Michigan Recruiting: Zach Gentry Commits -- Profile

Michigan Football Recruiting by GBMWolverinePosted at 8:00am — 1/25/2015

Michigan Wolverine Recruiting: Zach Gentry Commits — Profile

GBMWolverine Readers: Here is an overview of recent verbal commitment Zach Gentry.

It certainly is no secret that quarterback quality and quantity have affected the Michigan football program for several years. Further, it is also not a secret that head coach Jim Harbaugh values quarterback quality and quantity. For a team to gain commitments from several promising quarterback candidates, there must be proven success on the field or documented success at quarterback development. Neither has occurred at Michigan the last few years, but that could now change.

Apparently Zach Gentry believes the above line of thought and he committed to Michigan this Saturday. Gentry is a former Texas commit, and he is another example of this year’s large bank of decommits.

More from Michigan Football Recruiting

Gentry is a big dude, in the line of Ryan Mallett, being listed at 6’ 6” and 230 pounds. He is a four star recruit who was named the Gatorade player of the year in New Mexico where he enjoyed a great senior year throwing for nearly 3,000 yards, running for over 1,000 yards and accounting for nearly 50 touchdowns. He has an impressive grade point average. 247 lists his speed at 4.68 for the forty-yard dash, perhaps, or perhaps not, a generous report. Alabama, Nebraska, TCU, and Louisville offered.

Zach Gentry
Height: 6’6
Weight: 230
Number: 11
Current Position: Quarterback
Future Position: Quarterback
City/State: Albuquerque, New Mexico
High School: Eldorado
Head Coach: Charlie Dodson
Recruiter: Jim Harbaugh (HC), Tim Drevno (OC/OL), and Jedd Fisch (WR/QB).
Official Visit: 1/23/2015
Committed: 1/24/2015
Top 5 other Offers: Alabama, Baylor, TCU, Tennessee, and Texas.
Bench Max: 225
GPA: 3.8
Class: 2015 Michigan Wolverine Recruiting Class (Verbal Commit).

Follow Zach Gentry: on Twitter

Rankings:
24/7: 4-star.
ESPN: 4-star.
Rivals: 4-star.
Scout: 4-star.

Note: Stars do matter, but are not absolute in predicting success within a football program. So, with that in mind the GBMWolverine Staff has cleverly come up with a new system of ranking. We are using footballs instead of stars, how can one argue against a system that clever? Below are the interpretations of football power predicted way too boldly long before it matters. In other words, we will give informed opinion with the crystal ball and let the players determine what will happen through years of hard work.

Criteria: Raw talent, athleticism, position of need, intangibles.

GBMWolverine Rankings:

10 footballs: Instant impact player.
9 footballs: Three or four-year starter at a high level.
8 footballs: A starter with all league potential.
7 footballs: A meaningful starter at some time during a career.
6 footballs: A spot starter or special teams player.
5 footballs: Not in the two deep after a two years.
4 footballs: Never made it.
1-3 footballs: See the above.

We gave him two scores, 7 for his current status of performance, and 9 for his high ceiling.

Remember just as we did during the season with grading positions or groups we are very tough graders and expect a lot out of those positions or players so this is no different here.

Overview:

Zach Gentry is a tall and athletic quarterback with a super high ceiling. Zach threw for over 2200 yards, rushed for over 900, and accounted for 40 touchdowns. He was a three year high school starter who also threw for almost 3000 yards his first two seasons. Zach is a very good student with a reported 3.8 GPA.

Strengths:

Zach has great skills and length for a quarterback. Not only is he fast, but he also is elusive and runs hard. Zach shows very good versatility, being a competent pocket passer and also able to break contain on bootlegs and waggles. Currently Zack has good arm strength that will improve when his mechanics get better: more on that later. His film archive shows good accuracy and touch on his passes, welcome news to Michigan football followers.

Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

Concerns/Needs Work:

Zack needs to be lighter on his feet when in the pocket, that is, he is a bit flat and heavy footed in the pocket. Currently Zack throws primarily with his upper body, and also has a tendency to not step into his throws and throw off his back foot. Despite the warts, he still has a plus arm. With improved mechanics his zip and velocity will pick up quite a bit.

Red-shirt or play his Freshman Year?

GBMWolverine believes he will likely red-shirt his first year because his fundamentals need to improve. Along with having Shane Morris (Junior), Wilton Speight (Red-shirt Freshman), Alex Malzone (Incoming Freshman) already on campus and participating in spring ball, and Russell Bellomy (5th year Senior) it might make it pretty tough to win the starting job just in fall practice, but not impossible either especially with little game experience by quarterback on the Michigan roster.

Zach Gentry reminds the GBMWolverine Staff of — Former Michigan Football Player — Ryan Mallett — who played Quarterback. His passing reminds us of Mallett, but his athletic ability far exceeds Ryan Mallett’s.

High School Coach Comments:

Charlie Dodson Zach Gentry’s high school coach at Eldorado believes that Zach will probably going to be a better college player than he is in high school, with being he was a little bit of a late developer. His motor skills had to catch up with his body because he grew so fast. He is also a very good basketball player.

Video Highlights:

National signing day for football is February 4, 2015 and a lot needs to happen for Michigan to land the fifteen to seventeen scholarship prospects in the next 11 days that they have available for this 2015 recruiting class.

Michigan currently has eight recruits at this time with Brian Cole (WR/S), and Alex Malzone (QB) already on campus. Then we have committed recruits Andrew David (K), Tyree Kinnel (DB/S), Grant Newsome (OL), and Jon Runyan Jr. (OL). The new additions to the recruiting class are obviously Zach Gentry (QB) and the first commit for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan with Reuben Jones (DE).

Final Thoughts:

We welcome Zach Gentry to Michigan and hope he has a successful career on and off the football field as a student-athlete at the University of Michigan. Go Blue!

More from GBMWolverine

Please comment on our GBMWolverine Message Board about this article and read what others comment and give us your thoughts, agree or disagree.

Just a reminder you must be a member to participate on the Message Board. Here is the link GBMWolverine Register for those people interested in becoming a member.

You can contact us at our e-mail address: GBMWolverine

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

Home/Michigan Football Recruiting