Rivals Elite 11

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LOS ANGELES — The 2026 Elite 11 Finals are wrapped after three days of drill work and competitions amongst the nation’s top 2027 quarterbacks. Following a pro-day style event on Saturday night and drills on Friday, Sunday’s session featured each quarterback competing in 7-on-7 with local California high school programs as their teammates.

Each quarterback had 15 minutes to showcase their short, intermediate, and deep passing game.

We charted each session live, noting total completions and attempts, touchdowns and interceptions, as well as drops, off-target passes and timed sacks.

For this top performers list, we are looking at the overall body of work over three days — drills on air, pro day performance, and Friday’s 7-on-7 event. Our big picture takeaways from the week will be factored into the next Rivals300 update this summer.

Rivals MVP: Trae Taylor — Nebraska
Trae Taylor had an excellent performance at the Elite 11 Finals from start to finish, stringing together three very strong showings throughout the weekend. The Nebraska commit was the Rivals MVP of day one, flashing a big-time arm, showing the ability to drive the football to all levels of the field during drill work. He continued to show that plus arm talent during his pro day and was aggressive downfield, targeting high-level throws. He capped off the weekend with a seven-touchdown performance in the 7-on-7 period, making a litany of high-difficulty throws. He attacked the seam, was super aggressive hunting huge downfield completions. The ability to attack all levels with his arm strength, combined with a big-play mentality. Taylor was quick through his progressions and looked very comfortable in the 7-n-7 setting, which isn’t a huge surprise given his experience. The confidence and command was impressive. We also thought Taylor looked comfortable working under center. This is an exclamation on a strong offseason for Taylor, which has seen him make encouraging improvements to his overall game. We’re eager to see what he does as senior this season at Millard South in Nebraska.

2. Peter Bourque — Virginia Tech
Peter Bourque had a strong 7-on-7 showing which capped off an impressive week. He’s a big, strong pocket passer with a live arm, but he’s more than just a thrower. Bourque was decisive with his reads, wasn’t afraid to push the ball down the field and changed speeds well. He was consistent all week, but really turned it on the last two days of the competition including an MVP performance in the Pro-Day Saturday night. The Virginia Tech commit can throw with anticipation, protects the football and has a really nice all around feel for the position. – National Analyst Greg Biggins

3. Israel Abrams — Miami
Israel Abrams finished the weekend on fire at the Elite 11 Finals with a great pro day showing on day two and one of the better 7-on-7 sessions we saw on day three. Abrams rebounded from an up-and-down start to the weekend, and by the end of Sunday, he easily looked like one of the top quarterbacks on hand. The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder has a live, pliable arm with the ability to throw from multiple angles. He can threaten all levels of the field with his velocity and arm talent. He was confident and impressive in the competitive periods throughout the weekend. Abrams really impressed during 7-on-7 on Sunday, throwing seven touchdowns while making a number of high-level throws, going tit for tat with his high school rival, Trae Taylor. The release was arguably the quickest on hand. Abrams gets the ball up and out in the blink of an eye and he’s able to quickly diagnose defenses, pushing the ball downfield with authority. Abrams’ highlights were among the most impressive we saw at the Elite 11 Finals. This weekend backed up what we’ve seen from him on film at the high school level, where he’s highly-productive and talented.

4. Peyton Houston — LSU
We expected a strong performance from Peyton Houston and he delivered. He’s among the most polished and college ready throwers in this year’s cycle. Houston only missed one throw at his Pro-Day Saturday night and was had just two incompletions during the 7-on-7 portion. He’ll take his shots when it’s there, but Houston is at his best when he’s throwing the shorter to intermediate routes and dissecting a defense. His ball placement was on point all week but when he had to rip it down the seam, he showed he could do that as well. He’ll play his college ball at LSU and has the kind of polish and advanced skill set that should allow him to compete for playing time early on in his college career. – Greg Biggins

5. Will Mencl — Oregon
Will Mencl put together three good days of work at the Elite 11 Finals. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder was excellent in the rail shot challenge at the end of day one, showing the ability to make one of the more difficult throws on the route tree with near automatic precision. Mencl followed that up with quality showings during his pro day workout and 7-on-7 session. His ability to layer downfield throws with proper timing stood out. The five-star signal caller is a high-level processor who plays with advanced timing. Mencl hit the top of his drop, drove off his back foot, and fired seamlessly. The level of skill in this pass-only setting is supplemented by the fact that he’s one of the more productive run threats in the 2027 cycle on Friday nights.

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