Meet the 2018 NFL draft class’ QBs as high school recruits

Looking back at their high school recruitment, it’s interesting to see what’s changed and what hasn’t.

With the NFL draft approaching, I’m sharing what I remember about the quarterbacks in the draft as recruits. It’s helpful to track their careers to see who has improved, along with what about their games did and didn’t translate as they progressed.

Josh Rosen, Belleflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco

Student Sports

Rosen was the No. 1 pro-style QB in the 2015 recruiting class. He picked UCLA over 40-plus offers. There was some thought that he might go to Stanford, but Stanford signed Keller Chryst in 2014 and had eyes on K.J. Costello for the 2016 class, so it didn’t take one in 2015.

“A rich-kid youth tennis prodigy who has to learn that you can’t succeed in a team sport acting like you’re still playing an individual sport,” was the word I got on Rosen’s attitude, talking to people around his recruitment. Rosen definitely put off some people. But I enjoyed chatting with him. I could tell he was really sharp, and he wasn’t a jerk to me.

Talent-wise, both physically and mentally, Rosen was off the charts. He knew where to go with the ball better than anyone else. He was so advanced that he clashed with some coaches at the Elite 11 event, challenging the coach and wanting to do things how he’d already been taught. (This might sound familiar.) He had a huge arm, good mechanics, and a lot of confidence, almost too much at times. He didn’t win the Elite 11 competition, but he was the best QB on the field that recruiting analysts saw at the event (the media doesn’t get to see every factor that goes into Elite 11 scoring).

He also still has a chip on his shoulder about being ranked behind a couple other QBs at one ratings service or another, even though the industry consensus still had him tops:

One thing I didn’t see coming was Rosen’s toughness. He got beat to hell at UCLA and played through a lot of injuries.

Lamar Jackson, Boynton Beach (Fla.)

Bud Elliott, SB Nation

Jackson signed with Louisville over the Gators, who pursued him hard late in the process and might have signed him had Will Muschamp not been fired. Bobby Petrino saw Jackson as a chance to finally coach Michael Vick, something that didn’t happen when Petrino coached the Falcons.

Jackson had a huge arm. He had a quick release. He had a long, wiry build. And he was an absolute freak of an athlete.

Some quarterbacks are athletic, and some are athletic enough to play other positions at a high level. Jackson was the latter. But unlike some great athletes at the QB position, he didn’t immediately look to take off and run. He would move around the pocket to try to get the ball to a receiver.

If Jackson had been an accurate passer in high school, he could have been ranked as the No. 1 QB recruit in the nation.

But he wasn’t. In two years on varsity, Jackson was a 47 percent passer (123 for 261). In games, and even in camps at which there was no pass rush or defenders, Jackson failed to accurately throw on a consistent basis. There were real questions about whether he could throw well enough. To do so, he would have to improve his accuracy a ton. And leaps like that are rare, even if mechanics improve.

In addition, Jackson wasn’t eligible to play his 2012 sophomore season due to grades. Schools deal with prospects having grade problems all the time, but it’s pretty rare for a QB to have academic concerns.

“Look, get your grades right,” Swain told Jackson. “We’ll take a look at you in the spring. But unless you get your grades right, there’s no need for us to be talking.”

I thought Jackson could play QB in college in the right offense, but I never thought he could improve his accuracy to the extent needed to win the Heisman and be a top pick as a QB. He proved me wrong.

Sam Darnold, San Clemente (Calif.)

Student Sports

I remember Darnold being a late bloomer. He missed his junior season in 2013 due to a fractured foot. USC initially recruited him as a linebacker (he also played WR in high school) and offered as a QB in June of 2014. He committed a month later after an impressive camp performance.

Darnold had a good, but not great, arm. I remember thinking it didn’t quite match up with his size (6’3, 200).

He was, however, very accurate. Some coaches at the Elite 11 praised his ability to deliver the ball accurately even when his footwork looked to be a mess or when he should have been off balance.

Baker Mayfield, Allen (Texas) Lake Travis

Wescott Eberts, SB Nation

Mayfield walked on to Texas Tech, started for a time, then transferred to Oklahoma, where he again walked on and won the starting job. He did have scholarship offers out of high school, to Washington State and FAU.

In high school, Mayfield was the No. 42 pro-style QB and a three-star in the class of 2013. I did not see Mayfield in person when he was a recruit, but his family resented his Elite 11 experience, feeling he performed just as well as higher-rated QBs who received more praise and attention.

A few years ago, I profiled how some underrated recruits still become draft picks.

-had very limited film due to injury or focus on another sport,

-is a punter or kicker,

-gained a ridiculous amount of muscle in college, while retaining athleticism,

-is from another country, or

-was expected to head to junior college because of academics but somehow qualified for a four-year school.

And Mayfield fits one of these to a T: the late growth spurt. He was just 5’2 as a freshman in high school and grew to 5’10 (he’s now listed at 6’1).

I wonder if playing for powerhouse school Lake Travis, which won five consecutive titles, hurt Mayfield a bit. Sure, being on a winning team provided exposure, but there’s a temptation to assume that perhaps the system or some of the other players around the tiny QB were responsible for the wins. And that’s especially true when the prior two QBs to come out of Lake Travis (Garrett Gilbert in ‘09 and Michael Brewer in ‘11) were considered more talented prospects, but busts in college. If Gilbert and Brewer couldn’t get it done coming from the Lake Travis system, why could Mayfield?

Josh Allen, Reedley (Calif.) Firebaugh HS and Reedley JC

I did not see Josh Allen as a high schooler. It seems nobody else did, either.

He played at Reedley (Calif.) Firebaugh High School, which, according to a Rivals.com search, has never produced a straight-to-FBS player. If he went to any camps, I can’t find them.

Allen posted unimpressive numbers as a high school junior (51 percent completion and a 26/10 TD/INT ratio). He had a much better senior year, (57 percent and 33/5), but most schools fill their QB positions earlier than that.

This ESPN article suggests nearby Fresno State should have taken a closer look, and I agree, but if a prospect doesn’t have eye-popping highlights or outrageous stats, he had better do more off the field to get himself noticed. If Allen had, given his physical tools, he would have absolutely been noticed.

Allen didn’t and had to go to a nearby junior college, where he began writing letters to hundreds of college coaches and got spotted by Wyoming, Eastern Michigan, and Indiana.

Some other big names

• Mason Rudolph, of Rock Hill (SC) Northwestern was highly rated as a four-star and the No. 16 QB prospect, but he was not as highly recruited before signing with Oklahoma State. This article explains Rudolph didn’t grow up playing QB and did not go to camps or combines.
• Richmond’s Kyle Lauletta of Exton (Pa.) Downington East suffered a knee injury during his senior lacrosse season, which prevented him from participating in camps. He also apparently had questionable arm strength.
• Mike White of Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) University School had offers from Mississippi State and signed with USF before transferring to Western Kentucky. I don’t remember White having the kind of arm strength in high school that he showed in college.
• J.T. Barrett of Wichita Falls (TX) Rider was a lifelong Longhorns fan who supposedly would’ve been willing to be the second QB in UT’s class, but signed with Ohio State.

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• Riley Ferguson of Matthews (NC) Butler was a highly rated QB who signed with Tennessee, transferred to a junior college, and excelled at Memphis.
• Quinton Flowers of Miami Jackson had offers to play just about anywhere as a DB, but chose to play QB for USF.
• Kurt Benkert of Cape Coral (Fla.) played for two different high schools as a junior and a senior. He always had a big arm and played with a chip on his shoulder, but did seem to throw some bad interceptions in 7v7 competition. He was also a good punter in high school. Benkert signed with East Carolina and finished at Virginia.