BYU Football: Statistical Comparison of Jaren Hall and Baylor Romney

The BYU quarterback competition by the numbers.

BYU wrapped up Spring practices in March without naming starting quarterback. Four players were competing for the starting job during the Spring: Jaren Hall, Baylor Romney, Jacob Conover, and Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters. Heading into the Summer, it appears to be a three-man race between Hall, Romney, and Conover.

Today, let's statistically compare Jaren Hall and Baylor Romney. Unfortunately, our comparison will exclude Jacob Conover as he did not appear in any games last season.

Conover was a highly-touted recruit out of Arizona when he signed with BYU in 2019. After arriving home from his mission last Summer, he spent last season as the scout team quarterback. Conover will be an important name in the QB room for years to come.

These stats are courtesy of Pro Football Focus. If you're looking for college football data, nobody does it better than Pro Football Focus. We will use stats from the 2019 season when both quarterbacks played with the same roster.

Overview - Box Score

In 2019, Baylor Romney led BYU to victories over Boise State and Liberty. He also played in the second half of BYU's dominant victory over Utah State. In 2019, Romney was 54/85 (63.5%) for 747 yards and 7 touchdowns. He averaged 8.8 yards per attempt. He also threw two interceptions.

In 2019, Jaren Hall started two games for BYU against USF and Utah State. He left both games due to two separate head injuries that were later diagnosed as concussions. In limited action, Hall was 31/46 (67.4%) for 420 yards and 1 touchdown.

Name	Attempts	Completions	Completion %	Yards	Yards per Attempt	Touchdowns	Interceptions
Jaren Hall	46	31	67.4%	420	9.1	1	0
Baylor Romney	85	54	63.5%	747	8.8	7	2

The limited sample size makes it difficult to differentiate the two quarterbacks with only the box score. For that reason, let's turn to some more advanced statistics. 

Passing Depth

Short Throws

Let's begin by comparing the efficacy of each quarterback at different depths of the field, starting with short passes. Baylor Romney was very effective throwing passes behind the line of scrimmage and short passes - his highest PFF grade came on short passes. Short passes are defined as passes beyond the line of scrimmage and less than 10 yards down field.

Romney completed 15/16 passes behind the line of scrimmage, and 24/32 of his short passes. Most notable was his quick decision making in those situations -  Romney took only 1.6 seconds to throw behind the LOS, and 1.93 seconds to throw between 0-9 yards.

Jaren Hall graded higher on intermediate and deep throws than he did on short throws. He completed 6/8 passes behind the line of scrimmage, and 13/16 of his short passes. He also took longer than Romney to get ride of the ball. Hall averaged 1.91 seconds to throw behind the LOS, and 2.41 seconds to throw between 0-9 yards.

Behind LOS	Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	First Downs	Time to Throw
Baylor Romney	15	16	93.8%	184	4	0	7	1.60
Jaren Hall	6	8	75.0%	57	0	0	2	1.91

Short Passes (0-9 Yards)	Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	First Downs	Time to Throw
Baylor Romney	24	32	75.0%	203	0	0	14	1.93
Jaren Hall	13	16	81.3%	117	0	0	7	2.41

Intermediate Throws

Jaren Hall exceled at medium depth throws where he received his highest PFF grade - intermediate throws are throws that go 10-19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Hall completed 7/9 intermediate throws in 2019. Romney's production dropped off slightly when he threw 10 yards and beyond - Romney was 9/17 on intermediate throws in 2019.

It's worth noting that Romney also made quicker decisions on his intermediate throws. He threw the ball in 2.72 seconds compared to 3.33 seconds for Jaren Hall.

Medium Throws (10-19 Yards)	Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	First Downs	Time to Throw
Baylor Romney	9	17	52.9%	157	2	0	9	2.72
Jaren Hall	7	9	77.8%	95	0	0	6	3.33

Deep Throws

Both quarterbacks found some success throwing the ball deep - a deep throw is a defined as a throw 20+ yards down the field. Jaren Hall, however, graded out higher than Baylor Romney. 

Hall was 5/11 on deep throws including 3 big time throws. A big time throw (BTT) is defined as a "pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window." In other words, Hall made a BTT on 27% of his deep throws. Below is an example of one of Hall's big time throws:

What a moment 🙌

Jaren Hall throws a 35-yard touchdown pass to Dax Milne! pic.twitter.com/Pl3QMQvfb0

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 12, 2019

Hall also had one one turnover worth play (TWP) - a "pass that has a high percentage chance to be intercepted or a poor job of taking care of the ball and fumbling." He had a TWP on 9% of his deep throws in 2019.

Baylor Romney's lowest grade came on deep throws. Romney completed 6/16 deep throws. He had four big time throws, meaning he had a BTT on 21% of his deep throws. He had three turnover worthy plays, or 16% of his deep throws were turnover worthy.

Deep Throws (20+ Yards)	Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	Big Time Throws	BTT %	Turnover Worthy Plays	TWP %
Baylor Romney	6	16	37.5%	203	1	2	4	21.1%	3	15.8%
Jaren Hall	5	11	45.5%	151	1	0	3	27.3%	1	9.1%

Passing Under Pressure

Next, let's compare each quarterback when they were under pressure. 

From a high level, Baylor Romney was better under pressure than Jaren Hall. Romney's PFF grade dropped from 71.8 when kept clean to 67.6 when under pressure. Hall's grade took a larger hit when he was under pressure. Hall's PFF grade dropped from 73.8 when kept clean to 63.3 when under pressure.

Remember the time to throw numbers we talked about before? Baylor Romney got rid of the ball faster at every depth of the field. His quick decision making helped him when he was under pressure.

Takeaways

• Before the 2020 season, there was a narrative surrounding Baylor Romney that he was the quick decision maker of the group. The data suggests that is true - Romney makes quick decisions and he is very effective throwing short routes like screens and slants. He is very good at getting the ball out quickly and to his first option.
• In limited reps, Hall was more dynamic throwing down the field. If you exclude throws behind the line of scrimmage, Hall was statistically better than Romney in 2019:

	Completions	Attempts	Completion %	Yards	Yards per Attempt	Touchdowns	Interceptions
Baylor Romney	39	65	60.0%	563	8.66	3	2
Jaren Hall	25	36	69.4%	363	10.1	1	0

• Our 2019 sample size is very limited, and a lot has changed since either player took meaningful reps. What was true in 2019 might not be true in 2021. Baylor Romney played in garbage time last season, but the spring game would have been our first chance to see either quarterback take meaningful reps. The spring game, however, was cancelled.

• Hall was the more dynamic runner, but Romney was statistically better at evading pressure in 2019. Romney was sacked on 17.4% of QB pressures, and Hall was sacked on 26.7% of pressures. 
• The quarterback battle will be heated this Fall. Romney was able to take a lot of reps last season while Hall was out with an injury, he could win the job. Conover has the talent to win the job as well. As of May 21, I would be surprised if Jaren Hall was not the starting quarterback against Arizona.

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