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Three freshman QBs making noise
With all the research I do and tape I watch on college and pro football, I rarely get a chance to watch those guys coming out of high school. However, I try to at least check out the top recruits every year and this time around it’s the quarterback class at the top that really stands out. Trevor Lawrence at Clemson, Justin Fields at Georgia and JT Daniels at USC are all top-six national recruits and want to make noise right away, despite the competition they will be facing.
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Let’s start with the guy, who has the easiest path to getting the nod as a starter in the season-opener. USC just lost an incredible leader in Sam Darnold, who overshadowed some of the weaknesses on this roster had a lot of his turnovers due to forcing those big plays. Sophomore Matt Fink is the only one to have thrown a pass in a USC uniform (6 of 9 for 43 yards). Jack Sears was the fourth-rated pro QB last year, but decided to redshirt and learn from Darnold and he has turned the ball over in practice quite a bit reportedly.
Although he should be a high school senior, Daniels offers the superb athleticism and arm-strength to intrigue coaches. The Gatorade National Player of the Year has shown how bad he wants to get out on the field through the whole reclassifying process instead of waiting to be the number one prospect in 2019 and I’d be shocked if he isn’t the starter by mid-season.
Trevor Lawrence’s road to taking over the Clemson program appears to be a little trickier. Now-senior Kelly Bryant did get exposed by Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for his inability to beat the Crimson Tide with his arm, but he did score 24 touchdowns and led the Tigers to a number one national ranking up until then. Lawrence can put the necessary zip on the ball to fit passes into tight windows, kill defenses over the top and avoid the rush to extend plays.
His new head coach Dabo Swinney already said ‘he’s got every tool you could possibly want’ and how ready he appears to be for this level. And finally there’s Justin Fields, who has the toughest competition to beat out. Georgia started last season with Jacob Eason as their clear-cut starter after a pretty good freshman campaign, but after just three passes he got hurt and saw his job taken away by another five-star recruit in Jake Fromm.
That guy was excellent for the entire year, never posting a QB rating below 100 once, and led them to a National Championship game appearance. However, Fields brings a running dimension to the table that neither one of those other two guys can even sniff. Watching him run through high school defenses, he actually looks a lot like Cam Newton and he has the crazy hip rotation to absolutely drill his receivers. Fields enrolled early at UGA and looked very impressive in their spring game, getting the ball out quickly and showing outstanding awareness.
