Is Landry Jones The Best Quarterback In The Big 12?

I hope that I didn't lose you at the headline but this is a legitimate question. When the post season awards are released next month you won't see Landry Jones as the Big 12's First Team All-Conference quarterback but the reality is that as of right now there may not be a more deserving signal caller in the conference. Jones has more passing yards and touchdowns than Oklahoma State's Zac Robinson and more touchdowns than Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and Todd Reesing of Kansas and when you consider the fact that he's started two less games than those guys have then the numbers become even more impressive.

Then you throw into the mix that Zac Robinson, Colt McCoy and Todd Reesing are all seniors and they are being outperformed and matched stride for stride by a freshman, who is working with a new offensive line and receivers with occasional hands of stone, then we discover that the Sooners really do have quite the ball player in Landry Jones. The problem is going to be the whole freshman thing. It will be that and not performance that keeps him from being tabbed as the First Team All-Conference quarterback. It isn't like the conference isn't noticing him though. In five starts he's been named the offensive player of the week twice which is twice more than Robinson and Reesing and once more than McCoy. Still at the end of the day the conference will reward a senior quarterback who has had his day in the sun and not the guy who came from the bench to throw 17 touchdown passes in his first five starts while playing the Big 12's most difficult schedule.

Who is the best quarterback in the Big 12? Well, that is certainly up to debate but I can tell you three other schools that have senior guys as signal callers who are being shown up by a freshman. Landry Jones is playing like the 2007 version of Sam Bradford and we all know what that turned into in 2008. While Landry Jones has not quite yet reached Sam Bradford status he just may be the best quarterback in the Big 12 anyway. Consider this, with five games remaining Landry Jones is already halfway to Sam Bradford's 3,121 passing yards and 19 touchdowns away from Bradford's 36 touchdowns in 2007. Bradford did that while starting 14 games. If Jones gets close to those numbers then he would have done it while starting 10 games.