Elite 11 2021: Day Two Live Blog and Updates
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. -- The rust has been shaken off, and now we get to the real competition. The 2021 Elite 11 Finals are underway outside of Los Angeles, with 20 of the nation's finest quarterbacks set to take part in Thursday night's pro day circuit.
After impressing the Elite 11 scouting staff at regional events across the country, the field is set as follows: Medina (Ohio) High's Drew Allar, Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon's Devin Brown, Valdosta (Ga.) Lowndes' Jacurri Brown, Memphis (Tenn.) PURE Academy's Tevin Carter, Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy's AJ Duffy, Flower Mound (Texas) High's Nick Evers, Southlake (Texas) Carroll's Quinn Ewers, Savannah (Ga.) Benedictine Military's Holden Geriner, Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco's Katin Houser, Lafayette (La.) St. Thomas More Catholic's Walker Howard, Greenwood (Ind.) Center Grove's Tayven Jackson, Clovis (Calif.) High's Nate Johnson, Austin (Texas) Westlake's Cade Klubnik, Gardena (Calif.) Serra's Maalik Murphy, Pinson (Ala.) Pinson Valley's Zach Pyron, Nashville (Tenn.) Lipscomb Academy's Luther Richesson, Martin (Tenn.) Westview's Ty Simpson, Canton (Ga.) Cherokee's AJ Swann, Cypress (Texas) Bridgeland's Conner Weigman, and Owensboro (Ky.) High's Gavin Wimsatt.
RELATED: Getting to know the Elite 11 Finalists
Sports Illustrated All-American is on the scene, observing each and every throw that each contestant tosses. Stay tuned to this live blog for constant updates from Mira Costa High School.
Score scale: 3 = Perfect 2= catchable 1 = off-target
Live Blog
* Elite 11's own scoring system resulted in a throw-off between Houser and Richesson, with Richesson edging Houser in a knockout-style competition.
* The final competitor of the day, Maryland's AJ Swann missed a handful of throws but still had a solid outing to wrap things up at Mira Costa High School. He was one of the best deep-ball throwers of the night. His biggest misstep came when he lost the ball on the RPO rep, something that we had not seen all night.
Score: 45
* The hot competition in the second half of the event continued with Florida commitment Nick Evers, who displayed impressive zip and poise in his reps. Evers ended strong as well, getting him near, but not quite to the top of the leaderboard.
Score: 50
* As was the trend for a good portion of the contestants, Clemson's Cade Klubnik heated up as he approached and crossed the 50 in the event. Klubnik owned the short to intermediate routes and displayed impressive timing despite inconsistency from the receivers, taking the lead from Houser scoring 10 out of 11 scores of '3'.
Score: 55
* Michigan State commitment Katin Houser was as consistent as it got during pro day, showing out from beginning to end. Houser's arm strength, accuracy and footwork were all there, as he took control of the lead.
Score: 54
* LSU commit Walker Howard struggled with his consistency compared to his counterparts, but still showed some good things throughout the drill. Howard's deep passes seemed to be a bit off as the drill progressed.
Score: 43
* Texas A&M commitment Conner Wiegman just got ultra-hot in the back half of the script, including eight '3' scores in a row down the stretch. From the rail shot, to the scramble to his strong arm corner ball, the toughest throws looked routine for the two-sporter. There was an audible buzz as he heated up and Weigman finished with a perfect throw in the end zone to cap the showing.
Score: 53
* Uncommitted prospect Luther Richesson was wildly impressive on his reps, tying then-leader Devin Brown on the day. Richesson's arm strength and accuracy were both on point, and he wowed the crowd with some throws.
Score: 52
* After missing his slant on the first thrown, Utah commit Nate Johnson recovered on the intermediate throws. He did struggle on the deeper throws, however.
Score: 45
* Like many of the passers we've seen, once he crossed the 50, Auburn commit Holden Geriner really got into a rhythm. He impressed on some of the deeper throws like the rail shot and the vertical choice route in the end zone.
Score: 46
* USC commit Devin Brown really impressed on some of the tougher throws of the drill, and became more and more impressive as he went down the field. Brown's consistency was unparalleled, and his arm strength looked elite. He ended on a strong note as well, taking the lead in the event.
Score: 52
* Next up was Alabama commit Ty Simpson, who started off the drill very hot, despite an early mistake. Simpson's arm strength was apparent, as he wowed on some deeper throws, especially the rail shot.
Score: 47
* Baylor commit Zach Pyron showed great accuracy on short to medium throws, but when more zip was required on the ball, he lacked some of the arm strength to make the throw at times early on. That said, his best throw of the day was on a deeper ball on the right sideline. As the round progressed, however, Pyron vastly improved, tying the leader Quinn Ewers on his overall score.
Score: 50
* Tennessee commit Tayven Jackson was the first prospect to sport his outerwear due to the cold temperatures. The restricted movement appeared to affect him on a handful of throws, but overall, Jackson had a solid pro day.
Score: 44
* Uncommitted prospect Tevin Carter started off hot and didn't really cool off, regardless of distance or what was asked of him. Just a handful were charted as a score of "1," and he finished on target through throw No. 20. Very much the pleasant surprise of the second day of work as far as we can track.
Score: 46
* Penn State commit Drew Allar was up next, and while he got off to a slow start, he was able to pick things up towards the middle of the drill. Allar's arm strength was impressive when he was stationary, but struggled a bit while on the move. Despite that, Allar was the second-highest score of the day thus far.
Score: 49
* Gavin Wimsatt had the unenviable task of following Ewers and struggled in comparison to the competition thus far.
Score: 41
* The nation's presumptive No. 1 rated quarterback and Ohio State commit Quinn Ewers was up next and was inconsistent at times, but showed why the hype was so high coming in. Ewers missed some of the shorter throws and looked very impressive on the toughest throws of the drill.
Score: 50
* Texas commit Maalik Murphy was the next quarterback up, and continued his momentum from day one of the competition. Murphy had arguably the best throw of the day on the seven-step flag route, out-performing even the counselors on the throw. Murphy had the highest score of the day to date.
Score: 47
* Florida State commit AJ Duffy was up next, and looked very impressive at the beginning, making some tough throws on intermediate routes look easy. Duffy slowed down at the end, however missing his last three throws.
Score: 46
* Jacurri Brown was the first Elite 11 participant to take part in the competition and had an up and down performance at the start. After getting some kinks out in the middle, he was flawless on four out of five throws, including the rail shot.
Score: 43
* Following his walk-through round, Willis took the field for his official rep and looked a little more polished than the initial rep. Willis was able to show off his incredible arm strength, accuracy, and timing as well, winning the event in the process.
Score: 53
* North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell wrapped things up for the quarterbacks and looked consistent at all levels, especially on the deep routes.
Score: 51
* Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler will not throw in the pro day.
* Dorian Thompson-Robinson was the next one up for the counselors. While he impressed with the deep ball but had some inconsistencies on the intermediate routes.
Score: 47
* The counselors were up first, led by Liberty's Malik Willis, who got off to a strong start. Halfway through, he dipped but was able to bounce back at the end. At the end of the drill our score, based on a 3-2-1 scale, was a 47. Though it appears that was the walk-through so the other quarterbacks could get accustomed to the flow of the day.
* The Elite 11 has a different ranking scale than SI All-American, but they released their day one ranking results, with Clemson commit Cade Klubnik coming in at No. 1
* The wide receiver group looks much more prepared today, and much more prospect-laden than what we got on day one, which should make for a much cleaner and more efficient evening.
* Ahead of day two, there is a lot more buzz about the event, with a star-studded gallery in attendance, including former NFL players Maurice Jones-Drew, Willie McGinest, Bucky Brooks, Chase Cota, and Keith Bullock, and media personalities Mina Kimes and Ryen Russillo. Clemson wideout Justyn Ross was also in attendance.