MIAMI -- Steve Clarkson has been tutoring some the best high school, college and professional quarterbacks for decades, including Matt Leinart, Ben Roethlisberger, Josh Rosen, Tate Martell and many more. Clarkson is part of the coaching staff for this year’s Rivals 3 Stripe Camp Series presented by adidas.
Each week, we will have Clarkson break down the best quarterbacks from the previous week’s camp and give his thoughts on their strengths and weaknesses. Today we take a look at the five quarterbacks that impressed him Sunday at the Miami stop of the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp Series.
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Recruiting wrap: McLaughlin, who won the Quarterback MVP, already has nearly 20 offers, with Florida, Florida State, Michigan and more on his list.
Clarkson: “He’s just big-time. The ball just flies off his hands. He’s got probably one of the fastest releases I’ve ever seen. Very little hitch in his motion. His anticipation is so much better and the growth between his freshman year to where he is now; if you saw him last year at the camp in L.A. to this year, it’s not even close. No doubt the offers that he continues to get, they’re justified.”
Recruiting wrap: Scalzo has an offer from Illinois.
Clarkson: “He’s very athletic. He has a lot of (Johnny) Manziel qualities to him. He spins the hell out of the ball. He wants to be a force. He doesn’t take a backseat to anybody. If you try to jump in front of the line, he’ll punk you for his. He’s got that “it” factor to him. He knows what he wants and he goes after it. I love his style.”
Recruiting wrap: Rhodes is waiting on his first offer, with Miami showing early interest.
Clarkson: “He’s got a really good natural whip. He has a little bit of a hitch on the backside, but the ball really comes off. He’s got really good anticipation. He’s a little green in the footwork, which most of these kids are at this time of year, but he has a lot of promise for sure.”
Recruiting wrap: Casteel has offers from Boston College, Cincinnati and Syracuse.
Clarkson: “He’s got a nice touch to the ball. He’s also got a very nice knowledge of the game. He understands concepts really well, especially when we went into the 7-on-7 period in terms of knowing which coverages he was going to see and what adjustments he needed to make. He knew all of our automatics and he learned that very quickly.”
Recruiting wrap: Smith awaits his first offer.
Clarkson: “He’s got a pretty good skillset, a little rough around the edges personality-wise, but he’s a guy I’m going to talk to about it and how he can make himself better.”
