Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s success at UCLA could translate to the NFL
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Dorian Thompson-Robinson, or DTR for short, has put the UCLA Bruins on his back so far this season.
He has the Bruins ranked 20th in the nation after a big win against Pac-12 opponent Stanford where he threw two touchdowns and also ran two in himself. The senior has been a four-year contributor to the program and has UCLA in the best position so far in his career. The dual-threat quarterback out of Las Vegas was the second ranked dual-threat quarterback in the nation behind current Chicago Bear and 2021 first round pick Justin Fields and was also the No. 3 prospect in all of Nevada. There wasn’t a college that didn’t want DTR on their campus in the fall of 2018 as a freshman including schools such as Alabama, Georgia and Texas, who all offered him scholarships.
As it stands, DTR is an NFL draft prospect that is expected to go in the later rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft but has high potential and upside. The knock on him and most running quarterbacks is that they aren’t good enough passers. However, Thompson-Robinson has a big, strong arm and makes good decisions for the most part but lacks a little in his accuracy. In his first two seasons at UCLA he completed less than 60% of his passes but last year he completed 65%. So far, in his senior year, he is completing just 57% and needs to increase that percentage to improve his draft stock.
Ian Cummings from Pro Football Network said, “Thompson-Robinson is far from a perfect prospect entering 2021. Having said this, the UCLA QB showed considerable improvement with his timing, anticipation and recognition ability in 2020. He can still improve further in all of those areas, but from 2019 to 2020 — and even within 2020 — he took steps in the right direction.”
Those three areas of timing, anticipation, and recognition are what separates the good quarterbacks from the great and DTR needs to excel in those areas to stick on an NFL roster.
While some experts peg DTR as a late round pick, others are higher on him. CBS football analyst and former NFL star Bryant McFadden ranked him eighth of all potentially underrated NFL prospects for the 2022 draft. He stated, “With turnovers getting under control in 2020, this could be the breakout season. He’s matured so much in staying calm in the pocket when facing a free blitzer. I love his progression reads, and he’s not afraid to attempt outside breaking routes.”
This came in an article he wrote about Thompson-Robinson. It was written in August 2021 and since then DTR has proved McFadden right, throwing nine touchdowns so far and only one interception in four games.
A current NFL comparison for DTR would be Tyrod Taylor of the Houston Texans. Taylor is an underrated quarterback who took a while to get his shot in the NFL but was a three year starter for the Buffalo Bills from 2015-2017. They possess a similar size, both at 6-foot-1 and just north of 200 pounds with tremendous athletic ability. While they both are fast and make plays with their legs, they also both have strong arms and prefer to pass the ball down field. Taylor has had a successful 11-year NFL career and was a starter in 2021 before suffering an injury that has put him out.
DTR passed legendary NFL quarterback and Hall of Famer Troy Aikman for eighth on the all-time passing list at UCLA and also passed Tommy Maddox for seventh on that list earlier this season. The UCLA Bruins and Dorian Thompson-Robinson have a generous schedule ahead of them the rest of their season. With only one upcoming team on their schedule being currently ranked and the others with beatable defenses, it should only be up for DTR to end his historic run at UCLA.
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