Recruiting Breakdown: Chayce Crouch

Ceiling:  7.5              Ranking: 5.5               Floor: 3


School: Newark Catholic (Newark, OH)

Size: 6'4" - 215 lbs.

Composite: 3 Star, 0.8578, #31 Pro, #654 Overall

247: 3 Star, 88, #26 Pro

Rivals: 3 Star, 5.6, #27 Pro

Scout: 3 Star, #51 Pro

Favorites: Illinois (Commit)
Other Notable Offers: Kent St, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Strengths
  • Good accuracy and velocity on short to intermediate passer
  • Understands timing passing
  • Better athlete than many pro-style QBs
Stands tall in the pocket. Solid arm that is capable of stretching the field laterally on short and intermediate passes. Good pure arm strength, can put some muscle into his short passes to hit outside windows. Has good ball velocity and is capable of fitting the ball into tight windows on short and intermediate routes. Is capable of understanding timing routes and getting the ball out of his hand quickly. Maintains good foot action while going through progressions, particularly when reading vertical progressions. Shows some ability to hit the deep passes to the sideline, though nothing to prove he can put a ball on a rope at that distance. Occasionally will alter ball arch to put the ball over top of the defense. Gets the ball out of his hand with decent quickness.

Above average athlete for the position, good foot speed and escapability than your typical drop back passer. Could potentially run some read option or speed option to keep defenses honest and off balance, even if he'll never be the primary run threat.

Weaknesses
  • Pushes and guides his passes
  • Ball sometimes flutters and hangs
  • Will struggle to push the ball vertically with velocity
Throws from his shoulder, so doesn't utilize full height and loses some ball velocity and rotation because he guides and pushes the ball. This causes the ball to flutter and hang a bit, particularly on his deeper passes. Struggles to muscle the ball into the seam, overthrows a bit which puts an emphasis on the poor ball rotation, and thus causes them to flutter and hang more. Many of the seams and deep post passes he throws will hang in the air and lose accuracy, allowing defenders and safeties to collapse on the pass. Inconsistent on deep passes, sometimes proving to drop the ball over top of defenders and other times hanging the ball. Needs to work on holding the ball higher, tends to let the ball hang off his body when he's reading defenses, which will lead to fumbles. This is more evident on working through progression laterally. At times doesn't reset his feet as well as he should, instead preferring to alter his arm angle. His lead step is inconsistent in its length, which reinforces the poor shoulder delivery. This can cause accuracy issues, both side-to-side and up-and-down.

Video

Comments
Is capable of putting the ball in all areas of the field. Is best as a short and intermediate thrower with timing patterns, but is capable of putting the ball over top of the defense when given the opportunity. When really pressing the ball up the field vertically or into tight windows deeper than the short zones, his guiding and pushing of the ball really begins to hinder his throwing abilities. The ball tends to tail flutter more and float and this allows defenders time to collapse on the ball and meet it in the air, leading to unnecessary interceptions or incompletions. He can overcome this on short and some intermediate passes because he has pretty good arm strength, but until he fixes his mechanics he'll likely continue to struggle to fit the ball into the seam at the next level or threaten safeties sitting in zone coverages.

Projection
  • QB
  • Preferred system: Spread to pass, emphasis on short timing routes
  • Will need some time to work on mechanics and defensive speed
I think Crouch can be a good QB at the next level, but he has some limitations that could become more apparent depending on the type of throws he's asked to make. If he's going to be a pure drop back passer, looked to to fit the ball into windows deep off of play action and between deep zones and in the seam, he will likely struggle. If he's able to utilize his height and ability on short/intermediate throws and occasionally keep defenses honest with his legs, he can develop into a good starting QB. Mechanics is the real issue, not purely arm strength. But it will take time to fix the mechanics and understand how his ball velocity will fit into windows at the next level before he can become a consistent passer.

Comments

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