner. Some of that is explained by Donovan being used in situational stuff last year (3rd and short) when it was obvious we were running the ball and the defense was keyed in to stop it (they usually didn't). Shough's 1st Down % on runs (over 50%) is extremely impressive. His yards per scramble is too. I think it's also worth noting here that many insiders, like GCCR, have posted that Shough is faster than Donovan.
Donovan's fumble % is alarming. He's fumbled 7 times on only 36 carries. He also botched a handoff exchange in the Spring game.
We have two good running QBs no matter how you look at it.
What QB gives us the lowest floor? It's an interesting question. My gut tells me it's Shough.
What QB gives us the highest ceiling? Another interesting one that's tough to answer. My gut tells me it's Donovan. If he were to make a massive leap between year 1 and year 2, like a lot of QBs do after their FR year, he could be really good. His measurables are just off the charts. But it's not like Shough is this puny midget, either. He's a big and athletic dude. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Shough at his best > Donovan at his best.
I think the biggest problem for Shough next year is our schedule. He's going to be in a new offensive system with a new OL and the first 6 games is a bit of a gauntlet. There's probably a 30ish% chance that we start out 2-4. Can the starting QB survive a 2-4 start? He could, but he's going to have to play pretty well to do it.
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