UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee has been around positional houses. This football journey has taken him from being the starter at Ole Miss, to being a backup, a wide receiver, a situational running back and finally the transfer portal. Arriving at UCF earlier this year, there was no guarantee Plumlee would start again, but he has. He’s been around the houses, but Plumlee is finally home. And he’s enjoying his return to being QB1 this college football season.
UCF QB John Rhys Plumlee enjoying his return to the role
“It’s been a long time coming,” Plumlee reflected after his UCF debut — a 56-10 blowout win over South Carolina State. “I’m blessed for the opportunity. There are some things I can improve on. It was great to be out there and get back to playing quarterback.”
A lot of time is putting it lightly. There has been a global pandemic and a change of presidents since Plumlee was a freshman at Ole Miss with the world at his feet. Tom Brady has won a Super Bowl, retired and then come out of retirement since Plumlee last sat on the QB depth chart.
In the two seasons since being named a freshman All-American, Plumlee attempted just eight passes, compared to 25 receptions and 34 rushing attempts while playing second fiddle to Matt Corral, with his feet instead of his arm being his main game weapon.
Herein lies the perceived problem for Plumlee. Breaking program quarterback rushing records during the 2019 season, his 1,023 rushing yards with 12 touchdowns far outpaced his passing output. The 6’0″, 200-pound playmaker threw for just 910 yards, completing less than 60% of his passes, with a four-to-three TD:INT ratio. With a changing coaching staff, Plumlee never got a chance to prove he could be an effective pass rusher for the Rebels.
John Rhys Plumlee is an effective and efficient passer
In multiple stops along this tour of the houses, Plumlee has been able to show that he can be an effective and efficient passer. Starting his high school career at safety, it didn’t take long for the coaching staff to realize they had a special talent who could lead the team under center. It wasn’t in the Hattiesburg Oak Grove High School coaches’ plan, but Plumlee positioned himself as a passer with a standout game early on.
“We called a play that we wanted to run: change of motion, wheel to the right, pass rush option,” Oak Grove coach Drew Causey recalled in a phone interview with the Daytona Beach Journal. “He threw it back across the field to the runner for the score. We let him learn on the fly from there.”
You can’t throw back across the field without having a high level of arm talent. Few quarterbacks have the arm flexibility necessary to generate the speed to drive the ball in the opposite direction of your body movement. Regardless of the level, you don’t see wide receivers or running backs making that type of throw. That’s a QB pitch and a real quarterback to boot.
During two seasons at Oak Grove, Plumlee accounted for 6,635 yards of offense with 74 touchdowns. It’s easy to assume that part of that meter comes from his dynamic running ability based on elite speed. The presumption would be wrong. Plumlee threw for 5,430 yards and 51 touchdowns during his high school career, leading Oak Grove to a state championship game. The arm talent was — is — there.
High school talent doesn’t always translate to the college level. Plumlee was clearly more dynamic as a runner than a passer in 2019 with Ole Miss. However, that doesn’t mean the arm’s talent has diminished or didn’t exist in the first place. Even in 2020, when he rode the pine behind Corral, with his offensive contributions limited to the oddly designed QB or lined-up receiver, Plumlee’s arm talent was recognized and respected even by the best coach in head of the college football game.
“He played a lot of quarterback last year and he’s very capable of throwing the ball,” Nick Saban told reporters before the 2020 matchup between Ole Miss and Alabama. “We have to respect his ability to throw the ball, because when we played him last year, he was very effective as a passer and, you know, very athletic and very quick as a quarterback.”
While opposing coaches respected his ability to throw the ball, the same level of respect did not come from his own program. Waiting patiently behind Corral, Plumlee saw Jaxson Dart added via the transfer portal along with the addition of high school recruit Luke Altmyer. It was time for Plumlee to find another opportunity to fulfill his dream of playing high-level football and baseball, and so he entered the transfer portal.
Plumlee finds a home at UCF
There were no guarantees with UCF. Mikey Keene had performed admirably in relief of the injured Dillon Gabriel last season, and even with the former UCF quarterback leaving for Oklahoma, Plumlee wasn’t a shoo-in for a starting role. For many, Keene was the favorite to start the season despite an existing relationship between head coach Gus Malzahn and Plumlee dating back to Auburn’s attempts to recruit him while he was at Oak Grove.
Plumlee had to earn it. No one was going to hand him the keys to Casa del Rebot. He had to take them and make them his home. A week into UCF’s season opener, Malzahn announced that Plumlee had done enough to earn the start against SC State, with one particular line echoing his reasoning.
“He’s got a good command of what’s going on and he’s made all the pitches.”
Winning the starting job is one thing, keeping it is another. This is especially true when you are in intense competition with a young and talented contemporary. “Once you play, you have to keep your job, too,” UCF offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey opined in mid-August.
It’s fair to say that Plumlee, relishing being back in command of an offense, did everything and more to make sure he didn’t lose that starting job again. With 16 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown, Plumlee’s dynamic athleticism was on full display.
He’s a 4.3-second 40-yard dasher whose speed on a TD run against LSU while at Ole Miss actually translated into the sub-4.3-second equivalent. Plumlee’s unique multi-sport athleticism, barred only by eligibility from playing baseball, has never been in doubt. His ability as a passer is what has been called into question.
Those questions were answered in Week 1. Long-term consistency will have to come, but Plumlee was consistently on the money against SC State. Completing 20 of 31 attempts, he averaged 9.9 yards per throw on his way to 308 yards and four touchdowns. The stats are impressive, the pitches even more so. Deep balls, tight windows and smart, accurate passing allowed him to showcase his arm talent.
“Everybody can see what he can do with his legs,” Malzahn said after the game in reference to the field’s performance. “But I thought he made some really good pitches.”
Plumlee looked confident on the field and in the postgame press conference. The UCF QB celebrated each touchdown like it was the first of his career. He clearly had fun running an offense for the first time in nearly two years. He’s been around positional houses, but at the Bounce House, Plumlee is clearly at home, and he’s thriving there.
Oliver Hodgkinson is an NFL draft and college football analyst for the Pro Football Network. Consult the the rest of his work hereand you can find him on Twitter: @ojhodgkinson.
