RELATED: Late additions that flew under-the-radar in the Early Signing Period
A lot of the top prospects signed during the Early Signing Period. Some committed prospects held off for different reasons, while others will go into January truly uncommitted. We take a look at the top five quarterback prospects that won’t put the pen to the paper until February.
Kansas scored a huge commitment from the four-star quarterback out of New Orleans (La.) Warren Easton Senior during the offseason, but Legendre was only briefly committed to the Jayhawks before reopening his recruitment ahead of his senior season. Top programs pounced. Ranked as the No. 10 dual-threat quarterback in the class, Legendre is the highest-ranked player at his position who has not signed and only one of the top 20 at dual-threat who haven’t closed things down. Florida State seems like the far-and-away leader to land his commitment leading up to National Signing Day in February, but Tennessee and Missouri are not giving up, either.
In June, Plumlee committed to Georgia over Auburn, North Carolina and others, but his recruitment has also taken some interesting twists and turns. First, Plumlee has told reporters that Georgia would like him to blueshirt. That is maybe one reason why the three-star quarterback from Hattiesburg (Miss.) Oak Grove said at the recent Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game that he needs a little bit more time with the Bulldogs and why he didn’t sign during the early period. Ole Miss and Mississippi State have already reached out to the three-star prospect and Florida State is beginning to show interest as well. Georgia took two signal callers last week, so it seems like his recruitment will be starting over in January with the in-state schools holding a slight edge.
Wise has been committed to Rutgers for over a year, so it would have made sense that the three-star quarterback would have jumped at the opportunity to sign during the early period. But the Newark (N.J.) Barringer standout opted to wait until National Signing Day in February, which is not a complete surprise but it means other programs looking for a quarterback could come after Wise over the next couple weeks. Miami had been interested earlier in his recruitment but the feeling is that Wise sticks with the Scarlet Knights unless programs start showing some real serious interest. And that’s important for Rutgers because his brother, Corey Walker, is a top 2021 linebacker who could want to stay home and play with Wise.
Saxton committed to Southern Miss before his senior season and it looked like it could be the spot for the three-star quarterback from Austin (Texas) St. Michael’s Academy, but he recently backed off that pledge. Around that same time, Southern Miss flipped former Louisville commit Jaden Johnson. So now Saxton is back on the market and looking for the right situation and it looks like his recruitment is wide open at this point leading into important January visits.
Baldwin transferred from Upland, Calif., to Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy for his senior season, earned the starting quarterback job and saw his recruitment get measurably busier in the last few months. But the lefty with a huge arm decided against making a commitment during the early signing period and will hold off into the New Year. Missouri and Washington State are two schools that could remain involved in the coming weeks and he has had a lot of interest in Indiana as well. As the quarterback situation nationally gets figured out, other programs could get much more involved soon.
