Who throws for more yards Tua or Jalen?

Jacie

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No arguing from any Sooner about the 2017 and 2018 defenses, they were horrible

BJ17, a little turnaround will look massive, statistically speaking, and that is all Sooner fans are hoping for at this point.

Oklahoma also had a QB enter the portal to transfer to WV this season. Keeping the others (RS/Fr Tanner Mordecai and 5-star recruit Spencer Rattler) takes on a bit more urgency, especially for a program that once saw a potential run to a national title ruined in the first game of the season when the star QB went down with a dislocated shoulder (Sam Bradford in 2009). The expectation is that with Hurts experienced already, Mordecai will play more early than previous back ups and Rattler will be used to the limits of the 4-games redshirt rule (and if he is all that, no reason to redshirt him as he would enter the draft after his junior year anyway).

So maybe Hurts won't have the opportunity to accumulate the huge numbers of passing yards as did Mayfield and Murray.
 

mlh

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Since Lincoln Riley became an OC in 2010, his QBs have averaged 3,772.6 yards a season. Since being at OU, his QBs have averaged 3,934.5 yards. I don't see Tua getting to either number. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't see it.
I don't see Jalen getting there, either. He's improved and Riley will do a good job of building an offense around his strengths. But, as a passer, he's not in the same league as Riley's other QBs.

I think Jalen will have a ton of yards, but almost as much running as passing. Keep in mind, OU lost 4 starters in the OL. I think we'll see Jalen tucking and running quite a bit.
 

owenfieldreams

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Some updates and observations from OU's fall camp: Apparently, Hurts is in a real battle for the starting position. It seems from the reports out of camp that it's his leadership vs the raw talent of his 2 main competitors, Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler. Rattler has dazzled in camp but is behind in terms of knowledge of the system. Mordecai has both skill and knowledge but not Hurts leadership. Lots of talk that Hurts struggles throwing to his left. That's a problem since CeeDee Lamb lines up on the left. I remind all here that OU actually runs more than it throws. Anyone who doesn't think we dont have a devastating ground game is mistaken. The O-line will have 4 new starters, all either RS sophs or juniors so they have been in the system and Bedenbaugh is a great O-line coach. I still think Hurts starts and our scheme will play to his strength. We ran more QB plays with Murray than we did with Mayfield. Rattler probably RS's but he is a special talent. Lots of optimism about a dramatically improved D. We shall see.
 

B1GTide

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Some updates and observations from OU's fall camp: Apparently, Hurts is in a real battle for the starting position. It seems from the reports out of camp that it's his leadership vs the raw talent of his 2 main competitors, Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler. Rattler has dazzled in camp but is behind in terms of knowledge of the system. Mordecai has both skill and knowledge but not Hurts leadership. Lots of talk that Hurts struggles throwing to his left. That's a problem since CeeDee Lamb lines up on the left. I remind all here that OU actually runs more than it throws. Anyone who doesn't think we dont have a devastating ground game is mistaken. The O-line will have 4 new starters, all either RS sophs or juniors so they have been in the system and Bedenbaugh is a great O-line coach. I still think Hurts starts and our scheme will play to his strength. We ran more QB plays with Murray than we did with Mayfield. Rattler probably RS's but he is a special talent. Lots of optimism about a dramatically improved D. We shall see.
He did his entire career at Alabama.
 

BamaInCummingGA

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I don't know but I think Tua plays more this season than last so.................
If Tua goes deep into the third (especially in some of the earlier games) he could blow everyone else out of the water.
And as much as I love JH and think he has improved quite a bit in his passing I still think if you make him roll to one side of the field you can still seriously limit his production.
 

crimsonaudio

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I don't know but I think Tua plays more this season than last so.................
If Tua goes deep into the third (especially in some of the earlier games) he could blow everyone else out of the water.
And as much as I love JH and think he has improved quite a bit in his passing I still think if you make him roll to one side of the field you can still seriously limit his production.
There's zero - ZERO - question that Tua is a far better passer. Literally none. It all comes down to opportunity and whether the B12 "defenses" can pressure JH accordingly - if they can, OU will almost certainly see a slightly improved version of what we saw at Bama, which wins most game but against elite defenses struggles.

I want nothing but success for JH - he's an AMAZING young man with great talent...

But if the question if phrased from the standpoint of snaps taken / passes attempted, it's silly - Tua is so much better as a passer it's not even a discussion.
 

BamaMoon

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Some updates and observations from OU's fall camp: Apparently, Hurts is in a real battle for the starting position. It seems from the reports out of camp that it's his leadership vs the raw talent of his 2 main competitors, Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler. Rattler has dazzled in camp but is behind in terms of knowledge of the system. Mordecai has both skill and knowledge but not Hurts leadership. Lots of talk that Hurts struggles throwing to his left. That's a problem since CeeDee Lamb lines up on the left. I remind all here that OU actually runs more than it throws. Anyone who doesn't think we dont have a devastating ground game is mistaken. The O-line will have 4 new starters, all either RS sophs or juniors so they have been in the system and Bedenbaugh is a great O-line coach. I still think Hurts starts and our scheme will play to his strength. We ran more QB plays with Murray than we did with Mayfield. Rattler probably RS's but he is a special talent. Lots of optimism about a dramatically improved D. We shall see.
I don't know if I remember Hurts ever scrambling left/rolling left and completing a pass. I know he probably did, but if we ever had a designed QB roll out, it was 100% designed to go to the right. I remember quite a bit of talk about how teams figured out they only had to defend half the field against Jalen.

To his credit, even when teams knew this, they still struggled to control his scrambling ability.
 

wishbonesooner

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The media in Oklahoma is reporting that Jalen reported to spring camp with a great attitude, not a guy resting on his laurels or past success. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work. Lots of media talk about Lincoln Riley looking to slow the pace a bit. Jalen will have to win the job, it wont be handed to him.
 

BamaMoon

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The media in Oklahoma is reporting that Jalen reported to spring camp with a great attitude, not a guy resting on his laurels or past success. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work. Lots of media talk about Lincoln Riley looking to slow the pace a bit. Jalen will have to win the job, it wont be handed to him.
What Jalen may struggle with in throwing the football, he was never at fault with having a bad attitude....NEVER!

As a matter of fact, if he were to not win the job, look for nothing but positive words for the one who may. And rest assured, if called upon, he'll be ready to fill his role if/when called upon....AND HE WASN'T TOO BAD COMING OFF THE BENCH.

FWIW, even with this news, I suspect the combination of his talents, improved throwing (as we saw last year), running/scrambling ability and most of all hard work ethic and great attitude I still believe he'll probably win the starting job at OU.
 

owenfieldreams

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If I had to predict how the QB battle plays out at OU I'd say that Hurts starts, Mordecai is #2, Rattler RS's, and Schaeffer is #3. Next year, Rattler starts, Mordecai #2 ( but could transfer ), Schaeffer #3. We are not recruiting a QB in the 2020 class and we have a 2021 commit...kid from Georgia who's name escapes me.
 

4Q Basket Case

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In answer to the opening question, I think Jalen may throw for more yards. I expect Tua's yardage to actually decline as we put more emphasis on the run and on Tua taking short passes when that's what the defense has given.

Jalen is playing against B12 defenses (not great to start with), and they've never seen a QB with Jalen's running ability, especially his power. Expect to see safeties start cheating down to cover that, and Jalen / Riley to exploit the vacancy over the top. That said, I'm sure Jalen has improved as a passer. But accuracy was such a problem for him, especially on mid-level 8-15 yards downfield, I'll be surprised if he's suddenly turned into a polished passer on that front. Which was always his Achilles Heel.

He can rack up eye-popping stats against overmatched defenses, but struggle mightily against top-flight defenses. But look at OU's first five games. Expect to hear all sorts of national ballyhooing about Jalen. Then comes October 12, and an interesting test for both him and the Texas defense. Then not much until TCU....a second interesting test to see if last year was an aberration for Patterson, or an indication of a more permanent falloff. Iowa State might be interesting, but I really don't think they have the horses to pull it off for more than a quarter.

Point being, I don't see a defense that I'm sure can exploit Jalen's weaknesses. A couple that might be able to....maybe, if this and if that....but none that I know can do it.

Bottom Line: Jalen might be the best running QB in the country. B12 defenses have never seen anything like his combination of power, speed and surprising shiftiness for his size. He's not a bad passer, just not good enough to force a Top 10 defense to respect it. But he won't be playing anything close to a Top 10 defense until the playoffs. Against the defenses he'll be playing, he'll rack up Heisman-like numbers, even though he's not in the Mayfield / Murray / Tua universe as a passer.
 
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B1GTide

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Bottom Line: Jalen might be the best running QB in the country. B12 defenses have never seen anything like his combination of power, speed and surprising shiftiness for his size. He's not a bad passer, just not good enough to force a Top 10 defense to respect it. But he won't be playing anything close to a Top 10 defense until the playoffs. Against the defenses he'll be playing, he'll rack up Heisman-like numbers, even though he's not in the Mayfield / Murray / Tua universe as a passer.
:iagree:
 

BamaMoon

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In answer to the opening question, I think Jalen may throw for more yards. I expect Tua's yardage to actually decline as we put more emphasis on the run and on Tua taking short passes when that's what the defense has given.

Jalen is playing against B12 defenses (not great to start with), and they've never seen a QB with Jalen's running ability, especially his power. Expect to see safeties start cheating down to cover that, and Jalen / Riley to exploit the vacancy over the top. That said, I'm sure Jalen has improved as a passer. But accuracy was such a problem for him, especially on mid-level 8-15 yards downfield, I'll be surprised if he's suddenly turned into a polished passer on that front. Which was always his Achilles Heel.

He can rack up eye-popping stats against overmatched defenses, but struggle mightily against top-flight defenses. But look at OU's first five games. Expect to hear all sorts of national ballyhooing about Jalen. Then comes October 12, and an interesting test for both him and the Texas defense. Then not much until TCU....a second interesting test to see if last year was an aberration for Patterson, or an indication of a more permanent falloff. Iowa State might be interesting, but I really don't think they have the horses to pull it off for more than a quarter.

Point being, I don't see a defense that I'm sure can exploit Jalen's weaknesses. A couple that might be able to....maybe, if this and if that....but none that I know can do it.

Bottom Line: Jalen might be the best running QB in the country. B12 defenses have never seen anything like his combination of power, speed and surprising shiftiness for his size. He's not a bad passer, just not good enough to force a Top 10 defense to respect it. But he won't be playing anything close to a Top 10 defense until the playoffs. Against the defenses he'll be playing, he'll rack up Heisman-like numbers, even though he's not in the Mayfield / Murray / Tua universe as a passer.
It's weird in a way. Kyler Murray was FAST/QUICK and when he ran he looked fast. When someone looks fast a top athlete seems to be able to naturally take a better angle of attack for a tackle. But, Jalen doesn't really look that fast. Maybe it's his size compared to someone like Murray but tacklers never seem to take the proper angle when Jalen gets into the open field. He kinda reminds me of Shawn Alexander in this way. Shawn was a smoother runner but they are equally "sneaky fast."
 

B1GTide

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It's weird in a way. Kyler Murray was FAST/QUICK and when he ran he looked fast. When someone looks fast a top athlete seems to be able to naturally take a better angle of attack for a tackle. But, Jalen doesn't really look that fast. Maybe it's his size compared to someone like Murray but tacklers never seem to take the proper angle when Jalen gets into the open field. He kinda reminds me of Shawn Alexander in this way. Shawn was a smoother runner but they are equally "sneaky fast."
Jalen reminded me of Cam in that he seemed to "slide" off of tacklers and had deceptive speed. He seemed to be jogging but was running away from very fast defenders.
 

BamaMoon

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Jalen reminded me of Cam in that he seemed to "slide" off of tacklers and had deceptive speed. He seemed to be jogging but was running away from very fast defenders.
Agree. Part of that was Cam's size too (think he's 6'4" or 5" and played about 250 lbs.) Jalen wasn't quite that size but was strong as a county fair Ox.

But Jalen also just flat out could avoid contact because the angle they'd take to tackle him was just underestimated.
 

James Eagle

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It will probably be close, only because of the Big 12's lack of defense, but I believe Tua will again throw for a lot of yards. We may run the ball more this year but Bama has too many great receivers not to use them.
 

wishbonesooner

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I have heard that Jalen and Coach Riley have been working a lot on the mechanics of throwing. I'm excited to see him on the field, and the Sooner nation has been very supportive from what I hear.
 

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