Florida blue-chipper high on FSU

Junior to Watch: Drew Weatherford

School: Land O’Lakes, Fla.

Position: Pro-style quarterback

Size and speed: Weatherford is 6-foot-3, 205-pounds and has been timed at 4.7-seconds in the 40-yard dash by his high school coach. Weatherford also has a 30-inch vertical leap, 285-pound bench-press and a 350-pound squat.

Honors: Weatherford earned Tampa Tribune Pasco County Player of the Year honors – along with being named to the all-state team as a sophomore and a junior.

Statistics: Weatherford earned all-state honors as a junior and threw for 2,494 yards and 37 touchdowns on 151 of 215 passing against only two interceptions.

Favorite Schools: Weatherford lists Florida State as his top team over Auburn, Penn State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma and Tennessee. He has scholarship offers from Auburn, South Florida, Louisville and Minnesota.

Skinny: When you watch Land O’Lakes, Fla., quarterback Drew Weatherford on film, he has about everything you look for in a quarterback – great release point, strong arm, good leadership skills and the big-play ability that you’re looking for. About the only thing he doesn’t have is much time to throw the ball.

That’s because his offensive line didn’t provide Weatherford with a ton of protection last season, turning the pocket-passer often into a scrambler. But in the end, it might have been a good thing for him to experience that because it’s just refined Weatherford’s game even more and turned him into one of the nation’s best.

And that’s why teams from all over the nation are after him.

Weatherford already has scholarship offers from Auburn, South Florida, Louisville and Minnesota, but those aren’t sure to be his last. You can expect a who’s who of college football to have offered him by the time the smoke clears.

But there is one team that Weatherford really wants an offer from.

That team is Florida State.

“I’ve always loved Florida State,” he said. “If they offer me, it would be hard to turn down.”

Weatherford does admit, though, that he does plan to indulge himself and experience the recruiting process some. He’s already looked at a few key areas that will be important to him when the time to make the decision does come.

“I think the No. 1 thing will be academics,” he said. “I need to go to school that offers me a chance to succeed in both life and football.

“After that I’m going to look at things like the overall football program and the area that the school is in.”