People who watch high school football in Georgia thought Ladd McConkey had a tremendous future in front of him
when he was a senior quarterback for North Murray High School in 2019.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70333610/usa_today_17291418.0.jpg)
The Mountaineers’ (maybe) 6’0 quarterback also played defensive back, punted, and returned kicks for a team that
went 11-2 and won two playoff games in Georgia’s Class AAA before losing to a Jenkins (Savannah) squad that had
roughly ten future FBS players.
Despite his enormous performance and output, McConkey received little attention from Power 5 colleges. According
to 247’s composite rankings, he was the 169th receiver in the country and Georgia’s 121st overall player. He received one Power 5 offer from Vanderbilt and was considering walking on or taking a scholarship to a G5 program. Then
Georgia and Kirby Smart arrived.
Smart is a tremendous program builder, an outstanding football thinker, and a fantastic recruiter, but arguably his
most underappreciated skill is talent evaluation. Sure, McConkey was unlikely to play quarterback at Georgia, but
any athlete who can torment defenses in Georgia high school football will get a look from Smart, and what he saw in
the 175-pound McConkey was a playmaker.
Now, nearly five years later, Ladd McConkey is preparing for the NFL Draft after dominating for a week in Mobile at
the Senior Bowl. He’s more than simply an athlete; he’s an excellent route runner with game-changing speed who
can fit into any NFL offense. He’ll have more opportunities to show off with the NFL Combine and Georgia’s Pro Day
still to come.
