SI All-American Candidate Eli Stowers Highlights and Evaluation
Prospect: Eli Stowers
Status: SI All-American Candidate
Vitals: 6-foot-4, 200 pounds
Position: Quarterback
School: Denton (Texas) John H. Guyer
Committed to: Texas A&M
Projected Position: Quarterback
Frame: High-cut with excellent length. Well-defined arms and upper-body with tightly-wound thighs and calves.
Athleticism: Balanced and coordinated athlete who also competes in the high jump and long jump in track and field. Right-handed passer with solid knee bend in setup. Good upper-body rotation to throw with decent lower-half/back-hip follow through. Varies delivery and arm slots from over-the-top to three quarters. Ball jumps from hand with good spin and velocity. Mobile and elusive inside pocket. Can escape and become dangerous as a runner with good speed and long open-field stride.
Instincts: Solid vision from pocket after setup and can locate targets on all three levels. Also shows creativity to buy time with very good pocket awareness. Arm strength compensates for still-developing anticipation versus interior coverage. Displays good vision and instincts as a runner. Does a solid job of lowering pad level in traffic before clearing first level when running.
Polish: Plays in a multiple offense from the shotgun and under center. Executes some classic play action and zone read, and can attack both boundary and field from hashes with arm. Very good when moving his mark/midline at the top of his drop and can execute off-platform throws in reactionary phase. Flashes great accuracy outside the numbers and downfield. Must continue working on his footwork inside the pocket and delivery quickness.
Bottom Line: Stowers is an intriguing prospect with a high ceiling. His size, arm strength and athleticism present a quarterbacks coach with excellent physical tools to develop. There’s some nuances to his game he needs to refine, as well as speeding up his mental processing inside the pocket. However, he has a chance to blossom into a dynamic player at the collegiate level. Stowers has the versatility to fit into any offensive system, especially one that emphasizes a downfield passing attack.