John Brantley vs. Connor Shaw: Who Has the Brighter Future?

One of the biggest games this weekend will be played today in Columbia, SC. The South Carolina Gamecocks need a win against the Florida Gators this week to keep their SEC Eastern division title hopes alive.

Both teams have battled injuries all season long and both teams need this win in a bad way. The team that wins this game will likely be the team with the best play at the quarterback position.

John Brantley has completed 94-of-160 passes for 1360 yards and six touchdowns coming into today’s game.

Brantley has looked improved this season under first-year offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. In fact, he was playing the best half of his career against the University of Alabama and its No.1-ranked defense. The Crimson Tide is only giving up a 130.7 passing yards per game. Brantley had 190 yards in the first half.

However, it was in that game that he injured his knee and would miss the next two games. Brantley returned two weeks ago against Georgia and seems to be finding his rhythm once again.

Connor Shaw, on the other hand, did not become the full-time starter until Week 6 against the Kentucky Wildcats. Shaw has played pretty well as a starter when you consider four of his five starts have been away from William-Brice Stadium.

Shaw has completed 71-of-121 passes for 710 yards and six touchdowns.

In other words, both quarterbacks have played to a draw to this point. Whoever can play better today is likely to lead his team to victory. Both are coming off injuries in their last game, so this will be a toss-up.

While it is not clear who will play better today, who has the brighter future overall?

The answer to that question might be both. Coming out of high school, John Brantley was rated as the No.3 quarterback in the nation. He showed so much promise early on that he beat out future Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton for the right to back up Tim Tebow.

Brantley, however, has never come close to living up to the hype and, with this being his senior season, he never will at the collegiate level.

Coming out of high school, Connor Shaw was rated as a 3-star quarterback. He had potential, but was not considered elite. Scouts rated him as the No. 31 quarterback. Now in his sophomore season, he has a shot to lead his team to the SEC championship game for just the second time in school history.

Brantley is ending a disappointing career with the Gators and Shaw is the future of the Gamecocks passing game. As a result, Shaw is almost certainly going to have the brighter college career.

How about when both players have ended their college careers? Who has a brighter future in pro football?

Brantley is a strong pocket passer who has good accuracy with his deep pass. He has tremendous arm strength, but it is rarely on display because of his team's lack of deep threats in the passing game. Brantley still has the tools to be a good NFL quarterback. He has a good size and can make difficult passes.

Brantley has faced two large hurdles that have hindered his development. This first hurdle is that Urban Meyer was great at developing a college quarterback, but was unable to develop a NFL quarterback.

This is the reason that Tebow had so many mechanical flaws headed into the NFL draft.

The other hindrance he has faced in his development has been durability issues. In my opinion, this will also decide how his pro career evolves. Had he been able to stay healthy all season, he would have been firing on all cylinders after working with Weis for a season. However, it seems like he has faced one injury after another.

Shaw has potential, but he lacks the arm strength to play in the NFL. Shaw does not have elite talent but Steve Spurrier will be able to mask his weaknesses in college. Spurrier has a history of taking mediocre talent and making them look phenomenal.

Both players might have a bright future, just in different ways.