College Football

Elite 11 Finals: QB competition loaded with top college prospects

Published Jun. 13, 2023 10:07 a.m. ET

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Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — One of the premier recruiting showcases on the college football calendar kicks off Wednesday when the Elite 11 Finals begin at Redondo Union High School along the California coast. Twenty elite quarterback prospects from the 2024 cycle will spend three days learning from high-level coaches and then competing for the right to be viewed as arguably the best signal-caller in the country.

With an alumni list that includes three of the last four quarterbacks to claim the Heisman Trophy in USC's Caleb Williams, Alabama's Bryce Young and Oklahoma's Kyler Murray, simply making it to the Finals can be a harbinger of success. And with quarterback play carrying more importance than ever in the sport's pass-happy modern era, plenty of eyes will be tuned to the happenings outside Los Angeles in the next few days.

Here's a primer for the 2023 Elite 11 Finals:

Top prospect

When the 247Sports Composite rankings were refreshed on June 23, 2022, five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola became the No. 1 player in the country. He's maintained that distinction ever since by completing 64% of his passes last season while throwing for 2,435 yards and 22 touchdowns at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix.

Raiola is the son of former Nebraska center Dominic Raiola, a consensus All-American who became a second-round pick by the Detroit Lions in 2001. His uncle, Donovan Raiola, is the offensive line coach at Nebraska. But the depth of those ties wasn't enough for the Cornhuskers to secure the commitment of a potentially program-altering recruit, though first-year head coach Matt Rhule stayed involved to the bitter end. Nebraska wound up pivoting to three-star prospect Daniel Kaelin (No. 533 overall, No. 33 QB), whom the Cornhuskers flipped from Missouri. Kaelin also qualified for the Elite 11 Finals.

As for Raiola, he first committed to Ohio State on May 9, 2022, before backing away from that pledge and reopening his recruitment last December. Georgia and USC quickly emerged as the most likely landing spots — the former because of its consecutive national championships in 2021 and 2022; the latter because of head coach Lincoln Riley's knack for developing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks who finish their careers as first-round picks. But to the victors go the spoils, and the Bulldogs rejoiced when Raiola gave them his verbal commitment last month. He made an official visit to campus in early June and has become an active recruiter alongside Georgia's coaches.

That Raiola isn't the only future Bulldog at the Elite 11 Finals speaks to the juggernaut Smart is building in Athens. Four-star prospect Ryan Puglisi (No. 137 overall, No. 12 QB) of Avon Old Farms in Avon, Connecticut, was committed to Georgia long before Raiola entered the picture. Puglisi chose the Bulldogs over scholarship offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Miami, among others.

Future rivals

One of the subplots at this year's event is a rematch between five-star Michigan commit Jadyn Davis (No. 26 overall, No. 4 QB) and four-star Ohio State commit Air Noland (No. 59 overall, No. 6 QB) after the quarterbacks tangled at an Elite 11 regional event in Atlanta last month. Noland got the better of his future Big Ten rival that afternoon to secure his spot in Redondo Beach. The Elite 11 staff extended an invitation to Davis at a later date.

As a left-handed passer, Noland is an intriguing prospect by default given the scarcity of lefties at his position. High-level quarterbacks are almost exclusively right-handed throwers, and Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins is the only lefty starter in the NFL. There are college coaching staffs and NFL front offices that won't pursue left-handed quarterbacks because of the impact it has on the way an offensive line is structured and how receivers track the ball downfield.

[Air Noland vs. Jadyn Davis: All eyes on future of rivalry]

But Noland has worked his way up recruiting rankings over the last months thanks to an enticing combination of consistency, accuracy and ball placement. He was the No. 216 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite on Oct. 18, 2022, and climbed all the way to No. 59 overall when the rankings were last refreshed on May 22. He picked up scholarship offers from Texas A&M, Alabama, Oregon, Clemson and Ohio State during that stretch.

Davis, his counterpart, has been perched near the top of the 2024 rankings for more than a year, debuting as the No. 2 overall prospect on March 9, 2022. Though his position has dipped slightly since then, Davis remained one of the more sought-after quarterback prospects in the class. His offer sheet includes the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State and Tennessee in addition to the Wolverines.

Critics of Davis have suggested his talent plateaued after he burst onto the scene as an underclassman. 247Sports and Rivals are the only recruiting services that still rate him as a five-star prospect, with ESPN and On3 viewing him as a four-star recruit. There have been additional questions about his size at a shade under 6-foot-1.

But it's hard to argue with Davis' production at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina, last season. He led his team to a state championship by throwing for 3,425 yards with 43 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Still available

This year's crop of quarterbacks includes just two who will arrive at the Elite 11 Finals uncommitted.

The first is four-star prospect Elijah Brown of Mater Dei High School in nearby Santa Ana, California, a powerhouse program that has produced three Heisman Trophy winners at quarterback: Notre Dame's John Huarte in 1964, USC's Matt Leinart in 2004 and Alabama's Bryce Young in 2021. Brown completed 184 of 270 passes (68.1%) for 2,785 yards last season with 31 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

Entering this week, Brown is rated the No. 64 overall recruit and the No. 7 signal-caller in the 2024 cycle. He holds scholarship offers from the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and Penn State, among others, but the direction of his recruitment suggests he plans to remain on the West Coast. Brown completed official visits to UCLA (May 5) and Stanford (June 2) earlier this spring and is believed to favor the Cardinal. He reportedly carries a 4.0 GPA at Mater Dei, where his father is part of the coaching staff.

The other uncommitted prospect at the Elite 11 Finals is three-star quarterback Trever Jackson of West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida. Jackson carried an injury through most of the 2022 season but still threw for 1,599 yards with 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions in nine games. He also chipped in 306 rushing yards and six more scores on the ground while leading his team to a district title.

Pittsburgh and Missouri are rumored to be Jackson's primary suitors entering this week's event. Jackson, who is rated No. 525 overall and the No. 32 quarterback in his class, completed an official visit with the Panthers in early June and is scheduled to visit the Tigers next weekend. A third potential suitor, Texas A&M, continues to lurk in the background of Jackson's recruitment.

Rising fast

An under-the-radar player to watch this week is four-star prospect Luke Kromenhoek of Benedictine Military School in Savannah, Georgia. The Florida State commit has soared from No. 315 overall in the 247Sports Composite rankings to No. 126 — the largest rise of any Elite 11 Finals participant since the calendar turned to 2023.

At 6-foot-4, the slender Kromenhoek has an excellent frame for the position and will benefit from a collegiate strength and conditioning program next year. He threw for 2,576 yards with 27 touchdowns and just three interceptions while guiding Benedictine to a 13-2 record in his first season as the starter last fall. He also added 453 rushing yards and seven additional scores.

Florida State identified Kromenhoek's potential early in the recruiting process and became the first school to offer him a scholarship in the summer of 2021 — long before he was named Benedictine's starting quarterback. Kromenhoek picked up additional offers from Oklahoma, Penn State, Florida and Tennessee, among others, but the only official visit on his calendar belongs to the Seminoles on June 23. He's taken two unofficial visits to Penn State, the most recent of which was in April.

Complete roster:

Dylan Raiola
School: Pinnacle High School (Phoenix)
Rating: 5-star (No. 1 overall, No. 1 QB)
Commitment: Georgia

Julian Sayin
School: Carlsbad High School (Carlsbad, California)
Rating: 4-star (No. 11 overall, No. 2 QB)
Commitment: Alabama 

DJ Lagway
School: Willis High School (Willis, Texas)
Rating: 5-star (No. 20 overall, No. 3 QB)
Commitment: Florida 

Jadyn Davis
School: Providence Day School (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Rating: 5-star (No. 26 overall, No. 4 QB)
Commitment: Michigan

CJ Carr
School: Saline High School (Saline, Michigan)
Rating: 4-star (No. 42 overall, No. 5 QB)
Commitment: Notre Dame

Air Noland
School: Langston Hughes High School (Fairburn, Georgia)
Rating: 4-star (No. 69 overall, No. 6 QB)
Commitment: Ohio State

Elijah Brown
School: Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California)
Rating: 4-star (No. 64 overall, No. 7 QB)
Commitment: None

Luke Kromenhoek
School: Benedictine Military School (Savannah, Georgia)
Rating: 4-star (No. 126 overall, No. 10 QB)
Commitment: Florida State 

Ryan Puglisi 
School: Avon Old Farms (Avon, Connecticut)
Rating: 4-star (No. 137 overall, No. 12 QB)
Commitment: Georgia 

Colin Hurley 
School: Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Florida)
Rating: 4-star (No. 246 overall, No. 14 QB)
Commitment: LSU

Demond Williams
School: Basha High School (Chandler, Arizona)
Rating: 4-star prospect (No. 300 overall, No. 16 QB)
Commitment: Ole Miss

Michael Hawkins Jr.
School: Emerson High School (McKinney, Texas)
Rating: 4-star (No. 338 overall, No. 18 QB)
Commitment: Oklahoma

Isaac Wilson 
School: Corner Canyon High School (Draper, Utah)
Rating: 4-star (No. 355 overall, No. 22 QB)
Commitment: Utah

Dante Reno
School: Cheshire Academy (Cheshire, Connecticut)
Rating: 4-star (No. 357 overall, No. 23 QB)
Commitment: South Carolina

Will Hammond
School: Hutto High School (Hutto, Texas)
Rating: 3-star (No. 454 overall, No. 28 QB)
Commitment: Texas Tech

Hauss Hejny
School: Aledo High School (Aledo, Texas)
Rating: 3-star (No. 475 overall, No. 30 QB)
Commitment: TCU

Trever Jackson
School: West Orange High School (Winter Garden, Florida)
Rating: 3-star (No. 525 overall, No. 32 QB)
Commitment: None

Daniel Kaelin
School: Bellevue West High School (Bellevue, Nebraska)
Rating: 3-star (No. 533 overall, No. 33 QB)
Commitment: Nebraska

Danny O'Neil
School: Cathedral High School (Indianapolis)
Rating: 3-star (No. 630 overall, No. 39 QB)
Commitment: Colorado

Ethan Grunkemeyer
School: Olentangy High School (Lewis Center, Ohio)
Rating: 3-star (No. 756 overall, No. 45 QB)
Commitment: Penn State

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.

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Michael Cohen