College football quarterback film study: Joe Burrow aces test, Jordan Love improving

Breaking down the top college football quarterbacks with film study to look at this season’s performances from Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and more.

Week 11 of the college football season sure lived up to the hype as LSU and Alabama headlined a quality slate of games. The Goliath showdown also gave us the chance to see the 2020 NFL Draft’s two top prospects square off, with Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa throwing haymakers back and forth. This was just the beginning for our quarterback evaluations.

We were also able to see impactful performances from Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Utah State’s Jordan Love. Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts had a head-scratching slew of decisions against Iowa State. We’re going to break each of their latest games down as we do weekly.

In case you missed it, last week’s breakdown featured how the season was progressing for the nation’s top quarterbacks. It’s a great place to start for those interested in draft discussion and to gain a snapshot of the guys being tracked weekly.

Trevor Lawrence, Clemson

The first sentence I typed into my notes on Trevor Lawrence’s destruction of N.C. State regarded how deadly the sophomore was as he attacked downfield. This was a nearly flawless game from Lawrence, who has quietly put together a year resembling what expectations were for him. Though his Heisman hopes are dead, Lawrence is clearly back into the forefront of the nation’s best quarterback discussion.

Many overvalued his ugly interceptions from earlier this season and lost track of how many impactful throws he regularly hits. This week featured zero ugly throws but had the big plays that make him so special. Lawrence was accurate on all but three of his 14 passes beyond 10 yards, including hitting two touchdowns beyond 20 yards.

His teardrop passes were courtesy of cleaning up some of the stance issues he had earlier in the year. He’s a leggy-body, and he’ll plant his back foot too far behind his hip on some attempts, causing his accuracy to dip. His arm can make up for the mechanical error but the margin for error rises.

This week was the third in a row where this wasn’t a problem. His self-improvement is notable and was the catalyst behind the Tigers wrapping up the game before half time. He even lost a deep touchdown on a perfectly placed ball into the breadbasket of his target, so the damage could’ve been worse.

He remains the No. 1 prospect for 2021.

Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama

The grand stage between Tua and Burrow led us to see there are two potential franchise quarterbacks in the 2020 class. That should be the takeaway from a draft perspective, not that one needs to be torn down or blamed for losing a competitive battle.

Though it’s fair to criticize the two turnovers Tua had, including one fumble in the red zone and a costly interception before halftime, the rest of his game featured what all should want to see in terms of traits and mentality.

Tagovailoa was aggressive downfield despite dealing with relentless pressure that was constantly in his face throughout the first half. His return to the field post-ankle surgery included some rust, including an intermediate missed throw that would’ve extended a drive in the first half to help stop Alabama’s bleeding. He found more rhythm and success as the game progressed though.

At least half of his six misses on underneath throws was a direct result of Alabama’s RPO and play-action-based offense. LSU clamped down on the slants with great length coming in as a factor on well-placed balls. The pressure in Tua’s face affected only two attempts in terms of forcing him into blatantly off results.

He was unconscious going deep, throwing a catchable ball on all five attempts

20 yards. He should’ve had three deep touchdowns had Jerry Jeudy not uncharacteristically dropped a dime that was placed into his hands. The touch he had this week was more like what we saw in 2018 from Tua, who had better deep passing numbers last year than this year. But he’s ascending to his natural mean.

His third-down passing was certainly impressive as well. He was a perfect nine-of-nine, with only two attempts coming short of the first down. His lone pass short of the markers on third and long still converted though as he hit Jeudy in the chest as he raced upfield across the 3rd and 19 marker.

His interception was the real concern. Most of his 11 career interceptions feature a weakside defender crossing the field to undercut a pass near the hash mark. It’s not a massive red flag but it bears watching to see if he can be baited into more of these attempts into a sure-turnover.

I still have Tua as my top quarterback prospect but the door is open for reasons beyond his control. He’s been outplayed in two games, where Lawrence and Burrow were all but perfect against a struggling Alabama defense. That shouldn’t be held against the star quarterback.

Joe Burrow, LSU

The ascent of Burrow coalesced with a clutch performance on the road against Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide. Burrow’s established himself as at least QB2 if we’re just basing rankings on what’s happened on the field. His ability to identify pre-snap weaknesses and improvise when pressure nears makes him a high-floor prospect who can reliably make the right decision and continue pushing drives.

His athleticism inside and outside of the pocket was a difference-maker as well. Though he struggles to evade rushers who have a decent angle at him, he climbs the pocket effectively and can roll out to buy time. He punished Alabama when rolling to his right even under pressure, as he hit on all four attempts, three came with pressure.

One of the tests the Tide was able to provide is what happens when Burrow sees press coverage. Most defenses play off because his receivers are so athletic and capable of winning immediately on routes, and Alabama played their fair share off, but Burrow struggled a little bit more when the timing of the underneath routes was off. His intermediate accuracy was fine but dropped, and his interception that came under pressure was a rare situation where he was uncomfortable reading what he saw.

He’s not quite as precise as Tua is with his ball placement but he’s well ahead of where most recent first-rounders have been. His throwing motion didn’t limit him at all this week, and his arm continues to be good enough to hit deep windows and avoid closing defenders.

My comparison for him has been Tom Brady or Jimmy Garoppolo with better poise and slower release. I think Cincinnati will be quite tempted to go with the local product if they do indeed end up at No. 1.

Jordan Love, Utah State

I felt like I was again watching a legitimate NFL prospect again when combing through Love’s 30-of-38 showing against Fresno State. Their come-from-behind win was born from a stellar second-half from Love. The gifted but inconsistent passer shed the poor decisions and fleeting accuracy that had badly plagued him for the previous four games.

His confidence was clearly improved as he peppered the Bulldogs defense with short and intermediate passes. The ball was out quickly when possible, and he was able to maneuver around when he was pressured. This was the showing he needed to reinforce he’s a viable investment.

The excuses for Love’s isolated performance can only go so far. While he lost a significant amount of his supporting cast, his decision-making was so bad over the last few games that I had pondered whether a graduate transfer would be worth it (some took that as me reporting he’s interested in a transfer, but it was merely speculation based on his play.) Games like this show he’s capable of being quite good even if his situation is bad.

It’s an argument reminiscent of Josh Allen‘s final year at Wyoming. We’ve seen some improvement with Allen with NFL coaching and a solid surrounding cast, but his struggles were from flaws and possibly unfixable tendencies. I don’t think Love is in the same boat as far as the lengths it’ll take to get him in the mediocre spectrum at the next level.

Final point: planning to pass on Tua or Burrow and waiting to take Love later in the first seems too dangerous to me. I like his skill set, but if you’re wanting to start a quarterback in 2021 and don’t have a decent veteran for 2020, just wait and take a better one than Love. He’s a reach candidate for a team like Miami, who is suddenly falling out of the tank marathon.

Instead, he’d be better off in places like Indianapolis, Los Angeles (Chargers), or Minnesota. Because if your team is bad again in 2020, then you’ll potentially pass up someone like Lawrence or Justin Fields for a much worse option. That’s not smart team building for someone who isn’t the next Patrick Mahomes.

Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma

Tougher competition has led to some uneven performances from Hurts. The senior quarterback at Oklahoma continues to produce quality numbers, but luck was on his side against Iowa State. Quite frankly, the Sooners probably should’ve lost Saturday thanks to three interceptable passes, only one of which was caught, by Hurts.

His accuracy was generally strong, but rolling outside of the pocket remains an issue despite his history of being efficient in that area. He’s trying to bite off too much and force passes instead of staying calm in the pocket. Pushing himself this way could be good for his development but it’s a bumpy experience now as defenses are finding success in making him win as a short distance passer.

His desire to extend plays from a clean pocket must change as well. We’ve seen that plague both former Oklahoma quarterbacks (Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray) who are currently in the NFL. Though we don’t want Hurts to be docile in the pocket, his effectiveness when there’s not an immediate passing window drops.

Much like with Murray, any team that takes Hurts is banking on his physical skill set and personality. He’s propped up by an amazing scheme and set of playmakers, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be successful in the NFL. It means there’s a lot of room for the mental aspect of his game to continue growing and the right situation will be as important for him than anyone in this class.

Jake Fromm, Georgia

Like Hurts, Jake Fromm had his worst game of the year in Week 11. Missouri’s defense was stout and forced tight window throws to the second and third level of their defense, and Fromm failed to show the accuracy, anticipation and arm talent needed to exploit what was available. I’m still waiting for a game to exist where he looks like anything more than a game manager.

His intermediate struggles were most concerning and unfortunately overshadow a couple of soft, well-placed deep balls. He’s normally able to hit the 11-19 range effectively, but only two of his eight attempts were reasonably caught. The touchdown he had to the left side required a ridiculous toe-tap effort from George Pickens. It wouldn’t have been near a touchdown at the next level, and maybe a handful of receivers in college can make that play.

His third-down conversion numbers stunk too despite a touchdown over the middle to Pickens. Six of 13 passes on third down were accurate, and only three of 10 attempts were accurate beyond the sticks. It’s hard to defend Fromm with these situational numbers.

More tests await Fromm. There’s room for him to show he’s a better bet than anyone not named Tua or Burrow in this class and that he’s good enough to win Georgia a championship. But he hasn’t been that guy to this point despite flashes and a high floor.

He needs to put this showing in his rearview and take a giant leap forward this week against Auburn.

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