Commit Fit: Quarterbacks
Sometimes it’s not always the highest-rated prospects that fit the best with the school of their choice. In this series we call Commit Fit, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell picks five players at each position he thinks fit seamlessly into the schemes at the schools they’ve chosen. Today we look at the quarterbacks.
Mond is a perfect fit for what the Aggies like to do on offense. He’s not as athletic or fast as Johnny Manziel or even Trevor Knight, but he showed in the Under Armour Game that he is an effective runner and can throw on the run. He’s also strong in the pocket and never gets rattled. He will handle the SEC well.
Stanford does a good job balancing run and pass and using a power rushing attack to set up the passing game. That requires a prospect who had good ball handling skills, can sell play action and work under center as well as in the shotgun. Mills, like most high school quarterbacks, does most of his work out of the shotgun, but he has shown the ability to work under center and he does a good job with ball fakes even out of the shotgun. He’s also smart and makes good decisions.
Urban Meyer has been successful with many different kinds of quarterbacks, but when you look at what J.T. Barrett does well, Martell fits in perfectly. He can extend the play, he can run when needed and he does a good job creating passing lanes. The biggest question is whether Martell will be patient enough to wait his turn if he needs to, but if he settles into the Buckeyes offense then watch out.
Georgia loves to line up and run the ball and feed the passing game off the run. That requires a quarterback who can work under center, is smart, handles the ball well and is patient and willing to take a hit to complete passes. Fromm has all of those intangibles and it will be fun to see how he and former five-star Jacob Eason compete. The Georgia offense also requires accuracy and timing as well as chemistry between quarterback and receiver and Fromm throws an accurate ball and has an infectious leadership about him.
Dan Mullen has had success with big, physical quarterbacks who can run and pass (Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott) and Thompson is huge and can move. He’s raw as a passer and needs to quicken his delivery, but you can’t teach his combination or size, mobility and arm strength and he’s going into a situation where he can learn quickly.
