North Cobb's Singleton earns Elite 11 recognition

Malachi Singleton is Elite.

The North Cobb quarterback followed Tuesday’s solid pro day workout with another top-notch performance Wednesday at the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles, which earned him one of the coveted spots on the final 11-man roster — a competition to choose the best high school quarterbacks in the nation.

The final day was highlighted by a 7-on-7 tournament and drill called the accuracy gauntlet.

The gauntlet featured rings in different areas of the field. The quarterbacks each had four attempts to throw a pass through the rings in two fast-paced sessions. The first has quarterbacks working within the structure of the offense, while the second showed their ability to perform under duress.

Singleton finished tied for second with Brock Glenn of Lausanne Collegiate School in Tennessee, each scoring 47.5 points for the day. It was Singleton’s best performance of the week, and it secured him a spot in the Elite 11.

Miami commit Emory Williams, from Florida’s Milton High School, won the gauntlet competition with 49 points.

Sports Illustrated ranked the 20 finalists after each day’s competition. In its ranking, Singleton improved in each session, going from 15th to sixth to second. Overall, SI had him finishing in sixth place.

“Singleton brought a composed swagger into the event and ultimately climbed the rankings each day,” the publication wrote. “Eyes began to notice the stocky future Razorback when he made seven consecutive money throws and a catchable end zone slant to conclude his pro day circuit, only for Singleton to pace the gauntlet with three money throws in a row right out of the gate. When the gauntlet multipliers were in effect, Singleton capitalized with six catchable or better passes out of seven attempts — he was streaky when it mattered most.”

The overall MVP of this week’s competition was Oklahoma commit Jackson Arnold, from Denton Guyer High School in Texas.

The final roster was made by the Elite 11 coaching staff, determined evenly from two aspects — the quarterbacks’ junior season film and performance, and his evaluation and traits from this week’s competition. The final Elite 11 was released alphabetically and did not include final standings.

Singleton’s performance made him the third Cobb County quarterback to earn the Elite 11 distinction, joining former Harrison standout and now Chicago Bears starter Justin Fields (2017), along with former Marietta star and current UNLV signal-caller Harrison Bailey (2019).