Five-star commander Kyle McCord was named one of the top 12 players in the Elite 11 finals on Wednesday, while five-star prospect Caleb Williams was named MVP.
2020 Elite 11
Determined by the # Elite11 coaching staff: 50% movie and junior season performance, 50% evaluation and camp features.
Alphabetically listed. pic.twitter.com/DRVS5UWLBs
– Elite11 (@ Elite11) July 2, 2020
McCord reportedly had an inconsistent first day Monday of the three-day competition in Nashville, impressing with arm strength but struggling to stay accurate. Then, on Tuesday night, McCord bounced back, organizing a clinic with precise and precise pitches on the way to win the event’s Pro Day Competition with a score of 45 points. Williams finished tenth with a score of 34 points.
McCord had entered No. 8 on the Elite 11 ranking Tuesday, but before the last day of competition, he was propelled to No. 3 in the ranking behind Williams and Ty Thompson.
In the final event, the Target Challenge, McCord and all the other quarterbacks were tasked with throwing eight targets with the goal of hitting the target in 30 seconds or less. If a quarterback did not hit the target after 30 seconds, he moved to the next target with a time penalty.
McCord finished with a time of 2 minutes, 53 seconds, which was ahead of Williams (3:38) and Thompson (3:13), but Brock Vandagriff won the event with a time of 1 minute, 43 seconds. McCord finished seventh, while Williams did not rank in the top 10.
Despite the fact that Williams, who was the best player of the event on Monday, who won the “Alpha Dog” honors for 247Sports, did not do well in the last two days, he still earned the MVP honors, as the president of Elite 11 Brian Stumpf explained that 50 percent of the MVP winner’s determination is movie / junior performance and 50 percent is determined by the evaluation / traits of the camp.
Although McCord performed well in the past two days, it was not enough for him to join Justin Fields (2017) and CJ Stroud (2019) as quarterbacks for Ohio State who were named Elite 11 MVPs in recent years.
McCord, a senior at St. Joseph’s Prep High School in Philadelphia, is ranked No. 24 overall and is the No. 3 professional-style quarterback in the country, behind Elite 11 opponent Williams and Washington. They commit Sam Huard, in the 247Sports composite rankings.
This spring McCord was beaten to five-star status. If he’s still a five-star prospect by the time he signs in December, McCord will be the first five-star quarterback Ohio State has signed since Braxton Miller (No. 29 overall) in 2011.
Despite failing to capture MVP honors, after his overall performance this week, McCord has come a long way to increase his likelihood of being Buckeye’s best quarterback since Terrelle Pryor (No. 2 overall) in 2008.
