The Tar Heels appear to have their future in tremendous hands. Bryce Baker, the team’s quarterback commit in the 2025 class, just wrapped up a three day stay in Los Angeles for the Elite 11 Finals where he was able to shine enough to be named one of this year’s Elite 11. Here is a breakdown of his performance and what it means for the future of this Tar Heel offense.
Baker got things off to a good start on Day 1 in the quarterback drills and railshot challenge portion of the week. On3 Sports and 247Sports analysts, who were both in attendance, were wowed by the arm strength and footwork that he presented. The Elite 11 staff liked what they saw from him as well, ranking him seventh after the first day.
Day 2 was not nearly as successful for Baker. He completed 14 of his 20 passes in the mock pro day, missing some throws high and throwing behind a couple of other receivers. On3 Sports’s Charles Power did credit Baker for some “impressive throws” throughout the night, but it was clearly his worst of the three days supported by the fact he was not ranked on the Day 2 top performers list by the Elite 11 staff.
Baker saved his best performance for the final day. He put together arguably the best performance of anyone in attendance during the 7-on-7 portion of the event, completing 19 of his 25 passes and find the endzone five different times. That success was enough to land him a spot firmly in the final rankings that the Elite 11 staff and placed him 8th on On3 Sports rankings from the event and 9th on 247Sports rankings.
This week should have confirmed to anyone still questioning whether Bryce Baker being the next star quarterback that he has what it takes. It’s far from a guarantee that every blue-chip quarterback pans out, but with what we saw Mack Brown’s staff do with the talents that were Sam Howell and Drake Maye, fellow Elite 11 quarterbacks coming out of high school, it’s hard not to be excited about what Baker could bring to the quarterback room starting next year.