Texas Tech football: QB commit Behren Morton impresses at Elite 11 Finals

The Elite 11 Finals are now in the books and many on hand last week came away from the event speaking highly of the Texas Tech football program’s 2021 QB commit, Behren Morton.

Every summer, the top handful of high school QBs in the nation gather to compete in the Elite 11 Finals. This skills competition has come to be considered the most prestigious on the high school scouting and recruiting circuit and this year, 2021 Texas Tech commit Behren Morton turned quite a few heads with his showing.

Though he didn’t make the final list of the Elite 11 QBs in the nation, which is compiled by the coaches that run the event, he did perform well enough to see his stock continue to rise in the eyes of those that rank high school prospects for a living.

In fact, Andrew Ivins of 247Sports was on hand and he included Morton as one of his top 11 QBs that he saw. Ivins had the Eastland, Texas product as the No. 10 QB on his list.

"He writes: “Behren Morton made a big move in the recent 247Sports’ most rankings update and showed why this week. The Texas Tech commit has an athletic, projectable frame and has more arm talent then we had initially anticipated. He can make all the throws and as he fills out, he should continue to improve his arm strength, as well. The Eastland (Texas) native is currently the No. 10 rank pro-style quarterback.”"

Meanwhile, many people got their first look at the small-town prospect and they came away rather impressed. One such person in that category was Woody Wommack of Rivals.

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"“Morton is a guy I have never seen live before and he really caught my eye with his arm strength down the field,” he writes. “I only noticed one inaccurate ball and that came on a rollout drill.”"

Additionally, Charles Power of 247Sports was taken with how steady Morton was during the 3-day event. In fact, Power gave Morton the title of “Steady Hand”.

"“He might’ve not had the high points of some of the others”, Power writes, “but Morton showed well over the course of the week and never appeared to struggle. Coming in as a five-sport athlete from a small school in West-central Texas, you might expect Morton to have an adjustment period to the drills or competition he’d see in this setting. That was anything but the case. Morton showed fluid movement skills, a consistent delivery, and above-average arm talent relative to the group while turning in good showings in each drill.”"

Meanwhile, some, like former Tennessee Tech QB Clint Brewster, believe Morton is a sleeper in this class despite already being a 4-star player.

I think Texas Tech QB commit Behren Morton is a sleeper at the event. The ball shoots out of his hand and he has a really quick setup Nice downfield accuracy
— Clint Brewster (@clintbrew247) July 1, 2020

One of the knocks on Morton coming into the event was his less than elite accuracy numbers. But in the accuracy event on day three, he impressed and was ranked 10th out of the 20 participants by Sports Illustrated.

Morton isn’t technically the first Red Raider commit to participate in the Elite 11 Finals. Back in 2014, Jarrett Stidham had pledged to Kliff Kingsbury and Texas Tech when he took part. However, as we all know, Stidham would never suit up for the Red Raiders as he decomitted just days before the December dead period only to commit to Baylor.

Assuming that Morton sticks with his commitment, and we have no reason to believe he won’t, he will be the most hyped QB to come into the Texas Tech football program since Graham Harrell back in 2004. And the hope is that he will bring some much-needed stability to the position.

Outside of Pat Mahomes in 2015-16, Tech has not had a multi-year starter play consecutive full seasons at QB since Seth Doege in 2011-12. What’s more, the only starting QB since Doege to exhaust his eligibility while wearing a Red Raider uniform has been Nic Shimonek in 2017.

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Thus, we enter the 2020 season with tremendous questions about the most important position on the field with both Alan Bowman and Maverick McIvor coming back from two-straight injury-riddled seasons and only 3-star true freshman Donovan Smith behind them on the depth chart. That’s why Tech needs a player of Morton’s caliber to pan out and be the next star signal-caller on the South Plains. And based on what he showed at the Elite 11 Finals, it appears that Morton has all the tools needed to do just that.

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