Pac 12 Recruiting Focus: The Window is Narrowing for Power 5 Schools to Find a Top Tier 2018 Quarterback
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @RyanWrightRNG
Photo credit: Raymond Joyce Photography
Twitter: @RJPSports
Every college football program wants to build their recruiting class around a gunslinger that can put points on the board and lead the team on and off the field. Finding a fit between a program, staff, and player along with style of quarterback wanted, pro-style verses dual-threat, and regional talent available in a given year helps play the part in which program lands which recruit and which top quarterback gives a team new hope for the future.
In a five-part series focusing on Power Five Conferences and Class of 2018 quarterbacks committed, the following breaks down which schools are set for now in the pocket and which schools are left scrambling. Next up is the Pac-12 Conference.
The Pac-12
The best analogy for how the 2016 college football season ebbed and flowed inside the Pac-12 is Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride.” Washington flipped their fortunes from tied for fourth place in the North Division to claiming a title (12-2, 8-1). Same held true in the South Division with Colorado going from 4-9, 1-8, to 10-4, 8-1. Few may have been surprised by the Huskies performance but the Buffaloes truly captured the nation’s attention as one of the most improved teams in the country. But through it all, the one team that might have ended the season as the conference’s best was USC.
The Trojans started with a rough 1-3 mark but won out ending 10-3. That momentum is expected to carry USC into the driver’s seat in the South in 2017 with Washington battling it out with Stanford in the North. One thing Washington and USC has in common, prolific returning starting quarterbacks guiding their teams.
Great defenses may win championships but great offenses win regular season games building to the big game. Per Rivals quarterback rankings for the 2018 class, 25 pro-style and 30 dual-threats, there are only four ranked uncommitted pro-style and 10 ranked dual-threat quarterbacks left to cover the country. The list of top quarterbacks in the western region took a big hit on June 15 when Arizona talent Tyler Shough, the No. 9 ranked pro-style quarterback in the nation, decided to go cross country committing to North Carolina.
The Future of the Pac-12
Quarterback play is key for any team in any conference, but the Pac-12 and Big 12 may lean even more so on production from their field generals. If current rankings hold up, the Pac-12 will not fall off their perch as a quarterback driven league anytime soon. Blake Stenstrom (Colorado), Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA), Matt Corral (USC), and Jack Tuttle (Utah) would make the conference tip-top alone, but that is just the 2018 commits in the South. Jack West (Stanford), Colson Yankoff and Jacob Sirmon (Washington), and Cammon Cooper (Washington State) help contribute to a true band of gunslingers out west.
Pac-12
South
Arizona – Jamarye Joiner (Arizona), three-star dual-threat
Arizona State
Colorado – Blake Stenstrom (Colorado), No. 24 ranked pro-style
UCLA – Dorian Thompson-Robinson (Nevada), No. 3 dual-threat
USC – Matt Corral (California), No. 2 ranked pro-style
Utah – Jack Tuttle (California), No. 8 ranked pro-style
North
California
Oregon
Oregon State – Jake Dukart (Oregon); pro-style, three-star and Spencer Petras (California), three-star pro-style
Stanford – Jack West (Alabama), No. 6 ranked pro-style
Washington – Jacob Sirmon, No. 7 pro-style, and Colson Yankoff (Idaho), No. 9 dual-threat
Washington State – Cammon Cooper (Utah), No. 13 ranked pro-style
Top Talent Left on the Trail
If college programs were going strictly off best available per the rankings, the following players are what the Pac-12 and the rest of college football has left to fight over. There are only two top rated dual-threats left west of the Mississippi, Chance Amie and John Holcombe.
Tanner McKee is highly rated as a four-star and ranked as the No. 3 pro-style quarterback in the nation, but he maybe the best of all the signal callers in the west, perhaps the nation. He will go on a mission once he graduates making him a true freshman in 2020. Which school will be willing to wait two years for his great all-around talents?
Uncommitted Dual-Threat Quarterbacks
(Player/Home State/Ranking)
Justin Fields – Georgia, No. 1 ranked dual-threat; previous committed to Penn State
Jace Ruder – Kansas, No. 14 ranked dual-threat
Gerry Bohanon – Arkansas, No. 15 ranked dual-threat
Kaleb Eleby – Maryland, No. 16 ranked dual-threat
Woodrow “Trey” Lowe – Tennessee, No. 17 ranked dual-threat
Chance Amie – Texas, No. 21 ranked dual-threat
Ben Bryant – Illinois, No. 23 ranked dual-threat
Cordel Littlejohn – Georgia, No. 25 ranked dual-threat
John Holcombe – Texas, No. 26 ranked dual-threat
Jordan McCloud – Florida, No. 29 ranked dual-threat
Top Uncommitted Pro-Style Quarterbacks
Tanner McKee – California, No. 3 ranked pro-style
Brevin White – California, No. 11 ranked pro-style
Maurice Robinson – Alabama, No. 18 ranked pro-style
Will Levis – Connecticut, three-star pro-style
Riley Smith – Florida, three-star pro-style
The Overlooked
Every year there are amazing talents that have somehow stayed underneath the radar until December/January when teams start pressing to fill spots. Good news for Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference programs, the western region is stuffed full of next level talent in the pocket!
Jack Alexander – California, dual-threat
Stephen Barber Jr. – Hawaii, dual-threat
Jeremy Moussa – California, pro-style
Kenyon Oblad – Nevada, three-star pro-style
Mason Quandt – California, pro-style three-star
JT Shrout – California, pro-style three-star
Matthew Tago – California, three-star dual-threat
Rising Talents
Nick Acosta – California
Salieu Ceesay – California
Levi Taylor – California
Stealing from Others
Verbal commitments are nonbinding leaving players open to pitches from other schools if interested. Pac-12 programs left in a lurch could always try to pull from other programs.
Independent
BYU – Zadock Dinkelmann (Texas), No. 22 ranked pro-style
Notre Dame – Phil Jurkovec (Pennsylvania), No. 5 dual-threat
Mountain West Conference Commits
Boise State – Zachary Wilson (Texas), two-star
Nevada – Carson Strong (California), three-star pro-style
UNLV – Griffin O’Connor – California, pro-style three-star, and Stacy Conner (Texas), three-star dual-threat
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