KHere’s the latest on elite quarterbacks such as Dante Moore, Arch Manning, Jaden Rashada, and Eli Holstein in the 2023 college football recruiting class.
Things are really starting to pick up when it comes to the 2023 college football recruiting class, as players are taking more visits and more are starting to announce commitments.
This is also true of quarterbacks in the 2023 college football recruiting class. We broke it down recently, but there’s only a handful of top-25 rated signal-callers still uncommitted and that number shrunk by three in the past week thanks to a slew of commitments.
18 of the top 25 according to the 247 sports composite rankings are now committed. Ole Miss added Marcel Reed, while Arkansas was able to win the commitment of Malachi Singleton, the No. 24 quarterback in the class. Pittsburgh also found its guy over the weekend as four-star QB Kenny Minchey announced his pledge to the Panthers.
Yet when you look at the top 10 quarterbacks in the 2023 college football recruiting class, five of the top guys are still available and that’s where this update will focus starting with five-star quarterback Dante Moore.
Dante Moore contenders: Notre Dame football, Oregon, LSU, and Michigan
Last month, Notre Dame football was in a really good position for Moore and according to the On3.com prediciton machine, had nearly a 90-percent chance of winning his commitment. There was even talk of a spring commitment on his visit to South Bend.
Unfortunately, for the Irish, that didn’t happen and since then, Notre Dame football’s chances have been dropping according to On3.com, which now gives the Irish a 49-percent chance of winning this recruitment after surges from LSU and Oregon.
Moore visited LSU a couple of weeks ago and Joe Burrow even met with the five-star quarterback. Then, Moore was in Oregon this past weekend for an official visit and he came out of that saying Oregon was near the top of his list.
https://twitter.com/On3Recruits/status/1521141784654626816
Dante has played his recruitment close to the vest and right now, it’s hard to say who the leader is, although If I had to guess I would say Oregon or Notre Dame. LSU is at 24 percent according to the prediction machine while Oregon is at 13.
Oregon has a new head coach in Dan Lanning and one thing that’s important to Moore is having the chance to play early. At Oregon, that might happen easier than it would at Notre Dame, Michigan, or even LSU.
The Ducks also have some of the best facilities in college football and recruit at an elite level. Moore probably believes he can compete for a national championship there and start right away.
Notre Dame football has been selling him that same opportunity, but it seems like Oregon made some real progress this weekend. However, Dante Moore also doesn’t sound like he’s making a decision soon, so there is still plenty of time, even for Michigan to get more into the mix.
As far as Oregon, Moore isn’t the only top-10 prospect they are heavily in the mix for.
Jaden Rashada contenders: Oregon, Miami, Ole Miss
Dan Lanning and Oregon football have won some big recruiting battles since his arrival such as the signing of 2022 five-star offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. Oregon also landed a four-star wideout from 2022 and got another commitment from a 4-star WR in 2023 on Monday.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the Ducks gaining traction with a pair of five-star quarterbacks. Moore was the most recent to visit but Jaden Rashada has also been to Eugene and even though he canceled a recent visit to go to Ole Miss and see Lane Kiffin, Oregon is still in the mix.
The other interesting thing with Ole Miss is that it already took Reed, a top-400 QB in the 2023 class. That might not impact their pursuit of Rashada, but it’s something to consider.
The photo of Rashada and Kiffin posing in front of his fancy car seems powerful but the On3.com prediction machine gives the Rebels just a 10-percent chance in his recruitment, while Oregon leads at 44 percent, followed by Miami at 31.
Rashada is a west-coast kid from California and more of a dual-threat than Moore, who is much more of a pocket passer. So it might be a better fit. It also remains to be seen if Dante Moore would leave the Midwest.
At the very least, Oregon is making things interesting and the Ducks have to feel good about their chances of landing at least one of the two — Moore or Rashada.
Arch Manning contenders: Texas, Georgia, Alabama
No college football recruitment in the 2023 class has been followed as closely as Arch Manning’s and for good reason. He’s the No. 1 overall prospect, the No. 1 overall quarterback and he is expected to be a future No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.
Recently, Texas has pulled back in front according to the On3.com prediction machine and while there haven’t been any expert projections for Arch Manning from the recruiting experts at 247 sports or On3, the Longhorns do seem to be gaining.
And Alabama seems to be falling off. The Tide are still listed as having the third-best chance according to the prediction machine but they have now fallen behind Georgia and one reason for that is the buzz with four-star QB Eli Holstein.
Holstein is ranked as the No. 8 QB in the 2023 class and is No. 54 overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings and he just received a crystal ball projection to Alabama.
The former Texas A&M pledge has visited Alabama multiple times and while there was some talk Nick Saban wanted to wait for Arch Manning to make a decision, according to On3.com, that’s not the case.
"“I definitely get the sense that both have a spot at Alabama,” On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons said. “I think it comes down to who’s ready to make a decision first. Both are targets for Alabama. There’s been a question about whether Bama will wait for Arch to commit first. I’ve been told no. Eli has an opening to come in whenever he’s ready.”"
Does taking another top-100 QB put Alabama out of the mix for Arch Manning? Not necessarily but it does seem to give us some idea of where the Crimson Tide think they stand.
Georgia is kind of the sleeper here. The Bulldogs probably have a more open QB situation as far as Manning starting in 2023 (he probably will almost anywhere) and a roster that is proven it can win and contend every year for national championships.
The Bulldogs also don’t really have a great backup option at this point, outside of trying to turn the tide in the recruitment of Dylan Lonergan who is trending to South Carolina.
So it will be interesting to see how it all plays out, but the next few months will be key for these quarterbacks, who generally have their decisions made before their seasons start in the fall.