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South Florida '21- The QBs

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DMoney

DMoney

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I usually wait until after the Opening to do these position breakdowns, but figured this would be a good time with everything shut down. Let's start with the QBs.

South Florida doesn’t have annual depth at QB, but the good ones often become impact players. Three local QBs started NFL games in 2019-- Lamar Jackson, Teddy Bridgewater and Jacoby Brissett. They combined for a 25-10 overall record and an MVP trophy. Other guys like Geno Smith, Shoelace Robinson, Winky Flowers, Buckshot Calvert, Brandon Doughty, Mike White, Tyler Huntley and Rakeem Cato put up big numbers and won games in college.

This is actually an excellent year in terms of QB play, but, outside of Marucci, many of the top guys are limited by size and strength projecting to the next level. Physical maturation will make or break several of these prospects.

Santino Marucci, Bartram Trail (6’1, 194)- Palm Beach Benjamin transfer who will play his senior year in Jacksonville. Son of former Hurricane fullback Jason Marucci. Athletic with quick feet and an explosive first step. Strong build. High-effort thrower but can generate RPMs. Runs effectively inside against spread out defenses. 1,951 passing yards (52%), 21 TDs and 13 INTs with 445 yards and 11 TDs on the ground. Physical tools remind me of Cade Weldon. May fit best as a dual-threat in an Urban Meyer-type offense. Wake Forest commit.





Nick Vattiato, University- (5’11, 170)- Quick feet and quick mind. Has a loose, athletic arm that can make off-platform throws. 2,116 yards (58%), 21 TDs and 7 INTs as a junior after a big 35-TD sophomore year with Zay Flowers (BC) and Kenny McIntosh (UGA). Leads the powerhouse South Florida Express 7-on-7 team. Average arm strength but can make tight window throws with anticipation. More of a scrambler than a runner. Reminds me a bit of Riley Skinner from Wake Forest and Bolles. USF offer.





Jaylon Tolbert, Chaminade (6’0, 170)- Hialeah transfer who has a chance to put up huge numbers as a senior. Natural and smooth thrower. 34 total TDs as a junior. Also plays basketball and it shows on the field. Lanky body type. 4.0 GPA. Arm strength only average right now but has upside as he fills out. Talented and ascending player.





Torey “Scooter” Morrison, Booker T (5’8, 150)- Dynamic, state champion QB who has been producing since a young age. Comparable to Tutu Atwell but not as athletic. Excels in scramble situations. Not a great arm but an instinctive passer. Very good peripheral vision and awareness. Small and skinny with unorthodox delivery. 40 total TDs as a junior, 4,319 total yards and 68% completion. Likely a WR projection due to size.





Tre’Von Taylor- (5'10, 170)- Palm Beach Lakes- Small and slight but a baller. Led Palm Beach Lakes and Coach Al Shipman to the school’s first undefeated regular season in 15 years. Dwyer transfer who also plays basketball. Great hands and quick feet in pocket. True QB with awareness to make something out of nothing. Makes up for lack of arm strength with anticipation.


 
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slim pickings .... with lashlee's offense i was hoping there was someone to take down here that would make a local impact recruiting wise
 
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This is why we must build a pipeline into TX & AZ for QB's.

Florida just doesn't produce enough to sustain us for the long haul.

It's basically once & every now & then a freak athlete pops up at QB, but otherwise there's just an overall lack of QB's with college level arm talent to rely on in state South Fla QB's.
 
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Liberty City El said:
This is why we must build a pipeline into TX & AZ for QB's.

Florida just doesn't produce enough to sustain us for the long haul.

It's basically once & every now & then a freak athlete pops up at QB, but otherwise there's just an overall lack of QB's with college level arm talent to rely on in state QB's.
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State of Georgia too
 
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You left off a few.

Jack Smitherman- 6'4 220pds. Just transferred to Miami Edison from Hialeah American.



He should put up numbers this year at Edison and become a G5 to Power 5 type prospect.


Allan Stanley- 6'4 200. He's at South Plantation. Has nice size



Cedquan Smith- 6'0 180. Transfer king has played at Miramar, Carol City, Western, and now is at Plantation. Smith holds offers from Cincinnati, Georgia Southern and Kent St. In Plantation's offense and with Jacolby George he should put up numbers and go div 1. Plantation qb last year signed to TN Martin.
 
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gogeta4 said:
You left off a few.

Jack Smitherman- 6'4 220pds. Just transferred to Miami Edison from Hialeah American.



He should put up numbers this year at Edison and become a G5 to Power 5 type prospect.


Allan Stanley- 6'4 200. He's at South Plantation. Has nice size



Cedquan Smith- 6'0 180. Transfer king has played at Miramar, Carol City, Western, and now is at Plantation. Smith holds offers from Cincinnati, Georgia Southern and Kent St. In Plantation's offense and with Jacolby George he should put up numbers and go div 1. Plantation qb last year signed to TN Martin.
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Was just about to post about Smitherman. Saw him at UA camp and at Paradise last year. He has the size, curious to see how he does at Edison.

Glad you mentioned Plantation's QB last year, Gerard Nesbitt. He was good. Needs to lose weight, but if he gets in shape he can pup up nice numbers at Tennessee Martin.
 
Liberty City El said:
This is why we must build a pipeline into TX & AZ for QB's.

Florida just doesn't produce enough to sustain us for the long haul.

It's basically once & every now & then a freak athlete pops up at QB, but otherwise there's just an overall lack of QB's with college level arm talent to rely on in state South Fla QB's.
Click to expand...

word.

seems like the last good south florida college QB was Teddy Bridgewater. And before that, Danny Kannell. And before that Craig Erickson. And then you have to go back to George Mira. (ok, a tiny bit sarcastic).

still, just the oddest circumstance, since many (but not all) of the same factors that grow good QB's in Southern Cal, AZ, and TX are present in South Florida. I think the biggest difference is that the high end south florida QB talent doesn't grow in the suburban private schools like it does in those three other places. doesn't mean however, we should have 1 UM caliber Qb every 10 years. that's extreme.
 
DMoney said:
Was just about to post about Smitherman. Saw him at UA camp and at Paradise last year. He has the size, curious to see how he does at Edison.

Glad you mentioned Plantation's QB last year, Gerard Nesbitt. He was good. Needs to lose weight, but if he gets in shape he can pup up nice numbers at Tennessee Martin.
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Yea Nesbitt had arm power. He is just chubby/fat. His body type is like Jarren Williams. If they get him in shape he will be a dude at TN Martin.

Smitherman should have some good numbers. Edison has like 3 or 4 solid wr weapons to throw to. I know the offense and its the wide open spread look. So we will see i was excited to see him this spring.
 
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RedSquare said:
word.

seems like the last good south florida college QB was teddy Bridgewater. and before that, danny kannell.

just the oddest circumstance, since many (but not all) of the same factors that grow good QB's in Southern Cal, AZ, and TX are present in South Florida. I think the biggest difference is that the high end south florida QB talent doesn't grow in the suburban private schools like is does in those three other places. doesn't mean however, we should have 1 UM caliber Qb every 10 years. that's extreme.
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You do realize Lamar Jackson was after Bridgewater right?.

S.Fla is just now starting to have personal qb trainers for kids. Everything is from the youth level and the youth level in south slorida has always i mean always been about the run game. Well now its changing and kids are airing it out at the youth level and playing 7 on 7.

The kids i coached as 11 year olds are the new group of kids coming into high school next year that have been the first group of kids that have been doing 7 on 7s since they were like 9 yrs old. So those kids are truly advanced. They are part of the S.FLA express, Fl Fire 7 on 7 programs.

We'lls ee an uptick on DIv 1 qbs for sure. Even though when you dig deep..sfla produce ssome solid div 1 qbs.
 
RedSquare said:
seems like the last good south florida college QB was teddy Bridgewater.
Click to expand...

From 2012-2016, a South Florida QB finished Top 5 nationally in passer rating every year:

Geno Smith (2012)
Teddy Bridgewater (2013)
Brandon Doughty (2014)
Brandon Doughty (2015)
Mike White (2016)

Then from 2016-2017, Lamar Jackson was the best player in college football. Last year, Tyler Huntley finished 7th nationally in passer rating and won 11 games.

I agree we need to go national. But this region has been putting out excellent college football QBs for a while.
 
Deon Parker at North Miami
Tyger ****ens at MNW
Keyone Jenkins at CC

Are the next crop of good South Fla QB's that will do well in college.

My point is that there's usually only a handful every few years that are good enough to play here, as opposed to regions like TX that has 8+ every single class.

I do think with our new scheme we'll be more of a QB friendly offense that you could plug in some of the under radar South Fla QB's & still have success, but in today's era of college ball the QB often makes the difference between a 6 win team & 10+ win team.

I do agree that if we landed guys like Rakeem Cato (who's one of my top 5 favorite college QB's of all-time) Bridgewater, Brissett, Lamar Jackson & Quinton Flowers we'd be in much better position as a program than we are now. I'm certain those guys would've won us ACC titles over all these years.
 
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Liberty City El said:
I do agree that if we landed guys like Rakeem Cato (who's one of my top 5 favorite college QB's of all-time) Bridgewater, Brissett, Lamar Jackson & Quinton Flowers we'd be in much better position as a program than we are now. I'm certain those guys would've won us ACC titles over all these years.
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Yep, start with So FL. Plenty of talent to get us to the ACCCG. But no reason we couldn't pluck a kid from TX, GA or WA (or CT like last class) if needed. That way we aren't overly dependent on the local kids who can be dramatic and unpredictable at times.
 
DMoney said:
From 2012-2016, a South Florida QB finished Top 5 nationally in passer rating every year:

Geno Smith (2012)
Teddy Bridgewater (2013)
Brandon Doughty (2014)
Brandon Doughty (2015)
Mike White (2016)

Then from 2016-2017, Lamar Jackson was the best player in college football. Last year, Tyler Huntley finished 7th nationally in passer rating and won 11 games.

I agree we need to go national. But this region has been putting out excellent college football QBs for a while.
Click to expand...

Especially for the type of offense that we are going to be running now.
 
Liberty City El said:
Deon Parker at North Miami
Tyger ****ens at MNW
Keyone Jenkins at CC

Are the next crop of good South Fla QB's that will do well in college.

My point is that there's usually only a handful every few years that are good enough to play here, as opposed to regions like TX that has 8+ every single class.

I do think with our new scheme we'll be more of a QB friendly offense that you could plug in some of the under radar South Fla QB's & still have success, but in today's era of college ball the QB often makes the difference between a 6 win team & 10+ win team.

I do agree that if we landed guys like Rakeem Cato (who's one of my top 5 favorite college QB's of all-time) Bridgewater, Brissett, Lamar Jackson & Quinton Flowers we'd be in much better position as a program than we are now. I'm certain those guys would've won us ACC titles over all these years.
Click to expand...

And Cato beating up any WR that wont run routes with him.
 
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