Penn State QB commit Marcus Stokes earns invite to Elite 11 Final
Penn State quarterback commit Marcus Stokes earned a massive invitation Wednesday evening to this year’s Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles. The event is set to take place June 28-30.
A native of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Stokes participated in the Elite 11 regional camp in Orlando back in March. It was the third of three strong performances at national camps this year. The first was at the National Combine in San Antonio in early January.
In fact, it was that National Combine performance that changed everything for Stokes. Going into it, he had no offers and was only speaking with a couple of schools. By the time it ended, he was communicating with Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich before he could fly home.
Stokes would go on to visit Penn State just a few weeks later at the end of January. He left town with an offer and that’s when schools all across the country began to take notice. By the time he committed to Penn State in April, he held a dozen scholarship offers, with plenty of other Power Five programs showing interest.
Related: Top prospects expected at Penn State’s 7-on-7 tournament Friday
The complete Elite 11 Finals roster is now up to 20 players. As you would expect, the nation’s very best are set to attend, including Christopher Vizzina, Dante Moore and Nico Iamaleava. Notably, the nation’s top recruit, Arch Manning, hasn’t confirmed his plans to attend.
According to the On3 Consnesus, Stokes is the 26th-ranked quarterback in the nation and No. 506 nationally. Our staff at On3 ranks him a bit higher at No. 17 at the quarterback position.
This past season, Stokes threw for 2,672 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also had just under 500 yards rushing and six touchdowns running the ball.
“When a play breaks down, whether we have a protection issue or whatever, he always seems to make something out of nothing,” said Nease head coach Collin Drafts in an interview with BWI. “We ended up, as the year went on, really morphing into an offense that was tailored almost 100 percent around him.
“A lot of the plays that we ended up calling were pass plays. I felt comfortable knowing that if there was a protection issue, or just no one was open, he was going to get out of the pocket, scramble for 10-plus yards, make an off-balance throw or do something positive for us. Any time you can snap the ball to a kid like that, you feel pretty good as a high school coach that good things are going to happen.”
