During Nike’s The Opening two weeks ago, Tennessee quarterback commit Brian Maurer was one of the more impressive quarterbacks in attendance. After the four-day event was over, he placed fifth among the 12 quarterbacks who participated at the event. And according to one of the top scouts in high school football, he made the biggest improvement of any quarterback there.
In an interview on The Audible Podcast hosted by Bruce Feldman, Joey Roberts, the Elite 11 Director of Scouting, was asked about some of the quarterbacks who participated in Nike’s The Opening. He said five-star Spencer Rattler, now the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the 2019 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, was the one who impressed him most. But he went on to say that Maurer was the player who “made the biggest jump” and stood out to him as a surprise at the event.
“A guy that came in a little lower on all our composites was Brian Maurer,” Roberts said. “And he climbed. He climbed because he showed he was extremely coachable, he showed he can buy in and take his 6-3 and a half frame and, with a compact delivery with his ability to throw on and off platform, really make some difficult things look easy.
“He probably made the biggest jump if I were to look at where he was in Orlando at the Orlando regional to the finals and ultimately to The Opening.”
Maurer did well enough at regionals to be one of the 12 quarterbacks invited to The Opening, and while there he ended up out-performing some quarterbacks ranked much higher than him according to recruiting services.
Maurer’s fifth-place finish at The Opening was better than four-star QB Dylan Morris, four-star pro-style QB Graham Mertz, and four-star Alabama commit Taulia Tagovailoa among others
During the final 7-on-7 tournament at The Opening, Maurer completed 65 of his 103 pass attempts (63.1 percent) for nine touchdowns and only three interceptions. According to Roberts, Maurer “played a vital role” in leading his team to the tournament championship. He saw extended action in the quarterfinal and semifinal games before Rattler, his teammate in the tournament, took over in the final. Rattler was named the Elite 11 MVP at the event.
Right now, Maurer is still only rated as a three-star and the No. 498 overall player according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. 247Sports recently updated some of their rankings after The Opening, and that update pushed fellow Tennessee commit Wanya Morris to the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2019 class. But Maurer has yet to be updated. That update should be coming soon, however, and Vol fans should expect to see their quarterback commit move significantly in the rankings.
