BEAVERTON, Ore. – Trae Taylor is officially in an elite fraternity as the Nebraska five-star commit was named MVP of the Elite 11 Finals following the conclusion of The Opening Finals at Nike’s World HQ on Friday.
After earning co-Alpha Dog honors from 247Sports in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, Taylor continued to look the part. While the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the new-look Top247 might not have been the most efficient signal-caller over the course of the 7-on-7 tournament, he made it clear that he can be a force multiplier in a best-on-best setting as he led an injury-riddled Midwest squad to the semifinals.
Taylor finished the two-day event 52-of-89 passing for 646 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. The statistical profile isn’t ideal, but it likely would have been much better had some of his top weapons been healthy. Instead, the Midwest had to roll out multiple defensive back projections on offense and that resulted in at least six dropped passes — some of which were tipped right to the opposition. Still, the peaks from Taylor were as high as anyone in attendance, which was also the case at the more quarterback-focused Elite 11 Finals.
In Los Angeles, Taylor put together arguably the most complete 7-on-7 game in the 20-man field as he threw for 280 yards and seven touchdowns in 20 minutes of action while hardly putting the ball on the ground. That came after he tied for our second-best score in the Vicis Pro Day and finished with the second-highest mark in the Panini Accuracy Challenge.
Taylor is in line to become the first Nebraska signee to ever hold the title of Elite 11 MVP. Notable quarterbacks to win the award in recent years include: Matthew Stafford (2005), Caleb Williams (2020), CJ Stroud (2019), Jameis Winston (2011), Tua Tagavolia (2016), Mark Sanchez (2004), Justin Fields (2017) and Julian Sayin (2023).
