Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: The Metamorphosis of Clayton Thorson
10/12/2016 7:57:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Clayton Thorson flung it around Ryan Field that Saturday night against Nebraska, and when it ended he had averaged 10.4 yards on each of his 24 completions while connecting on 64.9 percent of his attempts. But the 'Cats lost, just one of his throws went for a touchdown and he was sacked four times for 17 yards in losses.
The next week, at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium, his numbers were not so gaudy, and when this Saturday ended he had averaged just 9.1 yards on each of his 18 completions while connecting on 60 percent of his attempts. But here the 'Cats won, three of his throws went for touchdowns and he was sacked just once for a four-yard loss, which led Pat Fitzgerald to later say, "I was really impressed with what he did in a hostile environment. He had, from the big picture of quarterback play, probably the best game of his career."
And where has he seen the greatest maturation in his quarterback?
"First of all, confidence. Second year in the system, understanding where to go with the ball, where he can take calculated risks, where he can throw the ball down the field . . . This year he's making good decisions with the ball, sometimes throwing it up to his mom and dad and family in the front row of the stands. There were a couple times when he has held the ball and taken sacks earlier in the season that he has learned from. I think back to the Iowa game. There were a handful of times when it just wasn't there and he got the ball out of his hands, took a hit away from himself. Sometimes a throw away is like a completion in my mind. So he has matured there, not worried so much about stats, but about making really good decisions with the ball."
"I think going just one play at a time is big for me, and knowing what's best in each situation," Thorson himself will say when his coach's observation is related to him. "I can think back to a play against Iowa (when) I thought I could throw a touchdown to (wideout) Austin Carr, but I got to it late. We were in the red zone and in past games I've held that ball and gotten sacked on the 30-yard line and taken us out of field goal range. (In this case against Iowa) I threw it to my parents in the stands and lived to fight another day."
Is he doing that better now than, say, the beginning of the season?
"I think even against Nebraska I didn't do a great job of that," he admits. "So I've had one game of doing a good job of that. I've got to keep building on that."
Justin Jackson is clearly the danseur noble of the Northwestern offense, a resplendent talent who performs with grace and ability. This is recognized by all and most-especially by their opponents, who each week plot to smother both him and the team's rushing attack. The counter to that is just-as-clearly Clayton Thorson and his arm and the receivers he throws to, who must establish themselves as threats to spring their running back free. "We've got one of the best running backs in the country in Justin, so people are going to key on him," explains Thorson. "So we've got to open it up a little bit sometimes."
"Defenses are so tough in the Big Ten you've got to be able to throw it over their heads, otherwise they're just going to stack the box," echoes Jackson himself. "When they've got an extra guy, a safety playing three-yards-off, it's just so tough to get the run game going. So if you make them respect your pass game— obviously, as you've seen, you can have six-or-seven- man boxes that you can go work with as opposed to eight-or-nine-man boxes."
"It's been that way for awhile, ever since Justin got here and everybody figured out he was pretty good," offensive coordinator Mick McCall says of those stacked defenses. "So we've got to be balanced as much as we can. But right now we've got to go get some space, create some space, for Justin, and get those big guys (the defensive linemen) tired."
This underscores the importance of that maturity now manifested by Thorson, who has evolved exponentially in just his second season as the 'Cat choreographer.
"The biggest thing is he's doing a real good job mentally, and getting everybody in the right position, handling things when he makes checks, whether it's protection checks or run checks," McCall says when asked where he sees this most. "He's doing a good job of getting us in the right play for the most part. He's really taken ownership of that. Then I think he's continuing to get better fundamentally with his feet. That's an on-going process, but I think he's gotten a little more confidence that way."
"I think just having complete control of the offense and not just worrying about my own self all the time, which is really important for a quarterback," Thorson himself says to the same question. "Helping guys around me, helping them get better. Then, the second part, knowing the offense inside and out. Knowing different checks. Getting us in the right plays first of all, then the right protections. Those are the places I've really, really matured."
"I think it's night and day, honestly, last year compared to this year," the wideout Andrew Scanlan finally says on this matter. "This year he just has so much more control of the game personally that it's starting to spread through the entire offense and everybody else is calming down. Mistake or big play, Clayton's ready to go. He's definitely controlling the game a lot more, and it's been fun to see. I'm real proud of him as a teammate, as a brother. It's going to be scary going forward, that's for sure."
Last fall, as a redshirt freshman, Clayton Thorson was at the front end of this metamorphosis, and so his season—not unexpectedly—was a vertiginous voyage of ups-and-downs. He would end it completing just 50.9 percent of his attempts, averaging a mere 117.1 passing yards per-game, and throwing for more interceptions (nine) than touchdowns (seven).
"The biggest thing for us right now, and we're dong that right now, we're getting confidence in pitching and catching the football again," McCall would soon be said back in spring practice.
This fall, in contrast, Clayton Thorson is deep into the process of metamorphosing into a veteran quarterback, and so his season—while not without potholes—is traveling a less sinuous path. He is, entering the Saturday at Michigan State completing 54.4 percent of his attempts, averaging 224.0 passing yards per-game, and with twice as many touchdown passes (eight) as interceptions (four). So, McCall is asked, has his offense regained confidence in pitching and catching?
"We're getting there. I think we're getting there," he says. "Our guys are pitching and catching with a lot more confidence. They've got a little attitude to them about it. That's just grown through camp, through the season so far. Are we there yet? Not totally. But we've got a little bit more of an attitude that way.
"The confidence Clayton has, has breathed throughout our entire offense," Justin Jackson finally says. "A lot of games we've been in, the passing game has given us a chance to win. Last year you couldn't really say that. So if we can keep the passing game up, which I know they will, and we keep running the ball the way we've been able to the past few games, we can be a really dangerous offense."
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