Breaking down Tanner McKee's commitment to Stanford

Four-star quarterback Tanner McKee was never in a rush to make his commitment since he’s planning a two-year Mormon mission after high school, so he’s essentially a 2020 prospect. Still, it’s a huge deal that the Corona (Calif.) Centennial standout picked Stanford on National Signing Day. Below, Rivals.com takes a look at how McKee’s decision will help the Cardinal and hurt the other programs that missed out on him.

CLASS OF '18 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | State | Position | JUCO

Quarterbacks usually rush to make commitments. Not McKee. The four-star standout waited until National Signing Day to make his pledge, and there were a few reasons for this. He wanted to see where other players at his position landed, plus he wanted to be methodical and take visits all over the country, mainly because he’s going on a two-year Mission after high school so all programs remained under consideration in the closing months.

Once McKee received word that he was admitted to Stanford - always an arduous and tedious process - the four-star took his official visit there and he continued to fall in love with everything offered on and off the field. USC had also always intrigued McKee, who had Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, BYU and others on his list

Coach David Shaw and his staff know quarterbacks, and McKee is a special prospect because of his size, intelligence and throwing ability. There’s no telling after two years away from the game how long it will take McKee to get back to playing shape, but it probably won’t be long.

The Corona (Calif.) Centennial recruit is also stepping into a perfect situation because K.J. Costello will be gone and Davis Mills is expected to be the starter but winding down in his career. There are still a lot of things to juggle - and there’s no telling how things play out over two seasons - but McKee could be stepping into a great spot with a chance to compete for a starting job.

Because this is such a unique situation, it’s not necessarily debilitating to other programs because they’ve loaded up at quarterback as well. USC landed five-star JT Daniels, who reclassified from the 2019 class. Some of the other teams McKee was considering also will get quarterbacks, if not this recruiting cycle then next year.With McKee leaving for two seasons, coaches had to factor that into their considerations as well and definitely have a long list of names to take. Once Stanford admitted him and McKee took his visit, it was clear the Cardinal had emerged as the favorite. Coaches saw that and some moved on. It doesn’t crush any recruiting class but McKee is talented enough that it hurts all the schools that missed out.