Tuesdays with Gorney: Quarterback picture taking shape in the 2024 class
The 2023 quarterback class is pretty much wrapped up unless there are one or two surprises in store so in today’s Tuesdays with Gorney, national recruiting director Adam Gorney takes a deep dive into the 2024 quarterbacks and what trends he’s seeing.
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THREE-POINT STANCE: Could Nico Iamaleava be the best QB in the 2023 class?
CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2024 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2025 RANKINGS: Rivals100
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Ryan Puglisi committed to Georgia this weekend and that decision could set off a domino effect across the 2024 quarterback landscape for five-stars and the four-star quarterbacks below him.
If every action has an equal but opposite reaction then that’s also true in quarterback recruiting even if the players are still more than a year from the Early Signing Period for their recruiting class.
The calendar has been pushed up this much – and this is the current state of recruiting. How many coaching changes will happen in that time? Plenty. Not to mention coordinator and position coach movement. Still, top prospects are committing at an earlier clip and no position comes off the board faster than quarterbacks.
Puglisi’s pledge to Georgia would seem to have a major impact on five-star quarterback Julian Sayin from Carlsbad, Calif., but that might not necessarily be the case.
Sayin has had Georgia and LSU highest on his list for some time with a planned visit to Alabama coming up but after Puglisi picked the Bulldogs, Sayin told me, “It doesn’t really change anything for me.”
That makes things even more interesting because the sense was that Sayin was the man for Georgia’s recruiting class but now that the Dawgs took Puglisi, maybe the five-star will be pushed elsewhere. It doesn’t look entirely guaranteed that’s the case.
Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day’s Jadyn Davis, the other uncommitted five-star quarterback in the class, had flirted with Georgia throughout his recruitment but it looks unlikely that marriage will happen.
Davis, one of three five-stars in the class with Sayin and Ohio State pledge Dylan Raiola, was at Tennessee for its thrilling win over Alabama and that could play a major influence in his thinking – especially with Hendon Hooker playing so well – but it still very much feels like Michigan is in the driver’s seat there.
Saline, Mich., four-star CJ Carr remains committed to Notre Dame and a huge opportunity is there because the Irish quarterback situation is lackluster to say the least. Rounding out the top five is Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei’s Elijah Brown, who remains undefeated as a starter and is being pursued by USC, Oregon and others.
Things continue to stay interesting at least through the top 10 at pro-style quarterback.
Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances’ Michael van Buren is planning to drop his top schools soon which could have ripple effects among 2024 quarterbacks, Adrian Posse remains committed to Auburn although he’s bounced around schools and is closely watching the coaching situation on The Plains, Davi Belfort just returned from a great visit to Michigan State, Kamari McClellan is going to see LSU this weekend as Sayin remains a top target there as well and then SMU got a steal in Tyler Aronson.
So many moving pieces here and then in the 11-20 range there are elite quarterbacks as well that are really seeing significant recruiting momentum as well.
As for the dual-threat group, the top gets really interesting with DJ Lagway. So many have the Willis, Texas, standout pegged to Texas A&M but Lagway just visited Florida again and told me that the environment there is just different than any other place he’s visited. Comfort level is so important in a decision and the Gators have a fighting chance there. He visits Clemson this weekend and that adds another layer because he would be a fit there as well.
It looks like South Carolina is the heavy favorite for Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy quarterback Jayden Bradford right now although Penn State and others are in the mix as well. Allen, Texas, quarterback Michael Hawkins is an Oklahoma legacy and he landed the Sooners offer in late July so that’s a strong possibility moving forward.
Rounding out the top five, Walker White from Little Rock (Ark.) Little Rock Christian is very high on Ole Miss and recently visited again but so is Chandler (Ariz.) Basha’s Demond Williams, who was in Oxford over the weekend as coach Lane Kiffin figures out the QB situation for the 2024 class.