Good Evening Everyone!

So I've lurked around this site for a while and finally got around to creating an account when I found this thread. Here's some background on me:

I am from Oklahoma, grew up a fan of OSU and graduated from there just last December. I played QB through high school and though I've given up playing, I still have a deep passion for the game and love to watch the QBs play. I've attended every OSU home game for the last 4 years and I've watched every game (even the ones I've attended) on my DVR. All that said, here's my opinion on Mason and his pro prospects.

On his personality:

Rudolph is a very, very confident individual. He's not as vocal about it as some are, such as Mayfield or Rosen, but he is extremely confident in his arm and he's not afraid to take risks and make questionable decisions. This is a good thing and a bad thing, it's all about how well his position coach, OC and head coach can control it. While for many QBs this means throwing it into tight windows or throwing it across the body (a Mayfield specialty), for Rudolph it means locking in on the deep route and trying to hit the home run ball. Obviously, his favorite target was James Washington, but as the season progressed Marcell Ateman also became a popular long ball target as teams started to roll safeties over to Washington's side of the field. Along this line of thought:

Deep Passes:

These are his bread and butter and are what has him so high on some team's draft boards. While he was bailed out by his receivers on numerous occasions, he really is phenomenally accurate on deep balls which is what helps his receivers bail him out. He is so accurate with these passes, they really aren't "50/50" balls as he gives his receivers every advantage he can. He gets plenty of air under his passes and his touch is second-to-none. This can be seen when you see that his top target (Washington) on these deep passes stand at just 6'0". Now, he does believe a little too much in his accuracy and throws into tight coverages, but these mistakes rarely result in a turnover because of his ball placement.

Issues with intermediate routes:

These were a struggle all season long for him, and a lot of the blame can be placed on his offensive line. The left side of his line was absolutely atrocious in pass defense, as Aaron Cochran and the revolving door at LG were constantly abused by some rather poor Big 12 defenses. While he did make some errant reads and fail to go through his progressions, you could tell that he had very little confidence that his blindside protection would allow him and his receivers enough time to connect on these routes. Why then was he so accurate on his deep passes? Simply put, it took less time for the play to develop if his receivers were just streaking down the numbers as opposed to trying to run 10-15 yard crossing patterns. Now, the struggles with these routes weren't solely on his line, but we will come back to this a bit later.

Short passes:

Ah. The short (and lateral) passes. They're a Mike Yurcich (OC) special, and I freaking hate how often these plays are called. And just before you ask, no, Rudolph wasn't given the freedom to check out of these at will. Rudolph was great at the short passes his Freshman and first part of his Sophomore seasons, but in the later part of his Sophomore year he sustained a knee injury on his left knee. Nothing major, but you will notice that he starts to wear a knee brace off and on for the rest of his career. I'm of the opinion, and I think his tape will show this, that his inconsistency on the short passes during this stretch from his Sophomore through Junior year is due to his lack of confidence in his leading leg. He would often drop back and rest on that back leg (right leg), causing him to throw off of that back foot and causing the ball to sail. Nothing on this was confirmed as Gundy is very Belichick-like when it comes to injuries and plenty of OSU insiders were buying into some theory that he had hurt his foot, but the knee thing was an issue and I think the tape shows that. Now, there was marked improvement in his Senior year with accuracy in these short routes, but he still struggled to see defenders on these short "rub" crossing routes.

Coaching:

Mike Yurcich, his OC and QB coach, is an interesting person. Gundy hired him out of thin air, after googling top offenses in the country. I'm not lying, that's literally what happened. He came across Yurcich after finding him and his Shippensburg State offense (he was the OC) on his google search and next thing we know, we have a Division II offensive coordinator coming to Stillwater to try his hand at leading a Big 12 offense. What's been most confusing is his title as QB coach, a title he's had his entire coaching career. During his time at OSU, there's been very minimal progression of any of our QBs, and we've even had a few of the backups transfer out only to do better elsewhere (albeit at smaller schools). The biggest issue I believe Rudolph has is his footwork, a problem he's had from the beginning but has not seemed to get much better during his time at OSU. This is somewhat masked due to the entire offense seemingly being run out of a shotgun formation, but it gets exposed when he has to turn and release the ball quickly. The biggest question I have about Rudolph being in the NFL is whether or not better QB coaches will help him improve his footwork, because he will not get away with a lot of his short passes in the NFL like he did in the Big 12 (obviously).

I'm sure there's more that I could think of to share, but it's late and I can't think of anything else to write. My guess is that he's a second round pick, and honestly the value wouldn't be there for the Jags to take him due to anticipated BAP approach to this draft. However, he is a good QB and have a good (if not great) NFL career in the right situation and I think the Jags are one of the teams that could provide that (very good run game and great defense). If anyone has any questions, I will try my best to answer. I'm no QB expert by any means, but I have watched every one of his college games.

Bonus take: I would take Rudolph before I took Mayfield. Mayfield is very talented but he makes a lot of questionable passes that he could get away with in the Big 12, but won't in the NFL. He is a great improviser and can dance in the pocket to buy time, but he often throws across his body or floats the ball when in that situation and NFL defense will absolutely expose that flaw in his game. He will also take a lot of abuse in the NFL as he doesn't shy away from hits when running with the ball. Similarly to Rudolph, if he gets in the right situation and the coaches can reign in his confidence, he will be a good QB, but that's a big question mark. There's a reason why he turned the ball over so much when he played for Texas Tech and why all of a sudden he did so well at OU. In the right situation and on a team with superior talent, he excels. However, the talent gap between teams is much more narrow in the NFL than it is in the Big 12.

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