Truman's Tales
Fansided

Missouri Quarterback Drew Lock a winner

By Eric Quackenbush

Oct 24, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Drew Lock (3) passes against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Drew Lock (3) passes against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

For the last couple of years, Missouri Tigers’ quarterback Drew Lock has experienced his share of growing pains. But 2017 will be the year that Lock turns it all around.

The Missouri football program has been a bit of an anomaly since head coach Barry Odom succeeded the great Gary Pinkel as head coach. So has its quarterback situation.

During the Pinkel years, Missouri fans basked in the glory of Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, and Brad Smith–not in that order.

Missouri Tigers Football
Missouri Tigers Football /

Missouri Tigers Football

At the tail-end of the Pinkel era, Tigers fans were introduced to Maty Mauk. Most fans know what became of Mauk. For anyone new to the Zou, he ran into some off-field troubles, and was dismissed from the team.

Enter Drew Lock. He is not a household name, by any means. He is a reliable quarterback, and an excellent game manager, but hasn’t taken the next step.

This year, the Tigers return a number of starters on offense, which should aid in Lock’s growth and success as Missouri’s quarterback.

Taking a look at Lock’s numbers shows how he’s grown, and areas where he needs improvement. At this point, he is not in the “elite” range of collegiate quarterbacks; he is middle-of-the-road. If you don’t like stats, then take a break and rejoin in a few paragraphs.

Lock’s success increased substantially from 2015 to 2016. In 2015, he threw for 1,332 yards, completed 49% of his passes, and finished the season with a 90.5 QB rating. Fluff, really, considering he only started for a portion of the season.

Comparatively, Maty Mauk passed for 654 yards, completed 51.8% of his passes, and finished the season with a 112.5 QB rating.

Enter the 2016 season, Lock’s first full season as a starter. His passing yardage increased exponentially, to 3,399 yards on the season. His completion percentage, however, only improved 5.6 percentage points to 54.6%.

More from Truman's Tales

Overall, Lock’s quarterback rating increased to 133.3. He also passed for 23 touchdowns, which was 13 more than he and Mauk combined for in 2015.

If we were to break-down Lock’s game-by-game performance, we would see that his greatest areas of weakness occur against teams with strong defenses. The argument could be made, that this also reflects on the Tigers’ offensive line.

Statistically, Lock played in four games where he finished sub-50%. Those games also resulted in losses, two of which were also against top-10 defenses, LSU and Florida.

His season-worst passer rating was against Florida, in which he completed 22.2% of his passes, for a QB rating of 18.2.

Overall, Lock handed in a promising season in 2016. His numbers weren’t terrible, by any stretch of the imagination. Tigers fans will also remain hopeful that the core of wide receivers and running backs will show more cohesion and parlay that to wins on the field.

Fans should expect to see Lock average somewhere in the mid-60’s in pass completion percentage in 2017, which will show an 11% growth, and will put Missouri in position to win more games, and become bowl eligible.

Home/Football