Nebraska football commit Daniel Kaelin entered the Elite 11 Finals with the opportunity to prove he belonged in the conversation among the country's premier quarterback talents.
Done.
Kaelin, the 2024 star out of Bellevue West, cemented himself in that elite tier with an outstanding performance during the three-day competition. For his efforts, he was named to the "Elite 11" as one of the top 11 quarterbacks in the field.
In addition to Elite 11 MVP Julian Sayin (five-star Alabama commit), there were 11 others named to that top "Elite 11" group:
• Five-stars Dylan Raiola (Georgia commit) and Jadyn Davis (Michigan)
• Four-stars CJ Carr (Notre Dame), Will Hammond (Texas Tech), Colin Hurley (LSU), DJ Lagway (Florida), and Air Noland (Ohio State)
• Three-stars Kaelin, Ethan Grunkemeyer (Penn State), Hauss Hejny (TCU) and Luke Kromenhoek (Florida State)
Kaelin had a decent first day on Wednesday but was overall up-and-down. As expected, though, he bounced back in a big way on Thursday during the Pro Day competition. He earned a score of 43 points to finish tied for fifth with Colorado three-star commit Danny O'Neil and uncommitted three-star Trever Jackson. Sayin won the event going away (49 points), but Kaelin finished just behind three others – Hammond (45 points), Carr (44) and Raiola (44).
On Friday, the final day of the event, Kaelin won the Elite 11 Accuracy Challenge with 56 points to edge out Sayin (53 points) before a 7-on-7 tournament wrapped things up.
Winning the accuracy challenge helped buoy Kaelin into that premier group, and it wasn't a surprise to see him rise to the occasion in that event – especially since placing the ball with precision is one of the reasons Matt Rhule, Marcus Satterfield and the Huskers badly wanted him in their class.
“As far as being a thrower, I would say first and foremost, accuracy (is my strength)," Kaelin told Inside Nebraska when asked to give a self-evaluation of his best traits as a quarterback. "I feel that if there's a window somewhere that the ball can fit in, I can put it in any window. Obviously, I'm not going to say I have a crazy-elite arm. But, I mean, if you look in the NFL, half the guys that have started – a lot of Hall of Famers like Drew Brees and a bunch of those guys – don't have incredibly elite arms. But I know I have more than enough arm strength to make every throw on the field.”
RELATED: Inside Nebraska's exclusive three-part series on Kaelin
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Kaelin followed in the footsteps of Gretna star Zane Flores as the second consecutive quarterback from the state of Nebraska to earn an Elite 11 Finals invitation. No quarterback from the state had ever earned his way to the competition, but now the Cornhusker State has seen two showcase their talent out in California.
“That's a super high-level fraternity to be involved in, and I'm super honored to be involved with that,” Kaelin said. "I think what some people kind of overlook is just – especially with what Zane did last year, being the first guy ever out of the state (to go to Elite 11). That's huge. It's just never happened before and training with Zane since middle school and now being invited, it just means so much. I'm just super hyped to have that happen.
"It’s definitely cool to kind of be giving Nebraska some more respect for our high school quarterback talent. And I think that talent’s definitely developed at a really high level over the last couple years, and I think a lot of that can be given credit to JT and Warren Academy.”
Kaelin arrived in California as the 16th-ranked quarterback out of the 20 who earned their way to the Elite 11 Finals. But the senior-to-be, who is now up to 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, may rise up those rankings after proving what he can do.
The future looks bright in the Husker quarterback room.
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