{"id":50132,"date":"2024-05-02T23:35:13","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T04:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=50132"},"modified":"2024-05-02T23:35:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T04:35:13","slug":"smu-top-100-qb-commit-keelon-russell-only-getting-better-ahead-of-elite-11-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/smu-top-100-qb-commit-keelon-russell-only-getting-better-ahead-of-elite-11-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"SMU top-100 QB commit Keelon Russell \u2018only getting better\u2019 ahead of Elite 11 Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toward the end of March, Duncanville (Texas) four-star quarterback and SMU<\/a><\/strong> commit Keelon Russell<\/a><\/strong> earned an invitation to this summer\u2019s Elite 11 Finals.<\/p>\n

There are few higher honors for high school quarterbacks than being invited to the\u00a0Elite 11 Finals<\/a>. The event, which will celebrate its 25th year in 2024, brings together the country\u2019s elite signal-callers for three days of competition and training in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Elite 11 alumni include\u00a0Carson Palmer<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Andrew Luck<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Matthew Stafford<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Tim Tebow<\/a><\/strong>, and more recently\u00a0Trevor Lawrence<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0C.J. Stroud<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Bryce Young<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and more. Last year\u2019s Elite 11 Finals featured\u00a0more than a dozen of the top 20 quarterbacks in the\u00a0final On3 Industry Rankings<\/a>, including each of the top five players at the position.<\/p>\n

Keelon Russell \u2018only getting better\u2019<\/h2>\n

Russell impressed scouts as an underclassman and has only gotten better as his recruitment has progressed, according to Elite 11\u2019s Head of Events Brian Stumpf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really liked him a lot at the regional last year when we were in Texas and he came in as an underclassman,\u201d Stumpf said of Russell on Wednesday during On3\u2019s Inside Scoop recruiting show. \u201cHe\u2019s super athletic, good frame. And he obviously went out and backed it up with a huge junior year and a state title at Duncanville. He has great receivers to throw to, but I think when you put him in this setting at the Elite 11 regional where it\u2019s just him and his performance stands on its own, it really gave him the forum to show his skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s added some good weight from when we saw him, up over 185 pounds now,\u201d Stumpf added. \u201cGreat frame, and the trend with quarterbacks, you really have to be athletic at this point. Especially when you look at the six quarterbacks that just went in the first round of the NFL Draft. \u2026 Keelon fits that build, he\u2019s only getting better and that\u2019s what the colleges are getting the scent of. This is a kid who is already really good, but the upside with his athletic frame and thirst for learning, he\u2019s going to continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell one of the most coveted QBs in the class<\/h2>\n

The 6-foot-2.5, 185-pound Russell committed to SMU in September. Russell took his first official visit<\/a> last weekend to\u00a0Ole Miss<\/a><\/strong>, a program that has long been in the running. Up next is his OV with SMU in May, but he\u2019s also now locked in a May 31 official with\u00a0Alabama<\/a><\/strong>, the latest school to emerge in the race.<\/p>\n

Florida<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Texas<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are also making it known that Russell is a priority as SMU looks to cling on to his commitment.<\/p>\n

Russell is the nation\u2019s No. 78 overall prospect, No. 8 quarterback and No. 15 recruit from Texas in the 2025 cycle according to the\u00a0On3 Industry Ranking<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

The post SMU top-100 QB commit Keelon Russell \u2018only getting better\u2019 ahead of Elite 11 Finals<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toward the end of March, Duncanville (Texas) four-star quarterback and SMU commit Keelon Russell earned…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50167,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50132\/revisions\/50167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}