Until about this time last year, I had discounted Matt McGloin at every turn. He was easy enough to discard because of his physical deficiencies. Not fleet afoot, popgun arm, way too short at 5-11.

Then, there was his emotional makeup, at once admirable for his tenacity but combustable and erratic – too concerned with proving he could make risky throws, not enough with holding himself back when necessary.

Matt McGloin during OTA drills with Raiders.

But I began hearing a few stories from spring camp in 2012. And I heard more over last summer. They were about how exacting and studious of detail that McGloin was under the new Penn State coaching regime. How he took to watching film and booked up on it in the context of the new offense and was really starting to get it – not just about the system but about his own judgments and the value of prudence during extended plays.

All of that led me to make a bold prediction that he would be a vastly improved quarterback during the 2012 season.

He was, beyond even my expectations. He became the Big Ten's leading passer, using a mastery of the Penn State offense along with improved discretion and good sense. He seemed to learn as much about what he couldn't or didn't need to do as about what he could.

So, then we started hearing in April about McGloin wanting to take a shot at the NFL after he went undrafted and I'm rolling my eyes all over again. C'mon, Matt. Know your limitations, buddy. Get a job.

Well, McGloin has latched on with the Oakland Raiders, participated in OTAs and is now going at it in mini-camp. And guess what? ESPN's Chris Mortenson, the most respected NFL reporter there is, just blogged an item that suggests he's genuinely in the mix to win a roster spot, if not on the active roster then maybe on the practice squad as a third QB.

When you look at the situation in Oakland closely, it becomes apparent McGloin can do this. His competition is not great. And, in a Raiders organization that appears on an upswing under GM Reggie McKenzie, McGloin's coordinator and position coach are the sort of teachers who I think will benefit him more than his prime competition.

That competition? Carson Palmer is off to Phoenix. The remainders are not exactly overwhelming.

Matt Flynn, sort of an uppercase version of McGloin's mongrel persona, is the clear No. 1 entering August. He's an analytical 5-year NFL veteran who's beaten out bigger, stronger physical specimens throughout his college and pro career from JaMarcus Russell (at LSU) to Brian Brohm (with the Packers). But he was beaten out last year with the Seahawks by prodigious rookie Russell Wilson. That's why he's in Oakland.

Then you have 4th-round draft pick Tyler Wilson, a rookie along with McGloin but entering with much higher expectations. Wilson came from a sophisticated pro-style system under Bobby Petrino at Arkansas where he was accurate on mid-range routes and adept at play-action. Last year when Petrino was fired abruptly after his motorcycle affair, the Razorbacks imploded under John L. Smith and Wilson absorbed a lot of abuse – physical and emotional. He took all sorts of hits and held up well. The kid is tough.

Finally, there is Terrelle Pryor. How deliciously ironic that the practice-squad position of No. 3 quarterback could come down to Pryor against McGloin. But that's the way I see it. And I see only one reason McGloin can't beat him out – styles.

McGloin of West Scranton initially didn't get a scholarship offer from Penn State. McGloin believes that's partly because Tom Bradley and Joe Paterno were trying to nab Pryor, then believed to be a 5-star recruit from Jeannette.

Then, while the nation waited for the 6-5, 245-pound Pryor to blossom at Ohio State in a bastardized spread-option under the retentive Jim Tressel – the closest he ever got being a pretty good Rose Bowl win over Chip Kelly's Oregon Ducks – McGloin was mucking along in Penn State's dysfunctional quarterback rotation with Rob Bolden.

But in the end, you could put up McGloin's final college season against any of Pryor's. Though ill-equipped as a runner compared with the muscular, gliding Pryor, McGloin last year was a more prolific passer (3,271 yards) while throwing fewer interceptions (5) than anything Pryor approached in his three years at OSU.

So, here they are. And Pryor actually is being touted as the back-up to Flynn because he has a minimal level of NFL experience and has started, albeit in meaningless late-season action. I think he's going to struggle making a connection under the new Raiders regime. It's a smart, sophisticated young coaching staff led by the NFL's youngest head coach, Dennis Allen (40).

Allen is a defensive specialist. His dad was an NFL linebacker with the Falcons. He was a DB on Texas A&M's “Wrecking Crew” defense of the mid-'90s and was a secondary assistant for the Aggies when they played Penn State in the 1999 Alamo Bowl.

Since then, he's gained his chops in the NFL with the Falcons, Saints and Broncos, always on the defensive side, finally taking over in his first head coaching job of any kind last year with the Raiders. He's not going to mess much with the offense.

So, the decision on cutdown day to 53, should McGloin make it that far, will be largely up to the opinions of coordinator Greg Olson and QB coach John DeFilippo. These are pro-style guys who've guided pocket quarterbacks almost exclusively.

Olsen managed Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert in Jacksonville, Josh Freeman and Jeff Garcia in Tampa, Marc Bulger in St. Louis and even Drew Brees at Purdue. He's in no way a spread-option guy. He wants his QBs to read keys, check down effectively and have a mind for the game.

DeFilippo is from the coaching hotbed of Youngstown, an FCS quarterback at James Madison and son of Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo. Just 36, he's spent eight years already in the NFL and is known as a teacher who can effectively distill concepts down to their basics and make complex thought processes simple to others. That's as much a gift as a learned attribute.

These guys are perfect for McGloin. Not so great for Pryor.

Here's why, as one NFL expert told me recently:

“In the league, if you can throw the ball on-time and accurately, you've got a chance. You don't have to be a tremendous athlete. You don't even have to have a rocket arm, though that helps. What you have to be able to do is think very, very quickly.”

And it moves so fast in the NFL. Pryor has never been able to handle the sophistication of turning learned keys into rote action. In other words, see what's happening in an instant, get the team into a good play, get them out of a bad play. Make wise decisions in a split-second, throw accurately from different body postures.

Those are some of the qualities McGloin learned last year. I think he may already be ahead of Pryor in those respects plus some others that are more subtle – using different cadence in his calls, using hand signals and eye contact to communicate with receivers. And he studies.

That's something that, the evidence suggests, Pryor has never done. Strong of stature, fleet of foot, he's never had to work or think his way through much of anything. Compare him to somebody with the obvious smarts and drive of successful spread-option guys like Russell Wilson or Robert Griffin III and you see why Pryor has never made much headway in the NFL.

Of course, the Raiders could easily sign a free agent QB. And regardless of OTAs or mini-camp, McGloin will be at the back of line by the time training camp is underway.

But the guy has a knack for elbowing a path to the front, doesn't he?

DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com.