One guy Slimm whom I feel deserves to be ranked on your QB position ranking is Peter Lalich of California (PA).
1. Extremely high QB recruit out of high school, committed to UVA under Al Groh, played well there as a true freshman
2. Caught underage possession of alcohol and put on probation. During probation admitted to his probation office that he'd taken a drink, had to appear before the judge. The judge appreciated his honesty and let him off with a warning, maintained his probation. But UVA admins were in a waged war with Al Groh whom they were trying to force out, so they took aim at Lalich and dismissed him from the program on the same day as his appearance before the judge.
3. Went off to Mike Riley's Oregon State Beavers with the understanding he was on a short leash. He redshirted. But then he was caught out on his boat on the local lake (now over 21) and he had alcohol in his possession and he was charged with operating a boat while under the influence. The charges were dropped. However the damage was done. His 3 game suspension would've ensured he lost the QB competition. Already on a short leash, Riley pulled his scholarship.
4. Went to Cal-PA and the first thing the coach there did was have him go to a alcoholic rehab hospital to be evaluated. He did so purely because of the three incidents all having alcohol as a common denominator. He was given a very positive evaluation from the staff that he wasn't actually an alcoholic. Played really well at Cal-PA.
5. Is 6'6" and 235 lbs playing weight. Moves well. Cannon arm. Good touch. Accuracy. But most importantly every coach he's come in contact with from high school to UVA to Cal-PA refers to how incredibly smart he is in a football sense. His high school coach said the one thing that always stood out with him is how he knows exactly how to hurt defenses. You'd have thought with a 6'6" big boy with rocket arm like that, something different would've stood out. Coaches at UVA and Cal-PA use words like "football savant" and "a real life Will Hunting" to describe him. That includes Chicago Bears WR Coach Mike Groh.
6. As a close friend of Kevin Ogletree of the Dallas Cowboys, during the lockout Ogletree brought Peter to team workouts to throw to Cowboys wide receivers.
7. Some quotes:
Pete Lalich said:
"I probably sat in the athletic director's office (UVA) for two hours screaming and yelling about what a mistake they had made. I couldn't believe they had done this TO ME. My mindset was that I was the victim. It was all about me."
Pete Lalich said:
"I wanted to be the 'big man on campus'. I was worried about what other people thought about me. I was trying to be the crazy, cool guy and the football player - and it all backfired on me - twice. I didn't learn my lesson the first time."
Pete Lalich said:
"I was so into that Oregon mindset by that point, with a girlfriend and everything - I was ready to just give up and be a regular student. It wasn't that I didn't love football I just felt so apathetic about the whole machine and process around it. Reporters in my face and blogs writing crazy things about me - it was getting to me I think."
Cal (PA) Head Coach Mike Kellar said:
"Peter is the most different, entertaining, fun, quarterback I've ever been around,"
Cal (PA) Head Coach Mike Kellar said:
"I've never seen a guy - if you've seen the movie "A Beautiful Mind" - sometimes I'll leave at night and come back in the morning and that's what my greaseboard looks like in my office: Peter will go in there and draw up 60 plays, and a lot of them would be great ideas if everyone could keep up with Pete - including myself. Man it's hard to tell how many plays we could have had in a gameplan. Extremely accurate - yeah, can make any throw - yeah, but the things I noticed is he can throw from different arm angles, his pocket presence and he's just cerebral as can be - Pete made me a better football coach because of the way he made me look at things in the office"
Anonymous NFL Scout said:
"If Peter spent four years as a starter at UVA, even if he had ****ty seasons, he would be a top 15 quarterback in this draft right now," said a pro scout I spoke with on the condition of anonymity. "He's definitely on some teams' radar, especially in this class."
Mike Brown said:
"The thing about Peter is that he's so confident in his abilities. He's a guy who's faced numerous setbacks and remains persistent on his goals, he's the type of guy who would draw up plays and concepts when he was ineligible, because he never lost sight."
Pete Lalich said:
"Yeah I believe I ‘m the best quarterback in this draft, but every guy should think that way. I know I'm different because I've been to the bottom and I worked my way back. There's nothing you can throw at me that I can't handle. I decided a while back that I wouldn't be defined by my circumstances. Now I'm just ready to show that I belong in this league and that I'm the best quarterback. Period."
8. On tape what stood out to me about his passing at Virginia (there are three YouTube videos that contain every pass he threw at Virginia as a true freshman) was his decision making. Obviously there's orthodox talent there in his size and arm strength. But it was his safe decision making that really stood out to me for a true freshman that was in high school only a year ago. Sometimes the accuracy was a little adventurous and sometimes he'd get pressured heavily and that would break him down some, things you expect for a young guy. At Cal-PA I think he continued to develop that sense for how to hurt defenses, what defenses can and can't get away with, and he made great decisions and really dominated.
9. Videos:
This is a highlight film of his 2012 throwing at Cal-PA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-LI7g2mTf68
This is a key play, in a key moment, in a key game...came through huge. It's in the above highlight tape but I just wanted to draw attention to the situation in which he did this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sZzxvgw_Mlg#t=124s
This is the series of every throw he made at UVA as a true freshman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPhKr2Kim0U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXX_VGiLZe8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOIYRM9Qo3U