Video: Florida Gators QB Commit Carlos Del Rio at Elite 11 Day 1
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- While he didn't own the same hype as Gonzaga's (Washington, D.C.) Caleb Williams, Prince Avenue Christian's Brock Vandagriff (Bogart, Ga.), and several other quarterbacks entering the 2020 Elite 11 Finals, Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) quarterback and Florida Gators 2021 commit Carlos Del Rio certainly made his presence known on the first evening of the event.
Early on, as the participants rotated through throwing stations, Del Rio caught the eyes of his peers, media, and his coaching counselor Quincy Avery with a good spiral. Working on slant routes, corners, up the seams, play-action roll-outs, and evading pressure, Del Rio looked comfortable and made most of his throws with good zip and placement.
Where Del Rio slowed down came near the end, along with a lot of his fellow quarterbacks, was the rail shot competition. Testing deep ball velocity and placement outside the numbers, the counselors were looking for passes in-stride and preferably to the outside shoulder to prevent the hypothetical cornerback from making a play on the ball. Del Rio made a decent throw and completed his pass, but the ball was a bit out of stride and inside - knocking Del Rio out of the contest.
Del Rio finished 10th in Sports Illustrated All-American's rankings of the 20 quarterbacks following their first day on the field, up five spots from his original 15th-place ranking entering the event.
"Early on, the future Florida QB looked like one of the top handful of prospect performers. Even with a slight drop-off as the night progressed, he looked about as good as he has in this setting." - Sports Illustrated All-American
As the quarterbacks have now shaken their rust off amidst a unique offseason due to the coronavirus pandemic, it will be interesting to see if Del Rio takes a mother step forward on Tuesday and Wednesday, and where he'll end up finishing among the group.
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