Rivals Rankings Week: Which QB should be next to receive a fifth star?

The Rivals team of national analysts don’t always see eye-to-eye. In this edition of Rival Views, national recruiting director Adam Gorney and national recruiting analyst Clint Cosgrove debate which quarterback should be the next five-star in the updated 2023 rankings:

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CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State | JUCO

CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

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This is an easy one for me because I believe Dante Moore out of Detroit (Mich.) Martin Luther King is a five-star recruit all day, and his natural ability to win is only one of the many reasons for it.

I've shared my evaluation before, but I will share it again because this is what makes him special. Moore has a great frame, elite field vision, superior mechanics, is extremely accurate and has every intangible to match. His ability to go through all of his reads and distribute the ball with extreme efficiency is like that of few quarterbacks in his class. Moore is an elite decision-maker who rarely turns the ball over or puts his team in a bad position. He is surgical with the way that he dissects a defense, finds the open receiver, and will finish with perfect ball placement more often than not.

I understand that some may question whether he has elite arm strength, and I do take that into consideration when making my final decision on whether he should be a five-star or not. Does he have elite arm strength? I am not 100 percent sure that he does, but at the same time I am fairly certain that it is good enough to make every throw at the next level and beyond. At the end of the day there are plenty of quarterbacks capable of throwing rockets, but there are few who are as complete at the position as Moore.

I really like Dante Moore and think he could be a five-star as well but I’m taking Nico Iamaleava for this question because he not only has elite arm strength and decision-making but he is a phenomenal athlete who can dodge pressure, sling it as well as anybody in the class and he’s only starting to tap into his potential.

Iamaleava had a phenomenal junior season and gets better and better every time I see him like last weekend during a 7-on-7 tournament when the wind was gusting hard and Iamaleava did not struggle zipping it to his receivers all over the field. He’s a super fluid athlete, he can throw from all arm angles, can throw on the run and plays with a confidence that carries over to his teammates.

This is a terrific quarterback class at the top end and Iamaleava belongs among the five-stars in this class.