| Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Att/G | Pct | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | TD | Int | Rate | |
| Joe Burrow | JR | QB | 13 | 219 | 379 | 29 | 57.8 | 2894 | 7.6 | 7.9 | 16 | 5 | 133 |
| Quinn Ewers | FR | QB | 9 | 141 | 249 | 28 | 56.6 | 1808 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 14 | 6 | 131 |
In 2018, 21 year old Joe Burrow transfered from Ohio State to LSU after spending 3 years at Ohio State and seeing live action in 10 games (albeit minimal, but still - some on the field experience). In his first year at LSU, Joe Burrow posted the stats above - a decent passer rating of 133, 16 TDs to 5 INTs, pretty decent Y/A of 7.6. This was in a roster that included:
- Sophomore Justin Jefferson, freshmen Ja'Maar Chase and Terrence Marshal
- Sophomore RB Clyde Edwards-Hellaire
- Sr. TE Foster Moreau
- Four starting Olinemen who are currently in NFL rosters (Saahdiq Charles, Garrett Brumfield, Lloud Cushenberry III and Damien Lewis) with 2 sophomores, 1 junior. and 2 seniors
In 2022, 19 year old Quinn Ewers transfered from Ohio State to Texas after spending 1 year at Ohio State and seeing no live action. His stat line is basically a line below Burrow's - more TDs per game, but more INTs per game, a slightly lower Y/A and attempts per game. His passer rating is essentially the same. This was with a roster that included:
- Sophomores Xavier Worthy and Sr. J Whitt (it's really hard to imagine these two matching up with Jeffersone and Chase who are literally 2 of the top 5 WRs in the NFL right now)
- Jr. RB Bijan Robinson (I would argue clearly better than CEH at that stage)
- Sophomore TE Ja'Tavion Sanders (could very well end up being better than Moreau)
- No idea how this Oline will pan out in the end (hopefully we end up with 4 of them drafted), but we had 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and 1 senior.
I'm not even going to try to split hairs here and say who had the better roster, but I think it's fair to say that they are at least comparable, and in all reality Burrow may have had the better roster due to Oline experience.
Before someone goes there: I'm not saying Ewers will be the next Burrow.
You can never predict that. That's not the point of this comparison. The point of this comparison is two-fold:- That young guys improve. The QBs who enter their first season as a starter often have a lot of room to grow. And that's true even for guys who are upperclassmen so it's even more true for guys who are freshmen.
- The teams around them matter. I didn't explicitly say this, but do you know what was the big difference between that 2018 LSU roster and the 2019 LSU roster? Literally just one more year of experience for a bunch of guys. Instead of Sophomore Justin Jefferson and CEH you now have Jr. soon-to-become 1st round draft picks Justin Jefferson and CEH. Instead of freshman Ja'Maar Chase you have sophomore "already projected to be a top draft pick" Ja'Maar Chase.
For those who need a reminder, LSU & Joe Burrow in 2019:
- Attempted 35 passes per game
- Improved his completion percentage by 18 points (58% to 76%)
- Improved his yards per attempt by 3.2 yards.
- Went from 1.3 TDs per game to 4 TDs per game
- Only threw one more INT (and that is with two additional games played).
So, why do we think Ewers can improve? Because we see this all the time. And some of it is QBs naturally improving and some of it is the teams around them improving.
Want another one?
Stetson Bennet. Started a handful of games as a Jr at UGA. Ended up getting passed over by JT Daniels. Finished the season with a 128 passer rating and an 8/6 TD/INT ratio. Like, utterly mediocre stuff.
Stetson Bennet in 2021 threw for 29/7 and improved his passer rating to 176. Completion percentage, TD rate, INT rate, yards per attempt all improved.
I mean, hell - right here at home:
Hudson Card as a freshman - 138 passer rating.
Hudson Card as a sophomore - 158 passer rating. Completion percentage, yards per attempt and INT rate all improved.
Guys improve. Period.
