Is This South Carolina’s Best Crop Of Quarterbacks?

Ian Guerin July 15, 2021 @ 09:30 AM

This fall, some 23 ranked quarterbacks from Prep Red Zone’s Class of 2021 will have officially moved on. Some to college ball, others with football in their rearview. No more [player_tooltip player_id="59309" first="Andre" last="Goodman"] or [player_tooltip player_id="59340" first="Undre" last="Lindsay"] or [player_tooltip player_id="84988" first="Ahmad" last="Green"]. And, yet, the position is going to hold plenty of sway when it comes a debate: Is this the best crop of quarterbacks South Carolina has ever seen? We already know the list of current signal callers are good. They have state championships and college offers in their back pockets. Some have even already made their college intentions public. But this isn’t just about post-high school options. They’re planning on lighting it up all fall. And stoke the fire to this debate. CLASS OF 2022 In many ways, Ridge View’s [player_tooltip player_id="153263" first="Andre" last="Washington"] is the poster child for this hard-climbing group of quarterbacks. He isn’t the top-ranked player at the position for the Class of 2022 - that distinction is currently held by Chester’s [player_tooltip player_id="59469" first="Zan" last="Dunham"], a talented player with college options on both side of the line. But in Washington, the Blazers have an experienced quarterback who showed serious promise as a sophomore, navigated an odd junior season and now has plenty of eyes on him as a senior. Now add in the likes of Dunham, Spring Valley dual-threat [player_tooltip player_id="59480" first="DeQuandre" last="Smith"] and [player_tooltip player_id="59494" first="Ryan" last="Burger"], the three quarterbacks ranked ahead of Washington, or Westside’s (and Marshall commit) [player_tooltip player_id="91173" first="Peter" last="Zamora"] and all-everything [player_tooltip player_id="153264" first="Trent" last="Pearman"] and his video-game numbers at Daniel, and you’ve got yourself roughly one-third of the ranked quarterbacks. Yes, for just that class. CLASS OF 2023 If you want to label 2022 as a quantity-driving class of quarterbacks, then you might as well throw the quality tag on 2023. It is here that you have new rivals [player_tooltip player_id="89339" first="Raheim" last="Jeter"] (Spartanburg) and [player_tooltip player_id="89340" first="Grayson" last="Loftis"] (Gaffney). There’s also [player_tooltip player_id="89345" first="Zolten" last="Osborne"] at Fort Dorchester, who will have chances to prove himself against some really good competition during the non-region slate in August and September. Nation Ford’s [player_tooltip player_id="91150" first="Carson" last="Black"] was an offseason workout monster. And two small-school players - Pee Dee Academy’s [player_tooltip player_id="89346" first="Hudson" last="Spivey"] and Southside Christian’s [player_tooltip player_id="89349" first="Ja’Corey" last="Martin"] (pictured) - are all inside the top-35, too. Yes, top-end quarterbacks tend to get everyone’s attention earlier, but they’ve already earned every bit of it. CLASS OF 2024 The rising sophomore class rankings aren’t very deep. We admit that freely. Very few freshman were under the varsity lights last fall, as the reduced offseason workouts and shortened seasons limited their opportunities to develop. Still, five quarterbacks found their way onto their teams’ respective fields. Catawba Ridge’s [player_tooltip player_id="91362" first="Jadyn" last="Davis"], the top overall player for the class, never turned off those 2020 lights, camping all around the country with the blue bloods of the college game. Chapin’s [player_tooltip player_id="139289" first="Jayden" last="Bradford"] was a little more reserved. However, his No. 5 overall ranking and just enough tools around him to let him develop comfortably have most observers believing we’re about to see something special. Tack on [player_tooltip player_id="91365" first="Braxton" last="Scott"] at James Island, Rock Hill’s [player_tooltip player_id="139293" first="Matthew" last="Wilson"] and Socastee’s [player_tooltip player_id="139313" first="Rocco" last="Wojcik"], and the five already ranked quarterbacks give that class a jump start.