EUGENE – Oregon is getting a new starting quarterback in 2021.
Tyler Shough, who started all seven games for the Ducks and led the Pac-12 in passer efficiency in 2020, announced that he is entering the transfer portal.
“I would like to thank my coaches at Oregon for the opportunity and the many lessons I have learned over the past three years,” Shough wrote via Twitter. “A huge thank you to the fans and Eugene community for welcoming me here and making this place special. Thank you to Coach Feld and all the strength team for your support and countless hours spent in the weight room. Thank you to Chief, Travis, Steph, Rachel, Cody and all of the Oregon sports trainers for your sacrifice, care, and work. I will always love and appreciate you. I appreciate the academic staff for your constant assistance with the guidance enabling me to graduate with two degrees in three years. Thank you to my teammates and brothers for making this place a home. I will forever cherish the bonds we have built together. Once a duck, always a duck. I trust the Lord and am excited to announce that I will be entering the transfer portal as a grad transfer with three more years of eligibility. “
Shough went 106 for 167 (63.5%) for 1,559 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions and had 66 carries for 271 yards and two scores in 2020, his first season as a starter after backing Justin Herbert in 2019 served, and led the Pac -12 in compass efficiency (160.38).
However, the redshirt sophomore’s game slipped from November to December. He went from completing 65.8% of his passes with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions for 289.5 yards per game with an efficiency rating of 170.31 (16th nationally) in Oregon’s first four games against Stanford, Washington State, UCLA and Oregon State to 58% with three touchdowns and two interceptions for 133.7 yards per game and a 137.17 efficiency rating (46th nationally) in the last three games against Cal, USC in the Pac-12 Championship game and Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Shough was only 7 of 9 for 79 yards with a late interception in the Fiesta Bowl when he started the game by going 3 for 3 for 41 yards, but he was benched in favor of Anthony Brown and only appeared again late in the third quarter. , more than two hours of real time.
After the Fiesta Bowl, Shough said he was ‘not sure how to interpret’ after sitting on the bench after his opening ride and a one-game ride that resulted in a fumble, but he was ‘hungrier than ever’ and persisted that he would return to UO to compete for the runway during winter and spring training.
“I’m going to take what’s right in front of me and keep working hard,” Shough said on January 2. “Obviously, no decision is made. I’m going to determine what I can control and work hard throughout the off-season. I keep proving myself. It seems a lot of people keep doubting me, and I’ll keep showing them what I can do and myself. continue to prove right because I know my abilities and I know I can help and do for this team.
‘I think it will turn out, and I know it will turn out. … I’m going to fully invest myself in this low season, mentally, physically and spiritually. Because as I said before, I know what it takes and I know how much further to go and how to go as a team. So it has only just begun. “
Oregon’s quarterback room has been cut to four: Brown, who was 15 out of 24 for 164 yards with two touchdowns and last season had seven carries for 40 yards and two scores and was a three-year starter at Boston College, sophomore freshman Jay Butterfield and Robby Ashford and real-life freshman Ty Thompson, the highest-rated QB signer in program history.
Shough is the eighth stock market player and second quarterback to transfer from UO off-season, joining Daewood Davis, Jayvaun Wilson, MJ Cunningham, Cyrus Habibi-Likio, Cale Millen, JR Waters and Isaac Townsend. Oregon is expected to have 84 countable stock market players and 92 in total by 2021.