QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson Announces Return to UCLA For Super Senior Year
NFL followers may have to be fans later, because the Bruins will have their quarterback back for one more season.
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson has elected to return to UCLA football for his super senior year in favor of entering the 2022 NFL Draft, he announced on social media Monday. This upcoming season will burn Thompson-Robinson's final year of NCAA eligibility.
Thompson-Robinson has already started 34 games at the collegiate level, making him the most experienced quarterback in the Pac-12 and one of the most experienced in the nation.
The quarterback had posted several cryptic photos on Instagram leading up to Monday, alluding towards dreams, dedication and challenges before adding a photo of him back on UCLA's campus to his Instagram story Sunday afternoon.
It was believed by many that Thompson-Robinson would enter the draft after this past season, but that scenario ultimately did not come to fruition. Thompson-Robinson was considered to be a top-12 quarterback in this year's draft class, and with anywhere from nine to 13 quarterbacks getting picked each year, he was likely going to slot in as a late-round selection.
With one more season to work with, Thompson-Robinson has a chance to crawl his way even further up the school and conference leaderboards while trying to improve on that draft stock for 2023.
Thompson-Robinson has passed for 7,541 yards, 61 touchdowns and 26 interceptions on 60.7% passing for a 140.8 passer rating across the first four years of his collegiate career. The dual-threat passer has also picked up 1,183 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.
In 2021 alone, Thompson-Robinson went for 2,409 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, a 153.4 passer rating, 611 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns.
Another 12 or 13-game season puts Thompson-Robinson within reach of breaking a few of UCLA's all-time passing records, considering he is just 15 touchdowns away from surpassing Brett Hundley and 3,168 yards away from surpassing Cade McNown.
Since the Pac-10 expanded to the Pac-12 in 2011, there have been 14 players who posted more than 75 total touchdowns, and Thompson-Robinson is one of them. Thompson-Robinson is tied for 13th in the 12-team era alongside USC's Matt Barkley with 77 touchdowns, and he is 29 away from passing Brett Hundley and leaping into the top five.
Thompson-Robinson had 30 touchdowns in 2021, and 34 in 2022 would get him up to No. 3 behind only Oregon's Marcus Mariota and Washington State's Luke Falk.
However, the Bruins' signal-caller has been surrounded by many of the same weapons the past three seasons that are on their way out of town despite his return.
Thompson-Robinson is one of the few key pieces of the offense that is locked into coming back next season, as receiver Kyle Philips, tight end Greg Dulcich and right tackle Alec Anderson have already declared for the draft. Left guard Paul Grattan and running back Brittain Brown have both exhausted their eligibility, so they won't be returning either.
Left tackle Sean Rhyan and running back Zach Charbonnet are the two offensive starters who could still end up declaring for the draft. Rhyan, especially, could be pushed towards the NFL with offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Justin Frye reportedly joining Ohio State's staff.
The next shoe to drop will be what happens between coach Chip Kelly and UCLA's administration, with both side running out of time to agree on an extension before Kelly's buyout disappears Sunday morning. Kelly is the only head coach Thompson-Robinson has played for during his time in Westwood.
Barring any additional moves from the transfer portal, UCLA's quarterback depth chart will look similar to the one it boasted in 2021.
Thompson-Robinson will once again be first string, with Ethan Garbers backing him up, Chase Artopoeus running the scout team and Chase Griffin earning reps in practice as well. Parker McQuarrie and Kajiya Hollawayne both entered the transfer portal back after the regular season ended, but they will be replaced by incoming freshmen Justyn Martin and JP Zamora.
It seemed like UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel would be joining that group when he committed to the Bruins in December, but he backed out of that pledge in favor of going to Oklahoma on Jan. 3. It is likely that Gabriel committed under the impression that Thompson-Robinson was leaving for the pros, but changed his mind when he caught wind that the incumbent could return, which he ultimately did.
Of the many things Thompson-Robinson has accomplished throughout his time at UCLA, there are a few holes on his resume. He has yet to play in a bowl game, even though the Bruins were hours away from kicking off the Holiday Bowl when COVID-19 complications led to its cancelation, and he has yet to play a complete season without missing time due to injury.
Thompson-Robinson has also never made the All-Pac-12 First Team, making the Second Team in both 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, Thompson-Robinson has given himself a chance to achieve all of those goals and more. His dreams of making it to the pros will have to wait until the 2023 NFL Draft, though, which is considered to be a stronger class at the quarterback position.
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