Mustain is the real deal at EA SPORTS Elite 11

Though he was reticent to admit it, Springdale, Ark., quarterback Mitch Mustain looked a little tired from the cross-country journey to the Southern California EA Sports Elite 11 camp -- and that's not to mention the 7-on-7 tournament which his team competed in last week in the Alabama heat. Still, the talented signal caller overcame any lingering fatigue and impressed onlookers and coaches alike, proving that he deserves his lofty ranking as one of the nation's best.

We first saw Mustain at the Nike Camp in Mississippi back in mid-May, where he wowed us with his performance. In fact, along with Cody Hawkins, who we saw the following week at the Stanford NIKE camp, Mustain had the best showing of any quarterback we saw the entire NIKE tour.

We saw Mustain once again July 15 when we flew his Springdale team out to Southern California for an eight team passing tournament at USC. Again, Mustain showed his rocket arm strength and pin point accuracy. At this past week's Elite 11 camp, Mustain looked like he lacked a little bit of the zip he showed earlier, but we still feel he's among the nation's top three signal callers with a great future ahead.

In analyzing Mustain, physically he has a lot of pluses. He's above average in arm strength, accuracy and making his reads. At the camp, it was suggested that he work on getting more depth on his drops and staying taller when he's throwing. Mustain has a tendency to crouch down a little when he's throwing, which could result in some batted balls in college -- not to mention not being able to see down the field as well.

In the chalk talks, we liked Mustain a lot and feel he's one of the few quarterbacks in the group who could play early in his college career. He is smart and has a high level understanding of the game. Although fellow camper Tim Tebow won the counselor award as the player who would fit best in any college system, we actually feel Mustain might be that guy, and his junior numbers attest to that.

On the recruiting front, the signal caller said he's looking at six schools but three stand out right now.

"Miami, Notre Dame and Arkansas are the main ones," Mustain said. "I don't have a timeline right now for when I'll make my decision but I do plan on getting it done before school starts. All three are good schools and I think I would fit in well at each of them."