Florida State football commit analysis: AJ Duffy scouting report

The most important singular position on the football field is quarterback. The Florida State Seminoles landed a really good one recently in AJ Duffy. Duffy joins Nicco Marchiol as quarterback commitments for the 2022 recruiting class. Duffy is a complete passer in the truest sense and he is one of the highest rated that FSU has landed in years.

Typically I would write a scouting report and provide gifs as examples. However, I wanted to try something different this time around. Kevin Little and I sat down and went through every clip of Duffy’s Hudl highlights. We broke down his game and discussed in depth some of the things we like and dislike. Please watch the breakdown (or listen to it) at the bottom.

Scouting Report

Grace

Duffy has very graceful feet in the pocket. What do I mean by that? He is very light on the balls of his feet while dropping, moving, and throwing in the pocket. This is a sign of a comfortable quarterback but also one that can manipulate space while keeping his eyes down field. You see Duffy bouncing in his stance while going through reads and this is a very good thing.

Release

Duffy’s release is fluid, quick and natural. There will not be much work to do on his release when he gets to college. I would like to see his elbow come up a little bit to ensure the ball doesn’t sail. The ball comes out quick though and that’s a positive. We discuss in the video about his base and why at times he has a soft front. This soft front impacts his delivery and is something that will be worked on when he gets to college.

Reading

While Duffy is not being asked to scan and read the entire field he is asked to read defenders on some single read throws. Duffy displays the ability to read a single defender and throw off of him which is a good start as a sophomore. The spread offense has removed much of the two or three reads for a quarterback but you can see the potential on Duffy’s tape. This all translates nicely into Mike Norvell’s offense.