When Thompson’s Conner Harrell committed to North Carolina on Sunday, it continued a recent trend of high-profile Alabama high school quarterbacks leaving the state to play college football. Is it something for in-state schools to be concerned about or just a product of the depth at the position at Alabama colleges and the overall talent at state high schools?“It’s just one of those things,” Sports Illustrated Director of Recruiting John Garcia Jr. said. “You only take one quarterback a year for the most part. Alabama is always going to search nationally. It just is what it is. It’s just what they do.“Every now and then, there will be a Paul Tyson or a Taulia Tagovailoa that ends up staying in state but for the most part it will be a national search every year. Auburn is really going to move, in my opinion, to that same trend although conventionally the state of Alabama, of Georgia, of Florida is really where they have looked overall for talent, including quarterback.”Alabama and Auburn last signed high-profile quarterbacks out of the state in 2019, which also was the strongest class in recent years. That season, four quarterbacks were among the top 12 recruits in the state, according to the 247 composite rankings. Alabama signed No. 8 Taulia Tagovailoa, who later transferred to Maryland, and No. 12 Tyson, who remains in Tuscaloosa. Auburn signed No. 3 Bo Nix, still the Tigers’ starter. Central-Phenix City’s Peter Parrish (No. 11) signed with LSU. He is now at Memphis.“It’s not like the in-state colleges are ignoring the quarterbacks from our state,” said Randy Kennedy, program director/host for Sports Talk 99.5 FM in Mobile and recruiting analyst for AL.com. “Auburn (Bo Nix) and South Alabama (Jake Bentley) have starters who were high-profile stars from the state. Tyler Johnston III is one of the most successful quarterbacks in UAB history and Paul Tyson is the backup at Alabama.”Johnston III won a pair of state championships at Spanish Fort before signing with UAB. He was the state’s Mr. Football winner in 2015. Bentley played at Opelika High but finished early and signed with South Carolina. After a stop in Utah, he transferred to South Alabama this offseason. Harrell, the 2020 Class 7A Back of the Year, is one of four high-profile quarterbacks in the Class of 2022 already committed to go out-of-state for college. He is joined by Gordo’s Tanner Bailey (Oregon), Pinson Valley’s Zach Pyron (Baylor) and Clay-Chalkville’s Khalib Johnson (Louisville). Oak Mountain QB Evan Smith committed to Northwestern over a busy weekend, though he is expected to play another position for Pat Fitzgerald’s Wildcats. Pyron was the state’s lone representative in the Elite 11 QB Showcase in Los Angeles last week.“The fact that a guy like Zach Pyron of Pinson Valley can be an Elite 11 quarterback yet not get an offer from Alabama or Auburn is a sign that the depth of talent in the state has soared,” Kennedy said.
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