K’Hari Lane (Macon Telegraph video screen shot)
Arizona has added a quarterback to its 2017 class, and it’s an intriguing one.
K’Hari Lane, from Montezuma, Ga., rewrote some of the state’s passing records but couldn’t draw a major scholarship offer, until receiving one on a visit to Arizona this weekend. He accepted.
Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez often says it’s not complicated: The best predictor of college success is high school success. No problem here. Last season at Macon County High School, Lane completed 62.4 percent of his 319 passes, with 56 touchdowns and two interceptions, neither of which was his fault, according to teammates).
(That info comes from this fabulous Bleacher Report story on Lane from a few weeks ago, headlined “Hidden in Plain Sight.” Feel free to spend several minutes reading that.)
As to why the big-time scholarship offers didn’t pour in … well, he played in at the lowest level of high school ball in Georgia, he doesn’t have prototypical size (a thick 6-foot-1, 230 pounds or so) and he wasn’t asked to run much in high school.
“Yes, I’m a big ol’ quarterback, but watch me throw,” Lane said in the Bleacher Report article. “Watch me play ball first. This is all I have known my whole life.”
Arizona has been in the market for another quarterback after senior-to-be Anu Solomon transferred to Baylor and four-star recruit Braxton Burmeister de-committed to Oregon late in the recruiting process. He would started spring ball as the third-stringer behind junior Brandon Dawkins and sophomore Khalil Tate.
The Wildcats have Catalina Foothills quarterback Rhett Rodriguez, the coach’s son, arriving in the fall.
There appears to be no issues with Lane’s academics or his arm strength. His nickname is the “Red Rifle,” referring to his high school colors.
It seems as if other FBS schools just didn’t want to take a chance.
“We had a situation like this five years ago when an undersized quarterback put up big numbers, but no one wanted him, except for Eastern Washington,” Scout.com’s National Director of Recruiting Brandon Huffman told Bleacher Report. “Then Vernon Adams became the thorn in the side of a number of Pac-12 teams. Lane could end up that same way, having to go to an FCS school to prove it.”
Well, Lane won’t have to prove it at the FCS level or junior college. He’ll try to prove it at Arizona.
For the Cats, this is Plan B or Plan C at quarterback in this class, but longer shots have paid off before.
(And, once again, I strongly encourage you to read the entire Bleacher Report article. And then you can click here for highlights on Hudl.com)
One more note on K’Hari Lane, he’ll get his NLI mailed to him this week and that is when he will become official with Arizona
— Matt Moreno (@MattGOAZCATS) February 19, 2017
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