Recently,\u00a0 247 Sports came out with their rankings for the top quarterbacks in the 2023 Class.\u00a0 As expected,\u00a0 Arch Manning was the top signal caller in the class as he has continued to gain momentum since the season ended.\u00a0 Of course,\u00a0 there is a lot of Manning hate out there at this point as people point to the Manning name being the major reason behind his lofty ranks.\u00a0 I will address that below as I give my ranking of the top 5 quarterbacks in the 2023 class.<\/p>\n
Before launching into this countdown,\u00a0 I must admit that I have not seen all of the quarterbacks in the class.\u00a0 Of course this would be quite impossible.\u00a0 I must rely heavily on what is provided by the people at 247 sports, Rivals and Hudl for much of my research.\u00a0 These companies,\u00a0 the first two in particular,\u00a0 catch a lot of heat for their rankings and star ratings.\u00a0 There is no perfect science when it comes to this but I will defend these companies by saying it takes a lot of work by a lot of people to gather data and information on prospects all over the country.\u00a0 My rankings below are based on the film I have been able to review,\u00a0 the experience I have accumulated through the years and my knowledge of how the game works.\u00a0 With that said,\u00a0 here are my top 5.<\/p>\n
5. Jaden Rashada – Pittsburg HS, CA – 6’4″ 185 lbs. – Committed to: Miami<\/strong><\/p>\n Outside of Rashada’s stature in the pocket being a tall quarterback,\u00a0 what really stands out with him is his long ball accuracy.\u00a0 It’s one thing for a quarterback to have a strong arm but it’s quite another for him to throw a nice deep ball.\u00a0 That defines Rashada.\u00a0 He has the arm to get it there and the knack to put it where it belongs whether that is hitting receiver in stride,\u00a0 over the shoulder when he is covered or dropping it in the corner of the end zone.\u00a0 On top of that,\u00a0 he moves well in the pocket and keeps his eyes down field to find open receivers.\u00a0 When flushed out of the pocket,\u00a0 he can make solid throws on the run.\u00a0 He is a very confident player that is good under pressure which is a highly underrated skill set in high school quarterbacks.\u00a0 That trait translates well to the next level because college quarterback is nothing if not pressure.<\/p>\n 4. Christopher Vizzina – Briarwood Christian, AL – 6’4″ 207 lbs. – Committed to: Clemson<\/strong><\/p>\n Vizzina is another big quarterback with a big arm committed to an ACC power.\u00a0 His arm appears to be a tad stronger than Rashada’s but he is not quite as accurate.\u00a0 Like Rashada he can move in the pocket but unlike Rashada he is more willing to take off and run with the football.\u00a0 Inside of the pocket he has the accuracy and abilities to cut up a defense.\u00a0 What sets him apart from other top QBs is his ability as a ball carrier.\u00a0 He is athletic and a load to bring down.\u00a0 While he is not going against supreme talent,\u00a0 you can see the difficulties he presents to a defense when he tucks it.\u00a0 \u00a0He is going to mesh really well with what it is Clemson likes to do offensively and I see him having great success there.<\/p>\n 3. Arch Manning – Isadore Newman, La – 6’4″ 215 lbs. – Committed to: Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n About 13 months ago,\u00a0 I graded the top signal callers for this class and ranked Manning exactly where I have him now.\u00a0 Not a ton has changed for me in my opinion of his abilities.\u00a0 247 Sports has him ranked first and I don’t see that yet.\u00a0 I emphasize yet because I do believe he has a strong chance of being the best of the class when draft time comes.\u00a0 I realize that a lot of what 247 and Rivals does has to do with NFL projections.\u00a0 It allows them to steal attention during draft time as they opine on how they were right about a prospect as he shakes hands with Roger Godell on stage.\u00a0 I can buy into that with Manning.\u00a0 He is big, has the arm talent and certainly has the pedigree.\u00a0 His access is better than any other prospect on the list so it stands to reason that he is likely to improve more than most.\u00a0 For this he is hated which is nonsense to me.\u00a0 No one gets pissed when a veteran UPS worker gets his son a driving gig with the company.\u00a0 With all that said,\u00a0 I don’t think Manning’s physical tools are where the two guys in front of him are.\u00a0 He has an arm good enough to make all the throws,\u00a0 he’s good enough to scramble for a first down and he definitely can read a defense.\u00a0 He can certainly execute an offense and that makes his marriage with Steve Sarkisian in Texas one to watch.\u00a0 If all runs smoothly,\u00a0 I think Manning will most likely have the best college career.<\/p>\n 2. Malachi Nelson – Los Alamitos HS, CA – 6’3″ 185 lbs. – Committed to: USC<\/strong><\/p>\n There isn’t a more easy thrower of the football than Nelson in this class.\u00a0 He is Aaron Rodgeresqe with his delivery and confidence.\u00a0 He makes throws from various arm angles and fits into tight places.\u00a0 He is calm under pressure and trusts his receivers.\u00a0 He moves well in the pocket and looks to throw down the field when in these situations.\u00a0 He doesn’t panic when forced out of the pocket and is accurate when throwing on the move.\u00a0 When the situation calls to take off,\u00a0 he can be frustrating for defenses if not flat out deadly.\u00a0 He doesn’t face the best competition that Southern California has to offer but he does face his fair share of pressure.\u00a0 We all know Lincoln Riley’s track record with quarterbacks . I am certain that with Nelson and what he will be able to put around him,\u00a0 Riley will have Nelson on the ballot for that heavy trophy during his USC career.<\/p>\n 1.. Dylan Lonegran – Brookwood HS, GA – 6’2″ 215 lbs. – Committed to: Alabama<\/strong><\/p>\n I promise you I am not trying to be Dr. Contrarian here.\u00a0 247 Sports ranks Lonegran 11th but when I cut the tape on and compare him to the rest of the field,\u00a0 he stands the tallest for me.\u00a0 If you are into height then he isn’t as tall as the others I have on this list.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 Lonegran plays big.\u00a0 You can see the power in his arm when he throws.\u00a0 His zip on the ball is apparent and it my be a function of his pitching acumen (90 mph fastball).\u00a0 I find myself impressed by his ability to process quickly and make decisions.\u00a0 I consider decision making to be my top trait and predictor of success.\u00a0 While he does have a strong arm,\u00a0 not everything is a fastball.\u00a0 He shows nice touch on throws where that is required and not only is he accurate from the pocket but also when he leaves it.\u00a0 When things break down,\u00a0 Lonegran can tuck it and run like any other.\u00a0 He has deceptive speed along with an ability to break tackles.\u00a0 On film he just looks like a gamer that makes things happen.\u00a0 He also appears to be quite confident.\u00a0 Last month he committed to Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide two months after fellow 2023 class member Eli Holstein (ranked ranked 10th) did.\u00a0 Now that’s ballsy.\u00a0 Someone’s going to end up transferring out of Tuscaloosa and don’t be surprised if it ends up being Holstein.<\/p>\n That’s how I see it.\u00a0 My focus was on the top 15 guys in the class.\u00a0 Out of that group,\u00a0 I found the top 5.\u00a0 There’s always the chance that some overlooked and undervalued prospect becomes a gem.\u00a0 I will likely catch some flack for keeping darlings Arnold Jackson and Nicholaus Iamaleava out of my top 5.\u00a0 In watching the film,\u00a0 they just did not stand above the five I named here.\u00a0 Of course,\u00a0 we will revisit this list at season’s end and definitely a couple of years from now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently,\u00a0 247 Sports came out with their rankings for the top quarterbacks in the 2023 Class.\u00a0 As expected,\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[499],"tags":[1027,1202,1203,1201,1199,1160,1198,634,1204,1200],"class_list":["post-4435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recruitingnews","tag-247-sports","tag-arch-manning","tag-arnold-jackson","tag-iamaleava","tag-lonegran","tag-malachi-nelson","tag-rashada","tag-rivals","tag-top-2023-quarterbacks","tag-vizzina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}