Tennessee Football: Joshua Dobbs is Better than Vince Young…for Vols System

Tennessee football Vols quarterback Joshua Dobbs is much better than Vince Young…for the Volunteers system.

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On Thursday, there was a lot of joking around national sports talk sites and shows because of a question posed on Fox Sports radio in Knoxville: Joshua Dobbs or Vince Young?

The station, in a report you can see here, described how the numbers are not that different to this point.

But there was a lot of talk across the nation after that about how ridiculous that comparison is, even on a fellow network site, Bama Hammer.

So what is the truth of the matter? Who’s right in this situation?

Well, in terms of judging individual quarterbacks, it’s not even close. Young is way better. The comparison of stats judges Dobbs and Young both before their final season of college. But remember that Young only stayed until his junior year, so he was a sophomore at the time.

And Young’s stats were so remarkable his senior year that he was in consideration for the greatest college quarterback ever. He certainly put on the greatest show in a national championship game and should have won the Heisman Trophy over Reggie Bush in 2005.

Young also dominates Dobbs from a winner’s perspective. If the game is on the line, there is no quarterback in college history, and maybe even NFL history if you look at his actual record as the starting quarterback of the Tennessee Titans, whom I would rather have leading a final drive than Young.

However, Young being better than Dobbs in a standalone question doesn’t answer what’s better for Tennessee.

Let’s start with a few basic facts. Going into his sophomore year, Young had actually played more games than Dobbs did going into last year and therefore had more experience. Dobbs did not have Young’s rushing stats, but his passing stats were much better.

If he makes the same leap Young did going into his final year, he will be on Young’s level as an elite quarterback.

And for Tennessee football in particular, the question of who would be better is not even close.

Yes, Young is more accomplished than Dobbs. But Butch Jones and Mike DeBord run an offense that is more based on accuracy from the pocket. A mobile quarterback who can run opens up the options on offense, but accuracy from the pocket is a big deal. And it’s something that Young never had.

Going into his final year with the Vols, Dobbs’s completion percentage is about two percentage points higher than Young’s was going into his final year with the Texas Longhorns. His touchdown-to-interception ratio is much better: over 3-to-2 compared to Young’s 1-to-1.

In all aspects of passing the football, Dobbs is a better quarterback than Young was at this stage in his college career, and it’s not even close. That Tennessee’s offense requires more passing efficiency than Texas’s did under Mack Brown serves as proof that Dobbs is a much better quarterback for the Vols’ system than Young would be.

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So it’s not crazy to suggest he’s better than Young. And by the way, he has a chance this season to surpass Young’s legacy.