THE QB SPOT
A lot of interest in the early part of this cycle will be on the QB position, and rightfully so. It’s an important position and fascinating dynamic with each school typically taking only one QB per class. A couple of general thoughts:
#1: After posting in another thread that we could see a QB commitment at Wake in the next 60 days, I now think that’s a little aggressive. I think sometime in April looks like the better bet. Recruits are still finalizing visit plans and most have plenty of options still on the table. While the QB spots at the SEC schools have filled, Clemson is the only ACC school that has filled their QB spot. In addition, area schools like Vandy, West Virginia and Maryland have open spots as well. So there is still a lot of sorting out that still needs to happen over the next 2-3 months.
#2: After being very cautious about offering QBs in the 2015 class, and the much more aggressive with offers in 2016, the approach to the 2017 cycle looks more like last year. Lots of offers to lots of interesting prospects. While the staff might have a strict pecking order, my guess is that this will be more of a first-come first-served scenario among a handful of QB targets.
NEW OFFER
The first order of business is to add a new QB offer to my list:
Johnathan Lewis (St. Peter’s Prep / Jersey City, NJ)
Rivals Rating: 3-stars (5.6), Rivals #25 Dual-Threat QB in the country
QB Hit List Ranking: #19 Dual-Threat QB in the country
Other P5 Offers: Boston College (May 2015), Iowa, Rutgers and Georgia (previous staff)
Notes: A true dual-threat. Unofficial measurements are 6’3 / 205. He titled his junior year highlights “Ballin Like Cam”. Completed 118 of 189 passes for 1,669 yards and 19 TD against only 3 INTs in his junior season. Rushed for 501 yards and 8 TDs. Lewis hasn’t planned his upcoming visits yet. There is surprisingly little info about him available on the internet.
HUDL Highlights: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3792363/johnathan-lewis
THE CONTENDERS
I’m mainly focused on 4 QBs right now:
Johnathan Lewis, and 3 QBs that already have write-ups in the OP (
Daulton Hyatt,
Myles Brennan and
Taylor Powell). Here is a quick update on the other three since I last posted on the QB situation:
Daulton Hyatt (Arab, AL) picked up offers from Maryland, Louisville and Mizzou in the past three weeks. He’s now up to seven P5 offers. I’m eager to get an update on Hyatt’s visit plans, and with his recent offers there should be plenty of info available soon. None of the other six P5 schools that have offered have taken a QB commitment.
Myles Brennan (Bay Saint Louis, MS) added offers from Wisconsin and Indiana. That takes his P5 offer list up to six. In addition, Tennessee and UCLA might be close to offering. I still think Brennan is leaning towards Cal. He will make a West Coast trip soon to see Cal and UCLA. It will be later in the spring before he takes a second trip to see West Virginia, Wake Forest and Tennessee. Of his five other P5 offers, four schools do not have a QB committed for 2017: Cal, Indiana, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Taylor Powell (Fayetteville, AR) added offers from Maryland and Illinois (also notably non-P5 Memphis). He’s up to 3 P5 offers now. I believe that Wake Forest will be his next visit. He’s set to travel to Winston-Salem later this month. Later this spring he’ll make visits to Maryland, North Carolina (no offer) and Oklahoma State (no offer). (One additional note on Powell: Alabama’s recruiting staff reportedly made initial contact with him
during the National Championship game. That’s an interesting touch)
OTHER QB NOTES
There was a single tweet recently that Wake has offered dual-threat QB
Kadarius Toney (Eight Mile, AL). It’s a little confusing because Toney doesn’t tweet his offers himself. It’s also confusing because Toney would be a P5-level recruit as an ATH. So I’m trying to dig up whatever additional info I can. My guess is that the offer is legit, it’s a QB offer, and he will be recruited alongside the 4 QBs mentioned above. That would give Wake an interesting mix of pro-style and dual-threat options on the board.
The only reason that I haven’t included
Hendon Hooker (Greensboro, NC) in the group above was his comment last month that he is favoring N.C. State and West Virginia. He also went onto the national scene with his performance at the U.S. Army All-America combine last month. However, his list of other P5 offers (NCSU, Clemson, Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia) doesn’t look any more intimidating than Hyatt’s or Brennan’s – especially when you consider that Clemson isn’t in the market for a QB anymore. It’s also not lost on me that Wake’s QB commit in each of the last two classes have been in-state QBs that at one point looked like they might be out of Wake’s reach.