Elite Twelve
I went to the Elite 11 regional held at Memorial on Friday afternoon. The elite eleven, for those of you who do not base your life on 16 year-old quarterbacks, is a series of workshops and tryouts designed to determine the top QB prospects in the country. Audacious high school quarterbacks turn out at one of several regional camps; the best 12 (in a display of arithmetic that would do the midwest proud) from across the country are then invited to the national camp. If you don't follow recruiting but this still sounds vaguely familiar, it's because our last 4 quarterbacks, besides incoming freshman Beau Sweeney, were selected for the national camp: Brock Mansion, Kevin Riley (who?), recently departed Kyle Reed, and yes, even Nasty Nate.

Although RemorsefulBruinBabe would swear otherwise, I don't pay too much attention to high school football, and I'm happy to say that this was my first elite eleven camp. I went to check out our latest commit, Allan Bridgford, in what I presumed was a selective, intimate affair. I was hoping there would be a couple dozen kids with numbers taped to their backs, so the observers (read: players' parents and me) could identify the different players. I was wrong.
Can you find Allan Bridgford in this mess? Neither could I, and for a while I was pretty bummed that I had utterly failed in my sole mission: evaluate our newest QB. It's tough to do this when you can't even figure out who he is.
Then I started listening to the parents surrounding me and my spirits were instantly buoyed. Most parents were having difficulty picking out their own kid on the field. This is what happens when you bring seventy-five identically dressed 6'0-6'4 white kids together. I'm pretty glad that I'm not obsessed with recruiting to the point that I can find our prospects more easily than their own parents can. That would be a tough skill to be proud of, and not one that would be very useful outside of a football stadium. Like in a bar, for instance.
"Did you know that Kevin Riley was the #6 pro-style quarterback in 2006?"
I briefly located Josh Nunes when his parents picked him out. The players were spread out across the field in groups of 20 or 25. They would work out for 15 minutes at one station and then rotate to the next. Nunes was in the group at the north end, testing accuracy by throwing at targets ranging from 10 to 50 yards away.
The quarterbacks hit these circles pretty regularly.
This one, behind the back corner of the endzone, not so much. I don't think anyone ever hit it. Watching these guys try to make it was like watching a group of average guys hitting on a really hot girl, or like me hitting on any girl. It just wasn't happening.
Gratuitous picture of hot girl to help illustrate irrelevant point. Circa 1998.
Anyways, for the few throws I caught from Nunes before he disappeared into an adolescent waspy pack, he appeared to have less wasted motion on his delivery and a tighter spiral than most. Like everyone else, he couldn't hit Catherine Zeta Jones. Sorry Hydro, that's all I've got.
This guy missed as well:
Hippie who can't throw is shunned.
Elsewhere, a group of players worked on moving around in the pocket and stepping into throws:
It's worth remembering that Nasty Nate surely had to participate in this agility drill (or something very similar) and he was judged to be one of the top 11 12 QBs in the country. He must have some talent.
Here quarterbacks threw between stationary defends to cutting receivers:
And here a hungry Rick Majerus barks orders at a terrified teen:
At the conclusion of the camp, the coaches selected the top performers of the day to participate in an accuracy competition. It was the only point in which names were announced. The names that I caught were Derek Carr, Sean Schroeder, and Tate Forcier. No Josh Nunes, and sadly, no Allan Bridgford. Your Winner:
What, you don't recognize him?
Tate Forcier! Congratulations, Tate!
And the most important shots for last:
Spygate 2?
Above: Male Emperor Penguins huddle together to protect their unhatched young from the arctic winter.
Below: High School quarterbacks imitate male Emperor Penguins.
In-depth coverage and expert analysis: Welcome to the California Golden Blogs.
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I love penguins almost as much as CBKWit loves high school football. Watching 16-year-old boys act like penguins: now there’s an activity we can both enjoy.
by RemorsefulBruinBabe on May 18, 2008 10:42 PM PDT 0 recs
Don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but here are Tate’s offers. I’m guessing we’ll meet one of the Forciers in the future. I met the fucla one, pretty douchebaggy to me.
by WilltheBear on May 19, 2008 12:04 AM PDT 1 recs
Reading what the coaches put in the letters which accompany the offered scholarship is very interesting. Some letters are very bland and sound very impersonal. Others actually (sort of) sound like they are more unique. You would think coaches would put more effort (since it doesn’t take a lot) to put together a more personal letter to accompany/notify of the offered scholarship. I wonder what a Tedford offer looks like…
by HydroTech on
May 19, 2008 12:09 AM PDT
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Probably just has “TEDFORD” in alternating blue and gold leaf block letters. I’m more interested in why arizona’s letter has “bear down” on it.
by WilltheBear on
May 19, 2008 12:13 AM PDT
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Bear Down
“Bear Down” is apparently the official motto of the University of Arizona. From Wikipedia:
The battle cry was created in 1926 by a popular student athlete, John “Button” Salmon. Salmon was the student body president, as well as the starting quarterback for the Wildcat football team and the catcher for the Wildcat baseball team.
The day after the first game of the 1926 football season, Salmon and two others were involved in an automobile accident, in which their vehicle flipped over in a ravine. Although Salmon’s friends were not injured, Salmon suffered a severe spinal cord injury. In the aftermath of the accident, football coach Pop McKale visited him in the hospital every day. During McKale’s last visit, Salmon’s last message to his teammates was, “Tell them… tell the team to bear down.” John Salmon died on October 18, 1926. Following Salmon’s funeral, McKale reportedy told the team what he had said in a Las Cruces, N.M., locker room before a football game against the Aggies of New Meixco State, and UA won a hard-fought victory, 7-0.
The following year, the University of Arizona student body approved that “Bear Down” would be the new slogan for all Wildcat athletic teams. That year, Chain Gang, the junior honorary organization at the UA, held a dance in the newly-constructed university gymnasium to raise funds to paint the slogan on the roof of the building. The words are still featured on the roof of the gymnasium, now known as “Bear Down Gym.” In 1939, the Arizona state legislature issued a decree that “Bear Down” would be the exclusive property of The University of Arizona.
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
by ragnarok on
May 19, 2008 8:15 AM PDT
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I’m such a sap for sad stories that I think I’m fine with them using “bear” as their motto because of the history.
Not that what I think matters but still.
I used to be RR at the Cal Golden Blogs
by royrules22 on
May 19, 2008 11:25 AM PDT
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i don't know about you guys
but i just looked through his website and i gotta say, its one of the most pretentious things i’ve ever seen. wow. He says he created the site to ‘thank’ everyone, but i’m 100% positive the offering coaches don’t appreciate their letters basically being shown off for everyone to see.
If I wrote this kid with personal comments, I don’t want them published because what if other kids that I offered found that I just basically cut and paste those ‘personal’ comments for everyone. i’d be pretty pissed.
did you guys check out his “quarterback tips” where he basically is referring to himself in the third person?
i don’t know… is it just me?
by danzig on
May 19, 2008 12:20 AM PDT
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Doesn't bother me much
The creation of the website, that is. The publication of the offer letters, yeah, that would bother me if I were a college coach.
I'm still wondering why the Nets didn't draft Leon Powe.
by yellow fever on
May 19, 2008 7:04 AM PDT
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not just you
i think it’s pretentious too. you want your quarterback to be confident, but this website speaks to an ego of ridiculous proportions. i honestly don’t know how a college coach is going to be able to teach a kid like this, get him to listen when he needs to. the site is build as an advertisement for how good the kid is, but how much selling do you need to do when the kid already has 30 offers?
even if he is this good, i find it hard to root for a kid like this. maybe the site is not tate’s doing, and maybe he’s a great guy in person, but this website makes him look like an asshole.
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
by ragnarok on
May 19, 2008 9:01 AM PDT
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Yeah, I have seen this but I forgot it was Forcier. The coaches probably aren’t too pleased, but it’s a nice inside look for the fans, so I’m glad he posted them. Plus, he’s talented enough that these schools aren’t going to stop recruiting him just because he went public with their letters. He basically has immunity because of his talent.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
by CBKWit on
May 19, 2008 8:22 AM PDT
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MY X FACTOR IS OVER THE TOP
CBK – true, i like seeing what these letters look like, but I think its just too much. If you read his entire media packet (the below is only one page), I really don’t see a coachable athlete. All I see is someone that thinks he’s got it all. 
“My X Factor is over the top.” – this is going up on my Myspace profile asap!
“Politics aside” – wtf?
by danzig on
May 19, 2008 1:46 PM PDT
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WHAT?!?!?
“My X Factor is over the top” is what I yell during sex.
HOW DARE HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE TATE FORCIER STEAL THAT FROM ME? He’s stealing my move!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
by TwistNHook on
May 19, 2008 2:02 PM PDT
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HAHHAAA
i didn’t even think of that reference!... hahahaaa… i’m dying just trying to visualize that!
by danzig on
May 19, 2008 2:09 PM PDT
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I deleted my last comment
It made even me shudder. And I’m me!
So, throw in a random Seinfeld reference here. Something about a swirl and having to a knuckle.
Use your imagination.
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
by TwistNHook on
May 19, 2008 2:20 PM PDT
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It requires a headboard
and you’ll need at least 6 inches difference in height, or you could really hurt your neck.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
by CBKWit on
May 19, 2008 2:23 PM PDT
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I don’t know anything about his football skills, but with statements like “When I got pressure, I will usually make the play,” unattributed quotes, and mixed tenses all over the place, I want to send him back to freshman year grammar, not offer him a scholarship. I mean, I know not all schools have the academic requirements that Cal does, and I know not everyone has great writing skills; but seriously, someone get this “GAMER” a “TUTOR”—or at the very least, an “EDITOR.”
by RemorsefulBruinBabe on
May 20, 2008 1:35 PM PDT
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LOL
If you want to see a grammatical disaster, you should see his entire site.
The thing that irks me is all the cocky comments. “standing side by side with any other HS QB” ??? He does NOT have the strongest arm in the country, hell he doesn’t have the strongest arm in socal. Barkley and Brehaut both throw harder than Forcier.
He’s claiming he has more offers than any other HS QB? Even that’s not true, Murray (committed to bulldogs) has over 50 offers!
by danzig on
May 20, 2008 2:53 PM PDT
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lawl
see this? http://qbforce.com/images/greatqb.htm ... just imagine how many tips he’ll have by the time he’s, you know, 19?
check out the resume: http://qbforce.com/tate/midseason/resume.htm
“regarding my RESUME”
“This is my resume.”
“Note – This format has worked for all of us: ...”
seriously, somebody needs to get a handle on this kid before that x-factor asplodes his head
by d a n o on
May 22, 2008 9:20 AM PDT
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Am I the only one
Intrigued by the fact that so many of the 2004 Elite 11 QBs in that above link never quite panned out. To put it mildly.
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
by TwistNHook on May 19, 2008 1:26 PM PDT 0 recs



































