Tennessee 2021 quarterback commit Kaidon Salter may have caught the eye of Trent Dilfer on Monday, but the consensus from scouts and analysts in attendance was that the four-star, dual-threat QB from Texas had a slow start and was near the bottom in overall performance among the 20 quarterbacks at the Elite 11 Finals in Nashville.
That changed on Tuesday, however.
Tuesday saw the quarterbacks participate in Pro Day-style workouts, and Salter scored higher than the majority of the QBs in attendance. Salter earned a score of 36, good enough for sixth place among the 20 quarterbacks. Five-star Ohio State commit Kyle McCord finished in first by a wide margin with a score of 45 followed by four-star North Carolina commit Drake Maye (40), four-star Oregon commit Ty Thompson (39), four-star USC commit Miller Moss (38), and three-star Missouri commit Tyler Macon (37). Salter notably finished ahead of five-stars JJ McCarthy (34) and Caleb Williams (34).
Big-time performances tonight at the Pro Day workout of the #Elite11 Finals are led by Ohio State commit Kyle McCord out of St. Joseph’s (Pa.)?? pic.twitter.com/oLH3Ws7Mgl
— Brian Stumpf (@Stumpf_Brian) July 1, 2020
The Pro Day-style workout consisted of 18-20 throws with each toss moving progressively down the field.
According to Sports Illustrated, Salter’s performance was the seventh-best among all the quarterbacks in attendance on Tuesday.
Sports Illustrated graded throws on a scale of 1-3. Per those ratings, a three is a “money throw” that is thrown and timed accurately, a two is an “all-around solid pass” that got to its target, and a one is an “uncatchable pass” or a “mix of factors leading to an incompletion.”
In those rankings, four-star Florida commit Carlos Del Rio finished in first place with a grade of 2.47 while totaling 12 money throws. Salter, meanwhile, finished seventh with a grade of 2.37 while connecting on nine money throws.
“The Tennessee commitment was steady all night long,” wrote Sports Illustrated. “He hit big on the run and outside the numbers and kept a tight spiral well more than not. He looked much more comfortable taking drops and working through his release than the night prior.”
Wednesday marks the final day of the Elite 11 Finals, and the final rankings will be released shortly after.
Salter was one of 20 quarterbacks invited to his year’s Elite 11 Finals, and he becomes the third Vol QB commit in three years to attend the finals. In fact, Salter is the fourth Vol quarterback commit to make it to the Elite 11 Finals over the last six years (Harrison Bailey in 2019, Brian Maurer in 2018, Jarrett Guarantano in 2015).
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound dual-threat quarterback from Cedar Hill, Texas committed to the Vols on May 10th of this year and has continuously moved up recruiting rankings. He’s now the No. 62 overall prospect and No. 4 dual-threat quarterback in the 2021 class on 247Sports.
In his first season at Cedar Hill last year, Salter completed 60.8 percent of his 245 pass attempts for 2,550 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just six interceptions while also running for 616 yards and 10 scores on 100 carries. He was named the District 7-6A MVP after leading Cedar Hill to a 9-3 record.
If you want to keep up with Salter and the rest of the quarterbacks at the Elite 11 Finals, be sure to follow VR2 on Twitter, our recruiting partners here at RTI. VR2 is over in Nashville to cover the event live.
