PFF: Hughes Top-Graded QB in Revamped Mountain West

LARAMIE -- "Disappointment, Discouragement and frustration."

Tom Burman said he felt all the same emotions Wyoming's fanbase did during yet another mostly forgettable football season filled with squandered opportunities and underperformance.

"4-8 doesn't work," the school's longtime athletics director said in early December, a day after national signing day.

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Burman pointed out the obvious flaw: Offense. He said it was "terribly inefficient" and failed to improve as the year progressed. Scoring just 24 points over the final crucial four weeks of the season -- six of which came courtesy of a pick-six -- told the tale.

The Cowboys finished 129th in the nation in scoring, averaging just 16 points per game. Take three non-offensive touchdowns off the board and that number is really 14.5. Only Charlotte, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin and winless UMass were worse.

Head coach Jay Sawvel said he expects his team to score at least 28 points an outing. That happened just three times last fall -- all wins.

While there is no "easy answer to a complex question," as Burman put it, most of this program's misfortunes over the last two seasons have begun under center.

"We need somebody who, in my view, has a history of quarterback development and quarterback identification, because we've missed and we haven't developed," Burman said bluntly, referring to what he wanted from a new offensive coordinator in the offseason. "I mean, the reality of it is, we have a great tight end (Evan Svoboda), but he used to be a quarterback. We've got a quarterback (Kaden Anderson) who, I think, lost his confidence this year.

"We have not developed quarterbacks in our program so that we have guys ready to go. That's a part -- a big part -- of why we are where we are. So those are, to me -- and in the conversations I've had with Jay -- are my areas of emphasis."

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Christian Taylor was named the team's new playcaller last December. He brings with him not only a wealth of experience at the position but also the aspect of the job the AD craves most.

His impressive list of signal callers includes Ryan Lindley (San Diego State's all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and total offense), Denard Robinson (led Michigan to a Sugar Bowl victory in 2011) and Darius Wilson (threw for nearly 7,000 yards and 43 touchdowns at William and Mary from 2021-24).

The guy recruited to replace the latter in Williamsburg, Tyler Hughes, has reunited with Taylor in Laramie, snatched out of the NCAA Transfer Portal last winter.

Can the 6-foot, 210-pound graduate transfer be the answer to this program's offensive ills?

That's the hope.

"The thing that has opened eyes to everybody on the staff is -- he does have a very good arm and can throw whatever ball that he wants to -- I did not realize he would be as fast as he is," Sawvel said in April. "Without getting into specifics, I'll just tell you he's in a rarefied territory of guys that we've had here in the six years I've been here. In all the time that we've tracked people, there's not been very many guys that run as fast as he runs."

During his one season as the starter at William and Mary, Hughes threw for 2,330 yards while completing 66.2% of his passes. He connected on 20 touchdown tosses. He was picked off just three times. Where Hughes really separates himself is in the dual-threat category. He rushed for 670 yards and 11 scores on 155 attempts. That's an average of 4.3 yards per carry.

Hughes, it turns out, is the top-graded quarterback in the revamped Mountain West, earning an 83.9 in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus. That's the 56th mark in the nation out of 316 quarterbacks. At the Group-of-Six level, only Braden Atkinson (Oregon State - 90.8), Tucker Gleason (Toledo - 90.5), Broc Lowery (Western Michigan - 88.6), Brendon Lewis (Memphis - 87.2), Joe Fagnano (UConn - 87.0) and Matt Vezza (Ohio - 84.9) rank higher.

Where do the other conference QBs land?

Air Force - Liam Szarka - 80.6 - No. 74 (minimum 100 snaps)

Hawaii - Micah Alejado - 76.6 - No. 106

UTEP - EJ Colson - 74.3 - No. 128

New Mexico - Jack Layne - 73.1 - No. 139

UNLV - Jackson Arnold - 66.2 - No. 219

Nevada - Chubba Purdy - 61.6 - No. 256

UTEP - Raymond Moore III - 58.4 - No. 279

Nevada - Carter Jones - 49.8 - No. 310

Hughes was rated the 83rd best passer in the country, earning a 76.6 grade. He slides in at No. 23 out of 71 qualifying signal callers in the rushing department with a score of 78.3.

Those numbers above equal an "A" score, per the statistical website. Hughes has also vaulted 15.7 percentage points from 2024 after taking 741 total snaps -- 426 pass, 317 rush, 2 at wide receiver -- last season.

Of course, this is all against FCS opponents.

Any worry that those stats won't translate to this level? If they don't, Sawvel added, it won't be for lack of effort.

"We sat down with him face to face and you get to learn the person and kind of get to see how much he loves football," he said. "You know, we're going to have to chase him out of the building. That's what you want in quarterbacks."