Mississippi State football film study: Michael Van Buren is the future in Starkville

What stands out in Michael Van Buren's game

It's clear Michael Van Buren is a great fit for what Jeff Lebby wants to do offensively. But what specific aspects of his game stand out when you watch him. There are three things that are very noticeable.

Deep ball accuracy

I've already praised Van Buren's deep ball and specifically highlighted his accuracy throwing down the field. But seriously, it's impressive just how on the money he consistently has been throwing deep.

His incompletions throwing deep to this point have either been drops or contested passes that he put only where his WR had a chance at it. There haven't been bad under or overthrows. It's been almost exclusively dropping dimes right into the breadbasket and, at a minimum, giving his guy a chance.

Look at the very first shot play we saw him complete as a Bulldog. This is actually another RPO (watch how the OL isn't pass-setting). The box is loaded, so has previously explained, Van Buren is going to throw here, and against Cover 1, he's taking the vertical to Mario Craver, who switch-releases to run up the seam.

Craver gets behind the CB, but that FS nearly gets there to make a play (it would've helped if Craver faded his route back towards the sideline, which in this offense, he's got the ability to do). Van Buren drops it right into a bucket though just before the FS can break it up, and he does it with a pass-rusher in his face!

Having arm strength is one thing. Being able to put the ball exactly where it needs to be is another. Look at the difference in the Tennessee offense (which uses the same base system as State) from when Hendon Hooker was at QB to when Joe Milton stepped in. Suddenly their passing attack wasn't all that scary. Hitting vertical shots is a key part of this system, and Van Buren excels in that area.

Maturity in the pocket

Since he first stepped into action, something that's stood out watching Michael Van Buren has been the maturity he's displayed as a true freshman navigating the pocket. Pocket presence is rarely a strong suit of young QBs, and truthfully, many veteran college QBs struggle with it. You can win a lot of games in CFB by putting a dynamic runner under center and telling him to just take-off if his first read isn't open or at the first sign of pressure.

Avoiding the pass rush while stepping-up in the pocket and keeping eyes down field is an important factor when it comes to playing the QB position at a high level. And while Mississippi State's struggles in pass protection have created plenty of situations where Van Buren has had no choice but to leave the pocket and try to make a play with his legs, when the option is there to step-up and continue working his progression, he does it.

This is far and away my favorite play so far from Van Buren. The deep balls and occasional off-script plays are cool, but this right here gets me more excited about his potential more than anything else.

The Bulldogs are in the 2-minute drill, trying to get a score before the half. Van Buren just made a nice play off-script, escaping pressure and finding Kelly Akharaiyi along the sidelines for a nice gain. They've now got a 1st down inside A&M territory with under a minute to go.

It's tough to tell exactly what State runs here, but it looks like a version of Y-Cross (Air Raid forever). A&M gets pressure off both edges. Stepping-up in the pocket here isn't the wildly impressive thing. That's where the clean operating space is, and there isn't really anywhere else to go (even though some young QBs still wouldn't recognize that).

What is impressive is what he does as he's stepping-up. For most young QBs, particularly those that can run like Van Buren can, as soon as they start working forward, they're taking off to run. Forget throwing it, go get yards. But Van Buren stays set to throw with his eyes down field. He's determined to find an open man, and he finds Akharaiyi settled in an open zone. It turns into a big play and helps MSU go on to find the endzone.

Van Buren being mature enough as a QB to work in the pocket, even under pressure, gives him a big leg-up in terms of what he can achieve throughout the rest of his career. And if he can finally get good pass protection in front of him, look out.

Play-making ability

Finally, Michael Van Buren has shown plenty of great play-making ability when things break down over these few weeks. When a player is mobile, has a good arm, and has a willingness to keep his eyes downfield, some special things can happen.

This is a RPO. Pre-snap, the box is unloaded, so the Bulldogs have numbers to run the ball. But if Texas A&M brings an extra defender into the box after the snap, Van Buren will pull the ball to throw. Sure enough, the Aggies bring a safety down post-snap, telling Van Buren to throw.

The camera angle doesn't let us see what's happening downfield, but clearly Van Buren doesn't like what he sees. This is an "ah, crap" moment that you'll occasionally run into on RPOs. If your one pass option is taken away after you've already decided to throw while your line is run blocking, you're in trouble.

By this point Van Buren has a defensive lineman bearing down on him, so things are going from bad to worse. But he manages to avoid getting taken down, and fortunately, his WR realizes he needs to work back to his QB. Van Buren somehow gets the throw off and completes it for the first.

Now to be clear, this was a risk a coach probably doesn't want him to take. And State also gets away with an egregious lineman down field that should've been called. This play really shouldn't have happened. But it did, and it worked out for State because they've got a QB capable of pulling it off.