What to expect out of Tyler Shough

Tyler Shough has a lot of expectations coming into the 2021 season, but can he live up to them?

Shough coming out of high school was a 4 star recruit and the #1 QB recruit in the state of Arizona. After sitting behind future NFL Draft pick Justin Herbert, Shough became the starter at Oregon in 2020. He had an up and down season at Oregon, including getting benched in the Fiesta Bowl. Following the season, Shough transferred to Texas Tech. This brings a lot of questions for the season, and a hell of a quarterback room.

Will he start?

This is obviously the first question that everyone has to be asking. The QB room at Tech right now is pretty crowded. Along with Shough, the 2 big names that could be competing for the spot are Henry Colombi, Behren Morton, and possibly Maverick McIvor. Colombi started multiple games for Tech in 2020, so right now he’s probably the biggest threat to Shough.

Morton is a 4 star recruit coming in for the 2021 season. He might not be an immediate threat to Shough to start the season, but if struggles, Morton could be the guy that comes to take over.

I fully expect Shough to start the season on top of the depth chart. He wan’t great at Oregon, but he definitely showed glimpses of greatness that everyone talks about. Multiple 300+ yard games in a shortened season along with winning a Pac 12 championship in his first season starting is impressive. He also showed he wasn’t afraid to run the ball with 3 games of 10+ rushing attempts and 2 games with more than 80 rushing yards. Shough will have a target on his back, but he should start the season as the starter.

What’s his ceiling?

Shough has a ton of potential. Can Matt Wells and Sonny Cumbie unlock it? That is yet to be answered. We don’t know what to expect from Cumbie and his offense right away, but there is a lot of opportunity for Shough to be great for Tech.

Shough was recently given 10/1 odds to be the 2022 number 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Shough is only behind Spencer Rattler, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Sam Howell and Malik Willis. Those are really high expectations, but that could be what his ceiling really is. A future top pick in the draft.

For Shough to be a top pick, he’s gonna need to turn Techs offense around in a big way. Tech has seen a fall in offensive production since the hiring of Matt Wells. With David Yost being fired and bringing in Sonny Cumbie, there is most likely going to be a big reboot of the Red Raider offense. Shough will most likely be the guy to lead that charge, and that could be what helps him shoot up his draft stock.

Final Thoughts

Shough has a ton of potential. That’s known. Tech has a history of very good quarterbacks in the past, but only one has really had a lot of success at the next level, and that's obviously Patrick Mahomes. Well that's not completely true, we did see 7 starts of Baker Mayfield, but that's besides the point.

We’ve seen guys like Graham Harrell, Taylor Potts, Seth Doege and lots of other guys have tremendous success at Tech, only to get lost in the shuffle in the NFL. Shough has great potential, but to not end up like the names I mentioned, he’s really going to need to showcase that potential at Tech to have a shot at being a top NFL Draft pick.