Tuesdays With Gorney: Steve Clarkson QB Retreat
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – The annual Steve Clarkson QB Retreat was held over the weekend just steps from the Pacific Ocean and some of the best quarterbacks in California worked out there.
In today’s Tuesdays With Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney offers some thoughts from the big quarterback event.
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The four-star Stanford quarterback commit has been a regular at Clarkson events for years and he continues to show off excellent throwing ability. He can drive the ball down the field in a stiff wind and he can time up with receivers well. His motion is perfectly fine and while he’s not the tallest quarterback at around 6-foot-1, Bachmeier has a very sturdy and thick build to take hits.
Last season, the Murrieta (Calif.) Murrieta Valley standout completed more than 65 percent of his passes for 2,613 yards with 21 touchdowns and eight picks, and also rushed 75 times for 631 yards and seven scores.
He didn’t have his brother, Tiger, on the team and not as many weapons but in coach Troy Taylor’s offense, Bachmeier will have the opportunity to throw it all over the field and be even more productive.
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The San Marcos (Calif.) Mission Hills four-star is a big pocket passer who is intelligent and takes to coaching well so personality issues are not going to be a problem with him. In his sophomore season, Huhn completed just under 60 percent of his passes for 1,623 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. We will want to see those numbers improve as a junior but he’s been good on the camp circuit this offseason.
It was not his best performance on Saturday but there could be some reasons for that. The quarterbacks had slipping issues on the field turf and so Huhn was having a hard time planting his foot on his backdrop. He did have some balls sail on him and some weren’t spinning well but that’s also because they could have been using different footballs.
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Only a few weeks from his Nebraska commitment, Lateef is excited about his future in Lincoln and what can be done there – and the four-star quarterback has already taken to recruiting. The Orange (Calif.) Lutheran standout is working hard on four-star receiver Cortez Mills, three-star DB Antonio Branch Jr. and some others. He’s looking forward to competition in the quarterback room even with Dylan Raiola there.
That mentality has made Lateef special through his high school career as he hasn’t played at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei or Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco but stayed at Orange Lutheran to battle it out and even take some hits that wouldn’t have happened with a better offensive line.
Sometimes, Lateef loads up to throw the deep ball and in the BIg Ten he will have to get it out quicker. But the four-star can make all the throws, can escape pressure and throw on the run, and make plays with his feet as well.
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The ball pops off Longstreet’s hand and he might throw it harder than anybody in the class. The four-star Texas A&M commit from Corona (Calif.) Centennial trusts his throwing ability and he can zip it into the tightest windows while maintaining accuracy. Longstreet had no issues with throwing into the wind on Saturday and he always throws a tight spiral.
The question with Longstreet is whether he can also place balls over linebackers and in front of safeties and take something off the ball at times. That was the same concern with former five-star DJ Uiagalelei and that never really got figured out.
But Longstreet is super comfortable with new Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein so things should work out well. Oregon is still trying very hard to flip the four-star QB.
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Maybe no quarterback had a better day at the Clarkson event than O’Neal, who already has the physical makeup of a college quarterback and then put nearly every single throw right on the money.
The new Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne 2026 four-star quarterback has tightened up his delivery, is working on advanced aspects of the position such as timing and throwing receivers open and it has really showed with some tremendous performances in recent months.
He can zip the ball, he has accuracy, he has touch and O’Neal is working his way up the rankings in the 2026 class. A whole bunch of visits will happen soon as Ohio State has replaced Michigan State in June.
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He’s a coach’s son and his father, Joe, played in the Pac-12 and had brief professional stints before becoming Smigiel’s coach at Newbury Park, Calif. It’s no surprise the 2026 five-star quarterback is mature, cerebral, has a great feel for the recruiting process and has all the physical and mental tools to go on the field and deliver.
There are times when Smigiel needs to be a little more sudden in all his actions whether it’s a quicker drop or getting the ball out faster but he has money throws. It looks effortless and he has a lot of volume on the high school level so he’s had to make big decisions already.
It feels like Florida State has really captured his attention a lot this offseason but many others remain involved.