A Look at Tanner Mangum

Thought I'd take a quick look at the very small sample size of Tanner Mangum to try to extrapolate what we can expect.   Also for those interested in further reading a lot of nice nuggets from an ESPN article on the guy - he sounds very impressive off the field.   Eagle scout, cello, choir....didn't have to serve a mission (Detmer, Steve Young, Bosco chose not to) but chose to.  22 month mission to Chile where you can only Skype 2x a year with parents and otherwise you are in your own world outside of 1 email a week - didn't have a hot shower for a year.  It's a way to build mental toughness.   He is 22 and only a freshman but in the same class as Winston who is now a rookie in the NFL; matched Winston at Elite 11, and was 3rd ranked composite QB in his class.

The other interesting part is what former BYU players were saying - it takes up to a year to build up muscle mass and memory when you come back from a mission ... which makes a lot of sense considering the lack of exercise.  So it makes Mangum's work thus far that more impressive.

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In terms of style of offense there are not many  Big 10 offenses who play like BYU as we are a run oriented league but it's sort of a mix of Indiana and MSU in terms of downfield throwing.   More MSU in style except not as run oriented like MSU is.  BYU is almost 180 degrees different from UM right now which emphasizes passes to TEs and running backs... the vast majority of BYU pass attempts go to receivers.  Mangum himself is just a pure QB, not a dual threat like Taysom Hill was.  But for being 3 games in and not playing a single bad team he has been efficient and a quality player, while showcasing the ability to get bombs down the field to tall receivers.  He does throw INTs.  He was sacked 4x by both Boise and UCLA.

He also apparently enjoys rolling right in the pocket:

Bruins defensive coordinator Tom Bradley saw on video that in the first two games, Mangum went 13-of-28 when he stayed in the pocket, and 9-of-11 when he rolled to his right. UCLA allowed Mangum to roll to his right only four times.

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[Averages below are yards per completion, not per attempt]

Vs Neb (in emergency duty when Hill went down)

• Stat line: 7-11 (63.6%), 111 yds, 15.9 ave, 1 TD, 0 INT
• Stat line minus Hail Mary:  6-10 (60.0%), 69 yds, 11.5 ave
• Distribution:  All 7 pass completions to wide receivers

Note - Nebraska's pass D gave up 313 yds to South Alabama & 379 yards to Miami.  Seems like a below par pass D.

Vs Boise

• Stat line: 17-28 (60.7%), 309 yds, 18.2 ave, 2 TD, 2 INT
• Stat line minus 2 bombs (70 & 84 yds):  15-26 (57.7%), 155 yds, 10.3 ave
• Distribution:  15 of 17 pass completions to wide receivers, 2 to rbs

Note - Boise's pass D gave up 150 yds to Washington & 262 yards (on a ridiculous 59 attempts) to Idaho State.  Seems like a solid pass D.

Vs UCLA

• Stat line: 30-47 (63.8%), 244 yds, 8.1 ave, 1 TD, 1 INT
• No bombs this game, longest pass was 19 yds as UCLA did good job of not letting receivers go over the top.
• Distribution:  27 of 30 pass completions to wide receivers, 2 to rbs, 1 to self (assuming deflection)

Note - UCLA's pass D gave up 238 yds to Virginia & 56 yards to UNLV (Decker was hurt after 6 attempts and his backup is horrid).  Seems like a solid pass D.

Composite

• Stat line: 54-86 (62.8%), 664 yds, 12.3 ave, 4 TD, 3 INT
• Excluding 3 bombs:  51-83 (61.4%), 468 yds, 9.2 ave
• Distribution:  49 of 54 pass completions to wide receivers (91%), 4 to rbs, 1 to self (assuming deflection)

Based on the pass distribution we will certainly have our first real ability to tell what we have in the secondary after this game.