Ari Patu committed to the Stanford Cardinal back in April and still stands as the Cardinal Class of 2021’s highest-rated recruit to pledge for next year. He stands at 6’4, 185 pounds and is compared to former Arizona State QB Manny Wilkins as a potential Round 4-7 NFL draft pick.
Patu is the 13th-best dual-threat quarterback and the 33rd-best player in the state of California according to the 247Sports Composite ranking. He’s a member of the ESPN300 that ranks the 300 best athletes for each class and calls Folsom his home.
He’s every bit of a dynamic, athletic player at the position and has great testing numbers from his time at The Opening last summer. Patu also has a great lineage of family members in collegiate athletics.
His dad, Saul, was a starting LB at Oregon while his mom, Alana Burns, was a softball player for Oregon as well. His brother, Orin, plays linebacker for Cal.
Despite at least 19 scholarship offers from a bevy of Power-5, FBS schools, Patu chose Stanford and has seemingly not wavered since. And thanks to the world we live in now, we can take a look at all of his highlights to date.
Comments
Interesting Recruit For Stanford
Looks like all of his snaps are from the shotgun. Good athlete. Not sure what Shaw has in mind. Does he even play QB at Stanford…..or another position?
Hard for me to equate a 3 Star rated high school prospect with a projected NFL draft round of 4 – 7.
Nevertheless, will be interesting to watch.
By hoyaparanoia on 06.20.20 9:31am
Good backup for Tanner McKee?
McKee’s 2-year Mormon mission rendered him as out-of-sight/out-of-mind. McKee was a 4-star recruit as a pocket passer who can run, and was a 3-sport star. As a older 6’6"/220 frosh, he’s somehow been invisible, but a promising #2 prospect behind Davis Mills? With KJ Costello’s transfer, will McKee be redshirted? By the time that Ari Patu is a RS-Frosh, Tanner McKee should be solidly slotted ahead of him.
By Candid One on 06.20.20 9:14pm
While He Has Been Away From The Game For A Couple Of Years.......
…..David Shaw has to have a plan for McKee to get on to the field this year if Davis Mills runs into injury issues. We have no other credible backup QB from what I have seen, and Mills has an unfortunate history of injuries. Redshirting Freshmen seems to be a poor strategy if they can contribute………..the best ones leave early while many others eventually pursue a graduate transfer. This would obviously require Shaw to develop a game plan for a QB who will not have had time to "master the playbook". Many true Freshmen QBs have impact at other schools.
I agree with your views that Patu would seem to have a long shot to play ahead of McKee, but he would not have committed to Stanford unless he saw a reasonable chance of seeing the field at some point. Injuries can also force the issue.
By hoyaparanoia on 06.21.20 9:29am
Actually impressed by the highlights
Color me intrigued by the prospect of his stepping up for the cardinal. Things that really stand out to me are his mobility, quickness in delivery and quick decision making in progressions. He is definitely not the usual dropback pocket QB who works from the center. But I feel those can be picked up under good QB coaches far more than the raw QB traits on display.
One of the most underrated things from watching yesteryear stanford games is the mobility that Andrew luck and Kevin hogan displayed. As a pac-12 QB you will never get 100% clean pockets and open looks and in our time of possession offense 3rd down efficiency separates the good ones from the greats. The ability to make quick smart decisions even when tucking it and running was what separated those two and kept drives alive.
I will venture to guess that McKee will be groomed as the backup this year but ari could easily have subpackages next year (this year’s transfer QB from navy might see the field in that role too).
By layman on 06.26.20 3:40am
Correction sanders is from air force
Btw his highlights from the Utah state game 2 yrs back was interesting. I got to see some of Jordan love on film too from that game and understood the Packers decision to draft him. Sanders lost his job to his backup (who was mighty impressive last year in wins against Colorado I saw live).
By layman on 06.26.20 3:44am