NFL
By: Brock Vierra
In a new series, I analyze some of the most underrated players in college football. Today we start with UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee. The 6’0, 200-pound QB from Hattiesburg, Mississippi made his way to UCF after a three-year stint at Ole Miss. After playing sparingly due to his position on the depth chart, Plumlee moved to WR for the Rebels in 2021 as he was unable to unseat incumbent starter Matt Corral. Obviously, I’m sure Lane Kiffin wished he held on to the native Mississippian as Plumlee would transition back to QB after he transferred to UCF.
Plumlee plays both football and baseball for the Knights. He is an all-around athlete and it reflects in his play. The prototypical modern QB, Plumlee is able to make plays with his arm and feet. He is a reminder of another Gus Malzahn QB… Nick Marshall. Big arm, mobile, extends plays when others can’t and despite some accuracy issues, Plumlee like Marshall puts in world-class performances when he plays in the system.
What I love about this guy is his versatility and movement while in the pocket. His speed and explosiveness make it easy to run RPO and read-option concepts, forcing defenses to keep an extra guy in the box. He also is able to step up in a collapsing pocket where he either fires the ball to a receiver or takes off. Something he has improved on is his patience. While quick to run in prior years, Plumlee now lets plays develop for a second longer before making a decision.
The big knock on him is his ball security. During his performance against Kent State, Plumlee threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. A three-turnover game just isn’t acceptable and that’s a massive area in need of improvement. As I mentioned earlier, Plumlee needs to play within the system, and often times he’s prone to do too much to the detriment of his team. He has gotten better over the years so we’ll just have to track his progress. However this dude is a baller and as a coach, he’s the type of player you’d love to have under your wing.
He is a football player. He likes contact, he’ll initiate it in open space but he also has the ability to slide/ get out of bounds to minimize damage. He’s a physical player and you see that in red-zone situations. He has some Sam Ehlinger type of moves in his arsenal so QB power is always an option. What I love about him is that he’s ready to go all out on every single play. He needs to display better composure and he needs to stop trying to force things but it’s easier to put reigns on a Mustang than to make a lemon fast.
Plumlee isn’t selfish when it comes to his teammates. He distributes the ball well and rarely pulls the ball unless he has an open lane. He is in the perfect scheme to make things happen and he has a very underrated core of players that supplement both his success and the success of the offense. Plumlee can go up-tempo but is much better with a slower pace. He’s an emotional player and feeds off the energy around him, sometimes amplifying his play to a point you couldn’t think he could reach.
He always keeps his head up and does a good job with his pre-snap reads. He has done a better job not looking for the constant deep ball. Plumlee is a dude you can win with. During the 56-6 blowout of Kent State, Plumlee recorded a stat line of 22/30 passing, 281 passing yards, and 3 passing touchdowns. He had 8 rushing attempts for 90 yards and one touchdown. He also didn’t play for the majority of the fourth quarter.
His three turnovers are bad but there is a silver lining. His fumble was a freak play and his second interception was the right read, just poor ball placement. That is something that typically gets improved on during the course of a season. He’ll get his NFL shot but he could be a sleeper to go within the top 90 picks. If UCF wants to have success during its inaugural year in the Big 12, it will all come down to QB1. John Rhys Plumlee, one for the future.
For more College Football content, check out the latest episode of our CFB preview show The College Football Forecast.
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