Prep Redzone MN Showcase: Nate's QB Standouts

I spent a heavy chunk of my time on Saturday with the defensive back group, as it had to be one of our biggest groups ever. However, I did get a handful of live evals done with the quarterback group from 1v1s in which there was plenty of arm talent to go around our Prep Redzone Minnesota Showcase on Saturday in Plymouth.    One of the more intriguing quarterbacks in the freshmen class last Saturday from a measurables perspective was Edina 2029 quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1892904' first='Will' last='Grunnet']. The 5'11 198 pounder for the Hornets in my eyes probably isn't done growing yet, as his wingspan stretched to 6'2.5. He brought some of the more powerful arm strength from this 2029 QB group and not only was that a skillset that I caught onto right away, but he was also accurate with his ball placement with his receivers to get the ball upfield and could make throws from muliple levels. The southpaw was also more efficent than you might expect for his age at getting the ball out throwing from the run.     We had a crop of sound 2029 quarterbacks in attendance in the second session of the Prep Redzone Minnesota Showcase and one of the top-tier ones regardless of class in my eyes was the performance that came out of Wayzata's Jamison Mackley. He's been around the block at our recent Minnesota showcases, but this one by far was his best outing when it came down to the arm talent he displayed. He has excellent poise for his age that blends right in with the upperclassmen group and has gotten much smoother with his throwing mechanics even getting to watch him somewhat recently, he's grown quite a bit. Some of the ball placements that Jamision had in the live reps I watched also showed that high football IQ in the throws he was able to make. He was put thru the ringer in the 40-yard dash, and still after the 5th rep was able to put together a time in the mid 4.7s which shows you that this young man is going to be one that is going to develop even more increasing that rhythm outside of the pocket in the upcoming years to come.     One of the few 2027 quarterbacks in attendance that caught my attention in his live reps, came from Andover's [player_tooltip player_id='1655330' first='Jackson' last='Kirchner']. He showed off a quicker release than I was expecting and was another one in the quarterback group that enlightened with his skillsets with his ball placement as I liked how quickly he could place the ball right in the pocket of his receivers as a 2027 quarterback that could line up throws on all three levels on Saturday. He is very likely to take over the reigns for the Huskies in 2026 taking over for St. Thomas commit Joseph Mapson, so I surely expect Jackson to rise his stock over these next coming months and is off to a good start at our Prep Redzone Minnesota Showcase.   <a href="https://x.com/jacksonkirch7" id="https://x.com/jacksonkirch7">TWITTER</a>     Surely one of my personal favorite gunslingers on the afternoon at the Prep Redzone Minnesota Showcase was Cretin-Derham-Hall 2028 quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1641751' first='Gavin' last='Russell']. It didn't take long to establish based on the live eval, that this kid needed to be with the older group as I made that call quickly after watching a handful of Gavin's reps in 1v1s. He's a quarterback that impressed with his development from watching him a season ago especially with the poise he displayed in the pocket. He showed off a quarterback that is proficent on all three levels of the field and getting my eyes on some of his deeper throws from a touch perspective, really moved the needle for Gavin in my eyes. He's had a dominant 7's season thus far, and put up some impressing testing numbers too, logging a 4.88 on the laser 40s,, 4.48 in the pro agility, and a 6.85 in the L-drill which surely shows me how well Gavin can move outside of the pocket. Expecting Gavin to keep growing into summer at camps and into his fall season.

I spent a heavy chunk of my time on Saturday with the defensive back group, as it had to be one of our biggest groups ever. However, I did get a handful of live evals done with the quarterback group from 1v1s in which there was plenty of arm talent to go around our Prep Redzone Minnesota Showcase on Saturday in Plymouth.