Arkansas Football: Is Tyler Wilson Among Elite College Football Quarterbacks?

Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III are headed to the NFL draft, but college football is stocked with plenty of young signal callers poised to be among the elite in the sport. Matt Barkley of USC will steal most of the headlines, but Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson should be considered one of the elite quarterbacks in the country.

Statistically, Wilson is near the top of the list among the current crop of college football quarterbacks. He passed for over 3,600 yards and found pay dirt 24 times for touchdowns. However, many of his strengths are hard to notice if you are not a fan of the Razorbacks.

Wilson threw just six interceptions on the year. That is less than the amount of interceptions he had in his previous three years combined.

When building the perfect quarterback, protecting the football is very important. The quarterback will have the ball in his hands with the game on the line and turning the ball over could cost any team a chance at victory. Wilson is also underrated when it comes to toughness.

Wilson had several games where he was beat about by opposing defenses, most notably the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Time after time, Wilson took some big hits and kept coming back proving his toughness on the field and cementing his position as field general.

Wilson led Arkansas to a top-10 final ranking in the BCS standings and led the top-scoring offense in the SEC. Wilson was the leader in the SEC in several categories to include yards per game, yards and QB rating.

Wilson will be at the helm again this season for the Razorbacks and the sky is the limit on his potential. With Bobby Petrino’s offense and a slew of weapons at nearly every position on his side of the ball, it is time Wilson got credit as one of the best quarterbacks in the country.

James Brown is a B/R Featured Columnist and can be followed on Twitter here. Feel free to contact James at [e-mail].