If you scouted the competitors at the Elite 11 finals simply based on their recruiting ranking, you nearly reached the bottom of the list before finding David Blough's name.
Blough, who has committed to Purdue for the 2014 class, is the second lowest-rated prospect at the Elite 11 finals, according to RecruitingNation. He earned a three-star rating and is listed as the nation's 42nd best pocket passer. Only Luke Rubenzer, a Cal recruit, has a lower rating than Blough.
But recruiting ratings are an inexact science, and great players are overlooked every year. Blough is making a case to be one of them.
When the Elite 11 released its first set of rankings, Blough topped the list. The future Boilermaker is ahead of six ESPN 150 prospects and nine ESPN 300 prospects, including top-rated dual-threat quarterback Deshaun Watson and top-rated pocket passer Keller Chryst.
Blough has drawn praise from Elite 11 chief Trent Dilfer
, who praised Blough's competitiveness and said he's "about as technically sound as you're going to find." CBSsports.com's Bruce Feldman tweeted Monday, "Surprised to see how low online QB rankings of #Purdue commit David Blough are. He's looking better than most 4/5-star guys at @Elite11."
Purdue was the only major-conference school to offer Blough, a Carrolton, Texas, native who hopes to follow another Texas signal caller, Drew Brees, to great success in West Lafayette, Ind.
It will be interesting to see how Blough's performance in Oregon affects his recruiting stock and the interest from other programs. If Purdue can hang onto Blough, its future at quarterback looks extremely promising with Danny Etling, a 2012 Elite 11 finalist, also in the fold.
The Cradle of Quarterbacks is living up to its name.
