Gorney's Takeaways: Steve Clarkson QB Retreat
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - The Steve Clarkson QB Retreat over Memorial Day weekend is an annual tradition and this year was no different as six of the nation’s top quarterbacks worked out along with many others and numerous top college QBs in attendance.
Here is a breakdown in order of their performance:
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1. JULIAN SAYIN
I’ve seen Sayin often over the years and this might have been his best overall performance. The five-star Alabama commit was incredible throughout the entire workout as he was super accurate, showed arm strength that looked completely different than the other elite quarterbacks at the event and even showed off incredible athleticism on some of his throws.
Accuracy has never been an issue with the Carlsbad, Calif., standout who has always been a technician and while he didn’t wow you at every event, he was as solid as they came. On Saturday, Sayin brought that ‘wow factor’ as he was throwing darts all over the field, on the money every single time and even when he was fooling around jumping and throwing bombs about 40 yards downfield it was on-point every throw.
If this was Sayin’s pro day performance, NFL execs would’ve fallen in love. The five-star has always been very impressive but on Saturday the Alabama pledge stepped it up a few notches.
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2. JULIAN LEWIS
As a young kid, Lewis trained with Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields and it shows because the 2026 quarterback is advanced way beyond his years. If it wasn’t for Sayin having an incredible day, the Carrollton, Ga., standout was outstanding as well and what stood out most was his accuracy during every drill.
Throw the ball with pace through tires? No problem. Throw to receivers you never worked with before? No problem. Throw deep to the other side of the end zone? A strike every time. The only throw - and this is very picky - that Lewis didn’t look great on was the deep ball when he was rolling to his left and throwing across his body.
Still, Lewis looked like a surefire five-star and could be the No. 1 player in his class. He was effortless in everything he did and looked great the entire time.
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3. BEAR BACHMEIER
In his sophomore season, Bachmeier threw for 2,853 yards with 26 touchdowns and four interceptions and also ran for 644 yards and 18 touchdowns. Those kinds of numbers will get anyone’s attention especially when the 2025 prospect is the third Bachmeier in line after his brothers Hank and Tigers.
Bachmeier had a very impressive performance on Saturday and showed as much zip on his passes as anyone else at the event. The ball comes out smooth, it spins well and he delivers it to receiver with pace. The 2025 prospect is listed at 205 pounds but he’s much thicker and filled out than during the season and looks like he could stack a lot of weight on the leg press.
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4. GEORGE MACINTYRE
The rankings discussion around the 2025 four-star quarterback from Brentwood (Tenn.) Brentwood Academy is going to be very interesting because there is a lot of elite skill there already and a lot of potential along with the fact that MacIntyre is also a high-end basketball player as well.
There is a lot to consider with MacIntyre since he has really long legs and can cover ground quickly but he is lean and will need to fill out in the coming years. His passes will get more zip on them as he adds pounds but MacIntyre can already sling it all over the field and he has natural athletic ability.
He was especially good throwing from the pocket and then throwing on the run to his right. When he turned and threw against the grain deep going to his left, a few balls sailed or hung in the air a little too long.
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5. JADYN DAVIS
As the day went on and Davis got warmer, the Michigan commit’s performance got better and better and by the end of the day as others were winding down it seemed like the five-star quarterback was heating up.
Early, Davis wasn’t spinning it all that well and some deep balls floated. The Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day does have a little dip action and sidearm motion in his throwing style but it does get to its target on time and with pace on his throws. He was excellent running and throwing to his right and if the camp was another 45 minutes probably would’ve been even higher on the list.
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6. COLIN HURLEY
I’m torn to put any of these high-end quarterbacks last on the list because they all had their moments during the day including Hurley, who had long stretches of really impressive throws all over the field. And to be fair, quarterbacks are supposed to throw the ball to a spot and a receiver is supposed to run under it and he wasn’t throwing to elite receivers so some of his incompletions were really nice, well-placed passes.
At OT7 in Phoenix, some of Hurley’s deep balls sailed on him and that was the case again Saturday for the LSU commit. It’s something to watch as he heads toward his senior season. The four-star was also not going at game speed at all times through drills and that’s understandable in a more relaxed setting like this but it would’ve worked better if Hurley was going full speed.