Miami "Home" for Southern California Quarterback Jake Garcia

Jake Garcia chooses the Hurricanes, signaling the end to one of the strangest recruitments in recent history.

Author:
SI All-American
Publish date:
Dec 16, 2020

Rewind the clock 365 days. If somebody told Jake Garcia he would end up playing his final season of high school football in Georgia, then committing to the University of Miami, there’s no shot Garcia would’ve believed it. Alas, 2020 has been one of those years, where everything, including recruiting, has been flipped on its head.

In late 2019, after throwing (what would eventually become) the final pass of his California prep career at Narbonne High school, Jake Garcia was committed to the University of Southern California. Set to live out the same fate as other LA-area born and raised QB’s like Matt Leinart, Sam Darnold, and attend the local QB factory.

2020 had other plans.

Garcia, a natural passer with a confident demeanor, moved across the country to continue to elevate his skill at the game he loves. All the while, a kid (soon to be a household name) named Jaxson Dart receives a dream offer from USC on October 11th. Garcia announced his decommittment from USC in order to fully explore other options earlier in December, and just this morning, Dart committed to USC.

Tonight on his Instagram live, Garcia announced his commitment to a Miami program that may be on the brink of a culture change. A decision that he said (via Twitter) he made before Dart made his commitment public; One that will place him in another big city by the (other) coast.

As a passer, Garcia has a polished, almost classic three-quarter release with a smooth delivery. The rate of the release is well above average and that athleticism helps him get his head and hips around to targets sideline to sideline with relative ease. Garcia's arm is fairly strong, particularly down the field, with a solid combination of drive and touch as needed.

With perhaps the most important quarterback passing trait being accuracy, especially in the pass-first age of college and even NFL football, Garcia can hit the mark. During the 2019 season at Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne High School, he completed 70 percent of his passes. The future Trojan finished the campaign with 2,301 yards and 25 touchdowns in just nine games according to the Orange County Register. As a sophomore, Garcia was even more efficient, completing a gaudy 75 percent of his attempts at Narbonne.