OU football: Don’t call Landry Jones young

Landry Jones has his moments, good and bad, in 2010. Great against Florida State and Iowa State. Solid against Texas. Good early against Cincinnati, then shaky. Good early against Missouri, then shaky.

What does that mean for what kind of quarterback Jones is or will be? I don’t know. But can we agree on this? He’s not a young quarterback.

Bob Stoops called Jones “a young player … he’ll get better.”

I think Jones will continue to improve. But let’s slow squash this talk of Jones being a young player. That’s nonsense. He’s a third-year sophomore with 17 career starts to his name.

How much is 17 starts? Darrell Royal started 16 games at quarterback in his career. Eddie Crowder started 20. Jack Mitchell started 22.  Danny Bradley and Nate Hybl 23 each. J.C. Watts and Jimmy Harris started 25 each.

Jones has started 17 and played at least a half in two non-starts that went down to the wire (BYU ’09, Texas ’09). Let’s get over the idea that he’s some kind of novice, learning to play the position.

Jones’ numbers are very good: 17 touchdown passes, five interceptions, 66.8 completion percentage. Take away Jones’ two interceptions vs. Missouri, and you’d have to say he’s been fantastic, despite his limitations.

Jones is not particularly mobile, and his arm is not a rocket-launcher. There are all kinds of throws he can’t make that Sam Bradford could — which is not Jones’ fault, of course. But most college teams today have a quarterback who can motor. Jones can’t, so his arm has to do all the damage.