On Nov. 7, Tyler Shough took the field for his first collegiate start. Many believed the year studying under Justin Herbert would make Shough a viable option, and for his first few games, that seemed to hold true.
Shough threw for over 300 yards in two of his first three starts. The offense flourished around him as Johnny Johnson III, Devon Williams and Jaylon Redd made explosive plays in the passing game, while CJ Verdell and Travis Dye picked up chunks of yards on the ground.
It seemed all of the questions surrounding the Ducks’ new-look offense and its future without Herbert had been answered, and Joe Moorhead’s system, with Shough at the helm, appeared to be working without a hitch.
But following a narrow week four loss to Oregon State in Corvallis, Shough’s confidence seemed to falter, and the Ducks’ offense sputtered. The following week, after a strong first half in Berkeley, the Ducks were held scoreless for the remainder, losing to a winless Cal team 21-17.
After a 3-0 start to the season, the Ducks had lost two straight. The wheels came loose and the quarterback position was in limbo.
Boston College graduate transfer Anthony Brown, who’d yet to see the field in 2020, split snaps with Shough in the Pac-12 championship, acting as a switchblade against a USC defense that hadn’t prepared for his more mobile, shifty playstyle.
Brown took the vast majority of snaps in the Ducks’ Fiesta Bowl appearance against Iowa State, restating the uncertainty towards who would assume the starting role moving forward.
In mid-February, Shough entered the transfer portal, announcing only 10 days later that he’d take his talents to Texas Tech. While his transfer reflects an unfortunate loss for the program, it’s important to note that Shough’s vacancy makes room for what’s still to come.
Entering the 2021 season, the Ducks have options.
The bulk of the conversation revolves around Brown and highly ranked recruit Ty Thompson. Seeing former four-star California recruit Jay Butterfield take snaps wouldn’t come as a surprise either. With a plethora of returning receivers, the Ducks may well be looking for a pro-style, Herbert-esque pocket passer. Butterfield could provide that.
Thompson, ranked second nationally at his position, is the highest-rated quarterback recruit in Oregon football history and should be a major point of excitement and well-deserved anticipation among fans. His natural talent and ability to lead show all the desirable qualities of a true freshman starter.
He has the hype, but he’s got the history to back it up too.
The state of Arizona has become a hotbed for high-end high school football programs and a national pipeline for highly ranked athletes. Thompson played, and won, in some of the most competitive divisions of high school football, leading Mesquite High School to back-to-back state championship titles in his junior and senior seasons.
Sure, it’s been quite some time since a freshman has occupied the starting quarterback position in Eugene. Since 2012 with Marcus Mariota, to be precise. But that turned out okay, right?
While there’s no telling how his skill set will translate at the next level, one can say without a doubt that seeing Thompson under center week one would give the thundering crowds of Autzen Stadium something to be excited about, and reasonably so.
Brown’s story, albeit different, should be equally interesting for Oregon fans. He came out of high school as a three-star recruit with 15 offers, vastly different from Thompson’s 20 offers and five-star rating. But while Thompson has the glitz and glam of a highly sought recruit, Brown has experience and success at the college level.
It hasn’t all been easy for Brown. In fact, quite the opposite. After red-shirting his freshman season at Boston College, he rose into the starting job in 2017. He hit the ground running, starting the first ten games of the season and winning the majority. But the success was short-lived, as the then-sophomore went down with a season-ending injury in his 11th career start.
Brown was resilient. The New Jersey native started all 12 games the following season, leading the Eagles to a 7-5 record on the year. He became just the fifth Boston College quarterback of all time to throw for 20 touchdowns in a season.
In 2019, after six starts, Brown was struck once again by injury, sustaining a lower leg tear that would sideline him for the remainder of the year.
In 2020, Brown landed in Eugene. After being inactive through the entirety of the Ducks’ abbreviated season, Brown surfaced as a role-player in the Pac-12 Championship game, and as a potential starter in the Fiesta Bowl.
Brown threw two all-important touchdowns in the Ducks’ victory over USC. And with the vast majority of snaps against Iowa State the following week, Brown threw for a modest but respectable 147 yards, adding 36 rushing yards and two touchdowns with his feet.
While the Ducks were anything but perfect against Iowa State, Brown was far from the issue. And against USC, Brown was crucial in giving the Ducks another offensive look and confusing a talented Trojan defensive group.
A Ducks offense with Thompson at the helm would be an exciting sight but would be one with a lack of certainty. Sure, Mariota took over as a freshman and was more than sufficient, but that was an anomaly. Brown provides a look for the Moorhead offense that is proven to work.
It’s a coin flip for who gets the job. But on either side of the coin are two viable options to fill the role.
Oregon football will enter the 2021 season facing a quarterback competition for the second year in a row. On one hand, they have a generational talent in Thompson. On the other, ample experience and game-ready ability in Brown.
