REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — The best collection of high school quarterback talent you’ll find in one place gathered around the 30-yard line on the football field at Redondo Union High School on Tuesday evening. It was the first night of the Elite 11 Finals, and one by one, top-level quarterback prospects stepped forward and took their turn throwing some intermediate passing routes with the rest of the participants watching.
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Air-mailed. Duck. Turf shot.
All of these prospects are elite. Many of them are five-stars viewed as either the saviors of their future college programs or the next in line to add another national title to a stacked trophy case. Because so much attention is put on them during the recruiting process, we lose sight of the fact that they are kids.
“A lot of people in our positions want to be robotic during this process,” said USC commit Malachi Nelson of Los Alamitos (Calif.) High. “But we are human. We make mistakes.”
That’s why it’s a shame Arch Manning isn’t here.
Manning is the most hyped prospect of all time. A lot of that, of course, is because he shares a last name with his uncles, Peyton and Eli Manning. The five-star prospect of New Orleans (La.) Isidore Newman has been on the radar since he was a middle schooler, and since he rarely speaks to the media and said relatively nothing during his recruitment before committing to Texas last week, we have built him up into this perfect prospect who will undoubtedly be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft at some point.
We don’t have context.
We don’t have comparisons.
We don’t have much at all except visions of what we think he’s supposed to be.
So we have visions of grandeur. That’s what makes recruiting so addicting. Everyone is always more interested in what comes next. It’s enthralling.
The Elite 11 is supposed to give us context. With all of these stud recruits in one place, going through the same drills and competing against one another, we’re supposed to see them on full display. We’re supposed to see them side-by-side, making mistakes and shrugging them off when they happen.
“A word we’ve talked about in the past 48 hours and really hit home is ‘vulnerability,’” said Joey Roberts, the director of scouting for the Elite 11. “They understand that they are the biggest, baddest in their community, they have all the of offers, everyone looks to them, then they come here and realize they don’t have all the answers. In an environment like this, a shark tank basically, they realize that the guy next to them going to the biggest school doesn’t have the answers, either.”
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It was at the Elite 11 last year when Quinn Ewers became human. Ewers — who, ironically, is set to become Manning’s future teammate at Texas — was the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 class a year ago at this time and had a perfect 1.0000 rating in the 247Sports Composite. He was, without question, the recruit everyone viewed as the next big thing. When he missed a throw during a pressure-filled competition, the crowd gasped in amazement that someone with a 1.0000 player rating could make a mistake.
Ewers ultimately didn’t even win the competition last year after coming into the event viewed as the perfect prospect. That award went to Cade Klubnik, who shot up the rankings after the Elite 11 — he ended up as the No. 1 QB in the class after Ewers reclassified — before signing with Clemson. It gave us the context we didn’t have before.
This isn’t to say that Ewers isn’t going to be a great college quarterback. It’s reasonable to expect him to start for Texas this year. Maybe he’ll lead the Longhorns to a 10-win season. But not being perfect at the Elite 11 — with cameras rolling and everyone watching — was a necessary reminder that Ewers is just a kid who is still developing, still a work in progress. And as Ewers tries to win the job at Texas, it is probably a good thing he’s not viewed as perfect right now.
“They are babies. They are all babies learning how to play the game at a high level,” said Quincy Avery, a coach at the Elite 11 who trained quarterbacks such as Deshaun Watson, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, Joshua Dobbs and others. “It’s a great opportunity out here for us to learn about them and for folks to come out and check them out and share information so people can have more realistic expectations for these kids.”
Manning isn’t here because he hasn’t been much of a camper and you have to attend an Elite 11 Regional to earn an invite to this event. There are no exceptions. It’s an Elite 11 rule. That’s not a good or bad thing for Manning. This is the route he chose for his recruitment. His priorities are in New Orleans with his teammates as he tries to get Newman ready to win a state championship. His absence from this event isn’t a condemnation of him as a player or a prospect. He’s always done things his way.
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This is a missed opportunity for us to contextualize him. It feels like something is missing because he belongs on this field with the other elite-level quarterback prospects. Because he’s not, we missed the opportunity to see him make mistakes. And his legend will continue to grow as his time in college approaches.
People love that Manning didn’t do many interviews. They love that he didn’t tweet or seek attention from separate fan bases. They love that he didn’t hype himself up.
But, really, the lack of eyeballs on him — both in person or in the public eye — makes him even more interesting. If he did more interviews, showed up to more camps or participated in events like this, frankly, we’d just know more about them. He wouldn’t be as mysterious.
“I just wish I was able to bond with the dude and get to know him,” said Jaden Rashada of Pittsburg (Calif.) High, a top-50 player nationally who recently committed to Miami. “The Elite 11 is about giving you as much information as possible. … You’re supposed to be perfect, but nobody is. I’ll tell you that myself. Everyone has good days and everyone has bad days. Somebody can come out here and have the worst two days possible, and literally, you guys may not know it, but he might may be the best quarterback in the country.”
The best quarterbacks in the country were on the field at the Elite 11. Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, USC’s Caleb Williams, Alabama’s Bryce Young and NC State’s Devin Leary also participated in the same drills with the high schoolers. When those guys — who were once in the prospects’ shoes participating in this very event — took their turns, there was a noticeable difference. The passes had more zip. They were more accurate. There were “wow” moments.
That’s the lesson here: these prospects aren’t final versions of themselves. They are works in progress.
Manning may not be here, but remember that about him, too.
(Photos by Ari Wasserman: The Athletic)
