The Elite 11 for the class of 2021 wrapped up on Wednesday. The MVP appointed by the Elite 11 staff was the same quarterback who is at the top of the 247Sports quarterback ranking, Caleb Williams. While that ranking remains consistent, there were many other important points that we were able to extract from three days of training.
Courtesy of our relationship with UCReport, 247Sports had video access to almost every launch of the event, which was valuable in obtaining one of our most comprehensive evaluation opportunities we’ve had in Elite 11. Although it was a pandemic and mandates from the Tennessee governor’s office limited the 7on7 portion of the event, the side-by-side competition pulled back the curtain on a class that has been forced into the shadows this spring. This is what we learned.
No. 1 is vulnerable
The next time you see 247Sports update your quarterback rankings in the class of 2021, Caleb Williams will keep the first place. But he did not distance himself from the field. If anything, the contenders cut their lead in the Elite 11 even when they took the MVP Elite 11 home.
On the first day of competition, Williams seemed to be on a totally different level than everyone else. But on days two and three, he returned to the pack. Williams may have been putting too much pressure on himself, particularly in the professional environment, where he started to push and lost focus after missing a few pitches earlier. Especially since his junior season production lacks the precision validation we value, we’re eager to see if his senior season can mark him as the undisputed upper arm.
Kyron Drones could be the best quarterback in the state of Texas
It is a year loaded with quarterbacks in the state of Texas and we have had many discussions about Kaidon Salter, Dematrius Davis, Eli Stowers, Jalen Milroe and Behren Morton in an attempt to rank talent to find the best. We may have omitted the most talented in the group. Baylor commit Kyron Drones He has not yet turned 17 and 2019 was his first year as a starter. All he did was lead his team to a 16-0 record in 5A football while representing over 4,000 attacking yards.
Not that her acting in a camp changes her youth movie, but it does add a lot of context. Along with the best quarterbacks in the country, the Drones had a body and body type that stood out, had a lot of arm, great feet, and was on target. He’s so early in his development, the production is already a big ticked box and he just seemed more talented than any other Texas quarterback in that environment. There is no doubt that an increase awaits you. We just have to decide how high.
Kyle McCord has one of the strongest weapons in the country
After the first day of action, we had a few questions about McCord. He’s big and strong with one arm effortlessly, but the path and trajectory of the ball raised some concerns for a guy who’s primarily a passer in his pocket. However, over the next two days, McCord really began to separate in terms of talent on the arm. He’s just a great guy with great features that generates a lot of power without digging too much. He is more Dwayne Haskins than Justin Fields for Ohio State, but given all the talent Ohio State has been recruiting as a wide receiver, he seems like a perfect man to just sit back, stand up and deliver.
We still don’t know what to think about Tyler Buchner
Notre Dame commits Tyler Buchner’s assessment has been a series of hunches. Due to injury, he did not play a college football game prior to his junior season, but he was highly respected and outmatched by Notre Dame at several other highly-qualified prospects. Our hunch was that it was really good, but there wasn’t much to go on. After a junior season in which Buchner dominated the sparse competition, he ranked among the best quarterbacks in the country. Our hunch was that he could be a candidate for the upper arm of the class. After Elite 11 this week, it looks a long way from that. His delivery featured a pronounced firearm that saw him navigate a large number of soccer balls over the weekend and simply could not find consistency over the course of the event. So now we come back to hunches. My hunch is that his current Top100 ranking is probably still correct, but we look forward to seeing him as a senior at Helix High School, where he will play better competition and help us find some conviction in this Buchner assessment.
Florida Commander Carlos Del Rio dropped from four stars to three stars in our most recent 2021 update on the offensive side of the ball. That drop was largely driven by the recognition that his junior movie and productivity were not up to par compared to the other four-star outlook. He also had a couple of spring performances in front of our analysts, where he was disappointed. Long after Elite 11, he matched the ledger because each of the three days of action went well. Internally, while discussing events in real time, Del Rio immediately jumped in on Monday as a guy who was impressing us. He had an excellent professional session on Tuesday and then finished strong on Wednesday. We’d still like to see some of that talent translate to more production on Friday night, but it showed real evolution this week.
There was no greater force of nature at the event than Thompson. He is only a couple of months old at 17 and is a towering, athletic, and towering figure who can propel football through the biting wind and make every pitch. He’s also very athletic and can deliver on that side of the game that wasn’t shown in an environment like this. Oregon’s commitment remains a player on the rise more than anything else, but the tools it put on display in Tennessee will catapult a new company into the 247Sports ranking.
Tyler Macon It is not a product of talent around you. He is the talent
Turn on the East St. Louis movie and you’ll see a roster full of athletes and various four-star caliber talents in the wide receiver. The quarterback is also very good, but when I first saw him on the tape, I couldn’t get a good read on what kind of arm and physical talent Macon was working with. Seeing him alongside the country’s best quarterbacks, Macon validated himself as an elite arm. There were some highly respected guys who can’t launch with the power that Macon can generate. He was accurate, consistent and can drive the ball with ease. Eli Drinkwitz has been a great quarterback developer in his career and has his next talent at Macon.
Vandagriff is an impressive athlete with a lot of arm, a muscular frame and speed to be a threat in the running game. Considering that his season was cut short as a junior due to injury, we were eager to see if he would live up to his high ranking. He delivered. Vandagriff’s most impressive showcase was Wednesday’s precision training that really drained some of the other quarterbacks. His conditioning and precision earned Georgia’s commitment in the event and further validated that he needs to continue on QB’s No. 1 candidate list.
We knew Dematrius Davis It was too small, but it’s difficult to argue against its productivity and success in games when it’s important. In this context, although it was difficult to overlook that he simply did not have the same command and talent as the other quarterbacks who attended. Things seemed a little more difficult for him. While that lack of juice undermines his long-term projection, Davis is still the type of competitor who is equipped to have another great season in the fall and a truly successful college career, especially on that Auburn offense. However, there is quite a different ceiling that may be a little lower than we initially anticipated.
