Quarterbacks Heat Up Cold Dallas Morning

CEDAR HILL, Texas - Though the nation's No. 1 quarterback, Shea Patterson was on hand it was a of lesser known quarterbacks who made waves during Sunday's Rivals Quarterback Challenge at Cedar Hill high school.

The most physically impressive quarterback on hand was, almost without question, 2017 Rivals100 to Watch member Lowell Narcisse. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound standout showed ample ability with not only the athleticism one might expect from a dual-threat quarterback but showed that he is far more than just a running back taking snaps.

A southpaw, Narcisse has a live arm and made long ball throws with minimal effort. The Saint James, La. native's footwork is a work in progress but with his level of athleticism it's something that should come along fine as time goes on. All in all he has the look of a special quarterback amongst the rising juniors.

That being said he was far from the only young quarterback to make an impression with fellow class of 2017 members Charlie Brewer of Austin (Texas) Lake Travis, Bixby, Okla. standout Tanner Griffin, and Jack Walker of Madison (Miss.) Central. Along with the trio of rising juniors talented sophomore to be Jalen Mayden of Sachse, Texas also continued his upward momentum in the recruiting world.

Brewer and Griffin are similar players with considerable accuracy, nice athleticism, and will be more about when schools take a shine to their skillset. In neither case should size be a debilitating slow down to their recruitment but both are in the 6-foot-1, 190-pound range.

Meanwhile Walker, who already holds an offer, is a quarterback with good size and spins a really nice ball. He has plenty of room to grow but during accuracy drills from beginning to end he flashed real potential.

Finally is Mayden, the younger brother of 2016 Oklahoma cornerback offer Jared Mayden, who in spite of having ample time to prepare was ahead of several players in the classes ahead of him.

Mayden is a long-armed quarterback who as time goes on will continue to clean up his mechanics to shorten his motion and just simply become cleaner in everything he does. As time goes on he'll continue to build on the momentum that has already led to a Houston offer before ever having taken the field for Sachse's varsity squad.

2016 in Oklahoma Lives up to Billing

A trio of Oklahoma rising senior quarterbacks, including two Eastern Oklahoma stars that had not really been seen prior to Sunday, helped build on their already lofty reputations following junior seasons in which they each had individual and team success.

The name, of the trio, most familiar to Sooner fans is Mustang's Chandler Garrett who might have had his best showing in a camp, or practice, setting to date. The strong-armed quarterback spun the ball well and was accurate time and time again. Not surprisingly he looked most comfortable with rollouts where his athleticism could take over.

Garrett has been adamant that his motion is still a work in progress as he continues to work with former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Joe Dickinson and though that work is still needed, the end result was more successful than any time in recent memory for Garrett.

The two strong impressions from unknowns from far east of I-35 were Roland's Manuel Bunch and Mason Fine of Locust Grove. Though how the two got to their success was vastly different.

Fine, the Gatorade state player of the year who obliterated Oklahoma's high school record book in 2014, threw one of the prettiest balls in th entire camp with one nice toss after another. Fine, is under 6-feet tall and as such is going to have to find a school willing to take a chance on him but as a pure passer he was everything he has been heralded as, and more. He is a refined quarterback who head coach Matt Hennessy, who was on hand, couldn't stop talking about.

"Everyone talks about the 71 touchdowns and that's great. But the six interceptions is what makes me happy," Hennessy said of his star signal caller.

While Fine gets by on being nearly flawless fundamentally, for Bunch it's more about unbridled talent that is still in need of plenty of fine-tuning. Bunch mixes an impressive frame with some natural arm talent though before he is ready to progress his footwork and overall mechanics will have to grow to equal his natural gifts.

NOTES:

*Interestingly enough it was Garrett's brother, Brayden Garrett, that made the camp's final 10. He doesn't have his brother's size, at least not yet for the rising sophomore, he shows himself as a very natural passer.

*Another 2017 standout on the day was Cedar Hill, Texas standout Avery Davis. The 6-foot, 179-pound prospect who is taking the reins for the two-time defending state champions is another in a talented line of Longhorn quarterbacks.

*Finally is 2016 star Cole Kelley, who already holds an offer from Arkansas and Oklahoma State among others. A massive quarterback who will feature in a pure dropback setting Kelley has a live arm and though he isn't tailor-made for rollout situations he looked natural throwing on the run and routinely hit targets while on the move.