Who do you think is the best high school quarterback in the section this year? Posted five names, but add anyone I missed too.
Best quarterback in the CCS?
- Thread starter Streak One
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Was not impressed with Maealiuaki the times I saw him play. He looked very mediocre.
I saw Armond in the state game last year and was impressed. I saw him at a few 7v7s this spring and was impressed some more. A very quiet kid but talented for sure. I’ve seen him twice this year and he continues to impress. He will fly under the radar due to a smaller stature and the fact that he plays in Wilcox’s veer but someone will get a good one. He can operate from under center and that is a rarity in today’s game.
I saw Armond in the state game last year and was impressed. I saw him at a few 7v7s this spring and was impressed some more. A very quiet kid but talented for sure. I’ve seen him twice this year and he continues to impress. He will fly under the radar due to a smaller stature and the fact that he plays in Wilcox’s veer but someone will get a good one. He can operate from under center and that is a rarity in today’s game.
Shaffer seems to be picking up steam in the poll and that is my pick. Has put up huge numbers, is a dual threat and tough.
2022: 106 completions out of 158 attempts (67.1% completion rate), 1777 yards, 20 TDs, 3 INTs. Also 566 yards rushing on 101 attempts (5.60 yards/carry) and 13 TDs.
2021: 144-229 (62.9%), 1850 yards, 18 TDs, 4 INTs. 719 yards rushing on 147 attempts (4.89 yards/carry) and 6 TDs.
2020 (abbreviated COVID Spring season): 44-78 (56.4%), 461 yards, 5 TDs, 3 INTs. 291 yards rushing on 46 attempts (6.33 yards/carry), 4 TDs.
Totals: 294-465 (63.2%), 4088 yards, 43 TDs, 10 INTs. 1576 yards rushing on 294 attempts (5.36 yards/carry), 23 TDs.
Yet, I haven't heard any word about any college team having interest in him.
How do you think Shaffer compares to Richardson from Salinas (at Northwestern) or Fales - Palma (Nevada, Monterey Peninsula, San Jose St. NFL) who are two of the better recent quarterbacks from the Salinas area?
Not a great year for QB's in the CCS in general this year in my opinion. While Shaffer has good stats they aren't nearly as prolific as many others recently who also did not get scholarship offers out of high school. Some of the better NFL QB's today like Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers did not get any scholarship offers out of HS. Kids today get recruited more out of summer camps than HS stats and tape - the season tends to confirm what college talent evaluators see during the summer. An inexact science to be sure.
Some of the better recent CCS did not get any D1 scholarship offers out of high school. QB's like Anthony Gordon out of Terra Nova who set a number of records at Washington State after going to CCSF . Gordon's high school stats in two seasons were 566-810 (69.9%) 8,305 yards - a CCS Section career record, 81 TD's 19 INT's. Last year Sergio Beltran from Menlo set the section record for TD passes in a season with 52 TDS on stats of 242-323 (74.9%) 3,575 yards, 52 TD's, 7 int's. and 124 carries 1,251 yards (10.1 yds per carry) with 14 TD's with no scholarship offers.
There have been very few CCS QB's in recent years that have received DI scholarship offers. In any given year only 100-120 HS QB's get D1 college scholarship offers. There are usually another 30-40 made for JC QB's. The only Norcal HS QB offers I am aware of this year from the class of 2023 are Rashada (Pittsburg HS/Miami), Duncan (Miramonte/UCLA) and Mandal (Buchanan/Fresno St.). There have also been reports of offers for Bell (not sure if for QB or as an athlete) from Liberty-Brentwood (Army) and Nelson from Lincoln, Stockton (Colorado State).
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Serra's Smith, a junior, reportedly has multiple D1 offers. But it's unclear how firm they are. He led a marvelous and memorable fourth quarter comeback for the Padres at DLS in September on ESPN. Since then, he's been up and down, mostly the former until last weekend's performance at Riordan in SF. Still, his team is 7-0 and ranked No.1 in NorCal.
What do you mean?
I am not familiar with how these kids are recruited so I was curious what you meant by "it's unclear how firm they are".
I thought a kid either has offers or they don't. Didn't realize there was another layer.
Smith struggled against Riordan with 3 picks in the first quarter as the game plan was to go to the air. That changed with Serra going to its “Raider” double wing against the depleted Crusader defense. Only then did it open up for him. Smith is only a junior, so he’s got time to further develop…
https://sfstandard.com/sports/riord...times-before-succumbing-to-top-ranked-padres/
https://sfstandard.com/sports/riord...times-before-succumbing-to-top-ranked-padres/
Not all offers are “commitable.” Schools might offer a bunch of guys at a position, but are hoping for their highest-ranked guy. They aren’t going to accept a commitment from the No. 7 qb on their board if they feel like they can get their No. 1 guy, and don’t want the No. 7 guy to take up a spot. If a kid tries to commit, schools can say no we need to wait. I’ve heard the exception to this is Stanford, as they have a long process for admission/offer.
It also seems like scholarships are harder and harder for high school kids to get, with college kids getting an extra year due to Covid and immediate transfer eligibility.
A scholarship offer is only binding when a school sends a prospect a national letter of intent to sign and the student then signs it and sends it back. This can only be done during one of the open signing periods in the recruiting process and can only be done senior year. Typically schools only will forward the written letter of intent shortly before the open signing period. Until then offers from schools are verbal and are not binding commitments. Likewise, student commitments are also not binding until they send back a signed letter of intent.
There is often a delicate dance that goes on especially for QB's where schools only like to sign one, or at most two per class. They may have five kids they would be happy to have that year. They don't want to end up with zero but they also can't end up with three to five QB signees in one class. They will try to get their top one or two prospects to "commit" and then depending on how firm they feel that commitment is they may go back to players further down the list and say they feel they have a commit, but if the commit backs off they would still want to make the offer. They may also be willing to accept and honor an early "non-binding" commitment" from the 4th or 5th player on the list and then go back to the higher rated players and signal that they would be willing to take two QB's in the class if their higher rated prospect still wants to come to their school.
If it is a scenario where the top choices reject the school they go ahead with the offer of a kid further down their list who is none the wiser that he was not the first choice all along. Schools are limited in the number of scholarship players they can sign in a particular year as well as how many players in total they can have under scholarship and in some cases the number of verbal offers exceeds these numbers and not all verbally offered kids are provided a written LOI. .
The other issues that arises is that some kids and their families mistake sincere interest from a school that is still in the evaluation process and deciding if they will be make a formal offer.
Richardson was more of a gunslinger. He would take more chances and, as a result, had bigger numbers. Unfortunately, that included more interceptions (14 in 2018 alone). Also, while he could run some, that's not what he typically wanted to do. He only had 625 yards and 7 TDs rushing in 2018 and 2019 combined.
You're right in that most scholarships tend to be given based on camps, rather than games. I think there is a real disconnect with that practice. I've seen players touted as 5* with huge arms, but who would throw multiple intercepts in just about every big game in which they played. Matt Barkley was an example of this. Everyone considered him the next big thing, but he threw tons of picks at Mater Dei. Not naming names, but this is happening this year, too.
Yes, if there is only one WR to target, they can probably get the ball to them pretty reliably. But, if someone is struggling to read defenses or make sound decisions in their risk taking, I don't understand how they can be so highly-coveted.
In Shaffer's case, we have to acknowledge that he is the beneficiary of two really talents WRs. But still, he takes care of the football. Plus, he can be a bulldozer at times running the ball. He might not be a true FBS QB, but I could see him in D2 or even FCS. Not as big of an arm as Carl, but seems smoother in his delivery. Also, not as tall, where we know college teams like height.
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Agree with you CAL. Richardson was bigger with a bigger arm. I think Schafer has done a "better" job in running the offense and as a result has better numbers. But Recruiting is a meat market, and Richardson definitely passed the eye test for DI QB recruit.
Richardson did not have a lot offers if I remember, but when Northwestern called he answered, and was on the campus with in a month or so, having the units to graduate early. I also think his older brother Jack (Palma Graduate) received a Preferred Walk On at Stanford and eventually earned a scholarship
I do hope somebody gives Schafer a chance. Lord knows the 1-5 Cal Poly Mustangs could use a smart, athletic QB.
Richardson did not have a lot offers if I remember, but when Northwestern called he answered, and was on the campus with in a month or so, having the units to graduate early. I also think his older brother Jack (Palma Graduate) received a Preferred Walk On at Stanford and eventually earned a scholarship
I do hope somebody gives Schafer a chance. Lord knows the 1-5 Cal Poly Mustangs could use a smart, athletic QB.
