This was a bit of a surprise on a Monday afternoon, Oregon quarterback Tyler Shough (6-5/221)(pronounced “shuck”) will transfer to Texas Tech.

Let’s go to work. Ill be continuing my athletic career and obtaining a Masters at Texas Tech! 👆🏼 #GunsUp pic.twitter.com/YwydNu0ZlM

— Tyler Shough (@tylershough2) February 22, 2021

Shough is a sophomore who will have three years to play because he’s a graduate transfer and will be eligible immediately. Shough is originally from Arizona where he was a 4-star quarterback, the 6th at his position coming out of the 2018 class.

Shough played in 7 games last year, completing 63.5% of his passes for 9.3 yards per attempt with 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Slough averaged 223 yards passing and 39 yards rushing, about 4 yards a carry. That doesn’t totally tell the whole story as Shough started out strong in games against Stanford, Washington State, UCLA, Oregon State, and Cal. In his final two games at Oregon, Shough earned just a handful of snaps against USC and Iowa State.

You can get a taste of what to expect with Shough in his game against Washington State where he threw for 312 yards and had 81 yards running.

Is this a big deal? Yes, it is a very big deal. I had done a preliminary depth chart and with Shough, I’m thinking he’s the leader in the clubhouse in terms of a starter next year. He has the best stats of anyone one the team right now. I’d also add that although the stats are very good, he only graded out at a D-, which is worse than what Henry Colombi and Alan Bowman performed. So it’s not a given. Slough faded significantly at Oregon, which is what led to him being benched at the end of the year. So he’s got to get better.

Am I concerned about Behren Morton and how this affects the room? No, I do not. I didn’t think that Morton would be able to start and if anything, this should be encouraging to you from the standpoint that head coach Matt Wells knows that he must win now. This is not a situation where he can develop a freshman quarterback and hope to win in a couple of years. Try to win now, worry about the rest later.

I’d also add that Shough’s ability to run should not be over-looked. Colombi averaged 2 yards a carry last year and Shough averaged 4. I’ve been wondering what type of offense Sonny Cumbie might run and Shough’s ability to run is something that Cumbie liked to do last year.