SI All-American Candidate Kyle McCord Highlights and Evaluation

Kyle McCord is a quarterback prospect from St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia, Pa. McCord is an SI All-American candidate.

Prospect: Kyle McCord 
Status: SI All-American Candidate
Vitals: 6-foot-3, 205 pounds
Position: Quarterback
School: Philadelphia (Pa.) St. Joseph's Prep
Committed to: Ohio State
Projected Position: Quarterback

Frame: Solid-looking frame with decent shoulder width and good definition. Tightly-wound torso. Well-tapered thighs and calves 

Athleticism: Works in shotgun with very good balance and quiet feet. Good tempo and internal clock in setup with decent knee bend. Displays solid flexibility to elude initial rush, manipulate pocket and reset if he needs to. Capable of rolling with shoulders coming downhill and can come to balance to re-square body positioning to pitch.

Instincts: Ball-distributor who possess excellent timing, rhythm and touch. Very good pocket awareness while maintaining eyes downfield and alert to climb when sensing edge pressure. Changes ball-speeds well, and has good arm strength when delivering to intermediate level. Accurate passer to all three levels who throws a light and catchable ball, and appears to understand proper ball-placement based on defender-positioning and route angles.

Polish: Current offense utilizes mostly half-field reads and floods, thus he will need to continue development at performing full-field progressions. Needs to show capable mental processing in post-snap/secondary reaction phase of play. Must also continue to strengthen legs and lower half to generate more torque and power on deep balls.

Bottom Line: McCord is a natural passer who excels with touch, rhythm and timing, which compensate for above-average arm strength. He possesses good mechanics and pocket awareness, along with solid in-pocket athleticism and terrific accuracy. His tape is somewhat reminiscent of former Arkansas/USC QB Mitch Mustain coming out of high school. McCord projects a starting caliber pocket-passer in an offense that features a timing-based passing game.