Thoughts, notes on On300 Michigan QB commit Carter Smith from Elite 11 Orlando
*** The Elite 11 Orlando regional produced no on-site finals invitations, which means On300 Fort Myers (Fla.) Bishop Verot quarterback and Michigan commit Carter Smith will have to wait for a call regarding his golden ticket. While Smith didn’t earn an offer on the spot, he had one of the better performances at the event. Smith tested well and showed real strides as a passer (more on that in a bit). After testing, quarterbacks went through 10 circuits, which were split into two sessions. Smith really impressed in the first half, scoring a couple of perfect circuits and hitting every throw in the gauntlet. Smith did show some signs of fatigue in the final two circuits, but I thought he did enough to earn an invitation to the finals. I would be shocked if Smith doesn’t get the call when Elite 11 wraps up its regional tour. Remember, last cycle’s quarterback signee, Jadyn Davis, had to wait as well.
*** This was my third time seeing Smith live. As I’ve noted before, Smith is a special athlete who is coming along as a pure passer. Smith is fun to watch in pads, but, to be completely honest, I had tempered expectations heading into today’s event. Remember, Smith has always split time between baseball and football, has never had a private quarterback trainer and didn’t grow up competing in events like these. Simply put, Smith wasn’t groomed to play quarterback like Davis and JJ McCarthy. This event didn’t showcase what makes Smith special — his athleticism and ability to make plays with his legs — but it did show that Smith is making improvements as a pure passer. Smith doesn’t have an ego and has taken all of the constructive criticism and applied it to getting better. He gave up baseball — an extremely tough decision — and got with Brock Purdy’s quarterback trainer, Will Hewlett. The results are noticeable.
*** Smith really needed to improve on his footwork this offseason, and that’s definitely coming along. Today, Smith set his feet and was able to unlock some extra power from his lower half as opposed to just relying on his arm talent. He didn’t have the happy feet, which caused errant throws, that I saw from him on my last trip. On top of that, Smith’s throwing motion and overall mechanics appeared to be better as well. Because all of this, Smith was more accurate. Again, he was perfect in the gauntlet and also had a couple of perfect circuits. Look, Smith is far from a finished product as a passer. I don’t want to make it seem like he’s now super polished. But he’s getting better and better every time I see him. Smith has spring ball coming up and will continue to work with Hewlett here and there. He also plans to get with Anthony Tumbarello, who does a lot of NFL Draft prep and works with Gardner Minshew. Overall, Smith is using all the resources at his disposal to continue to hone his craft.
*** I’m not sure Smith will ever be as polished as Davis, but man, his ceiling is so much higher. Smith obviously has the arm talent. He threw in the 90s in baseball as a sophomore and effortlessly threw the football 56 MPH today — I think he could have done 60 if they had done it at the beginning and not in between sessions (for reference, Peyton Manning threw 59 MPH). Smith also has an impressive frame at 6-foot-3 1/2, 187 pounds and squats more than 400. He clocked his 40 in the 4.7s today. The laser times at Elite 11 are always slow. Smith’s time was actually faster than McCarthy’s, and Smith is bigger and strong than McCarthy was at this stage. If you look at his tape, Smith doesn’t just have speed, he’ll run you over and bully defenders. Smith makes up for his work in progress passing with mobility. He’s a true threat as a runner and also shined today when asked to make off-platform throws and throws on the run. Davis did well at Elite 11 in the 7v7 portion because he’s done that every offseason since he was a child and is accurate. However, he struggled in individuals (off-platform throws and throws on the run) because of his lack of mobility/athleticism. Davis has a much higher floor and the potential to be a high-level game manager. On the flip side of the coin, Smith has a much higher ceiling and the potential to be a superstar.
*** What I love about Smith is his moxie and attitude. I teased him after he ran in the 4.7s since he’s been clocking in the 4.6s this offseason. His response was ‘it doesn’t matter because I run past them on the field.’ Later in the event, I told Smith he was having a great day, which he downplayed. I told him to get excited because he had a real chance to get a golden ticket. His response was ‘I don’t care about the golden ticket or any of this really. I just want to put the pads on.’ In this era, where quarterbacks live for events like these, cry about criticism and try to boost their NIL valuations, Smith is a breath of fresh air. The dude just wants to get better, play football and go fishing. That’s all he cares about. Smith may not be as magnetic and charismatic as McCarthy, but he’s a likable kid, and there is just something about him that makes you gravitate towards him. When I saw him in the fall, he had the full respect of his teammates and was a great leader on the field.
*** Smith is completely locked in with Michigan. Other schools have continued to reach out, but Smith has no plans to visit anywhere else. In fact, Smith will be in Ann Arbor for an extended stay this week. He will arrive at Michigan on Wednesday and won’t depart until Sunday. That means Smith will watch multiple practices, sit in the quarterback meetings, explore Ann Arbor, spend time with the players and take in the spring game. Smith is also working hard to help Michigan recruit behind the scenes. Some of the prospects he’s been working on the most are On300 linebacker Elijah Melendez, five-star offensive tackle Andrew Babalola and four-star interior offensive lineman Avery Gach. I also spent some time with Smith’s father, Dan, and he had nothing but great things to say about Sherrone Moore, Kirk Campbell and the rest of the staff. He has also bought into the culture at Michigan.
The post Thoughts, notes on On300 Michigan QB commit Carter Smith from Elite 11 Orlando appeared first on On3.
