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Texas Longhorns quarterback commit Shane Buechele of Arlington Lamar was one of 30 prospects to compete at the Elite 11 Semifinals over the weekend in Los Angeles and could earn one of six remaining invites to the Finals.
Regardless of whether Buechele makes it to Oregon in July, the Elite 11 experience will help prepare him for college and gave insight into the current state of his development.
The two days of competition are now available to stream on YouTube.
One of the most impressive elements of the nation's No. 4 dual-threat quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite, is that he can adjust his touch and velocity to suit the situation.
When working outside of the pocket, he can put air under the ball with ease to hit touch passes, but when necessary, the arm strength that allowed his father to play so long in the majors is also present for Shane:
#HookEm commit Shane Buechele (@BGShaneBuechele). "Easy like Sunday morning." #Elite11 #Horns pic.twitter.com/sxMJBGkJbI
— Damon Sayles (@DamonSayles) June 6, 2015
Throw in the consistent accuracy that earned Buechele more than one comparison to Colt McCoy throughout the process and it's clear that the Longhorns got a good one:
Shane Buechele (@BGShaneBuechele) has been murdering the drills today. #HookEm commit is on fire.
— Damon Sayles (@DamonSayles) June 6, 2015
2016 QB Shane Buechele (@BGShaneBuechele), #Texas commit, throwing darts at the #Elite11 Semifinals. Very impressed. pic.twitter.com/Oux6skCVBd
— QBHitList.com (@QBHitList) June 7, 2015
#HookEm commit #ShaneBuechele is another player that stood out to me. 'Smooth' release. Confident. Seemed poised. #ColtMcCoy-esque. #Elite11
— Aaron Taylor (@AaronTaylorCFB) June 7, 2015
The only major question mark that exists with Buechele is his height -- he measured at 6'1 at the Dallas The Opening Regional. Nike typically provides accurate measurements, but it's still possible that the Lamar product is a little bit shorter than listed. He's certainly not the 6'2 his 247Sports profile suggests.
How much of an issue is it? There are plenty of college quarterbacks who can find success at that height and his ability to move out of the pocket mitigates some of those concerns because he won't have as many defenders in his face in those situations.
A productive runner who scored seven touchdowns on the ground in 2014 and threw 30 touchdown passes compared to only six interceptions, Buechele could still stand to improve his game-to-game consistency, but despite those lingering height concerns, there's a reason why the industry consensus holds that there are only three dual-threat quarterbacks in the 2016 class who are better prospects.