Justin Herbert may have come out on the losing end Saturday night against Auburn, but he flashed his immense potential throughout the game.
Justin Herbert and the Oregon Ducks suffered an excruciating loss in their season opener versus the Auburn Tigers on Saturday night. That also included them giving up a commanding 21-6 lead. While the loss obviously stings, Herbert had plenty of plays that showed why he was high on the list as the potentially top QB for the 2020 draft and is in the conversation for the number one overall pick.
When talking about Herbert, too many people forget to mention his very good athleticism. While he isn’t an explosive runner, he can keep plays alive and will hurt defenses if given a running lane. He showed his very good athletic ability on the first drive of the game when lined up at the 2-yard line he scrambled to his right, couldn’t find anyone open, and took off for the endzone avoiding multiple defenders along the way and nearly missing a touchdown by inches.
Later in the first quarter, Herbert shows his athleticism once again as he escapes the pocket to keep the play alive before showing his arm strength and toughness to get this throw off while getting hit:
HE GOT MOSSED!@oregonfootball's Spencer Webb went way up over the defender for this TD catch 😤 pic.twitter.com/druS3bV4A3
— ESPN (@espn) September 1, 2019
This probably was not the best decision by Herbert at the time, but he was able to make it work out. Lastly, he showed off his excellent accuracy throughout the game. There were multiple throws throughout the game that showed off his arm strength and accuracy when he would fit the ball in between multiple defenders or put the ball where only his receiver could catch it and just inches away from a defenders hand.
While he could have had better ball placement to allow his receiver to catch and run in this instance, it was still one heck of a throw by Herbert. Oregon seemed to get conservative in the fourth quarter and that ultimately ended up costing them the game. But even in the loss, Justin Herbert showed why he deserves to be in the conversation for the number one overall pick in next year’s draft.