By no means am I saying Zach is or will be an NFL QB, but I just want to shed a little light on this. Zach was late on the radar as a recruit due to him being tucked away at a middle classification school that ran a hybrid Gun Wing T offense. Needless to say he didn't get to throw as much and the focus at practice or the offseason was never on throwing, hence the move to a bigger school his Jr year. So really he only started consistently throwing a football his Jr year of high school. He worked his butt off and picked up a lot of things from a lot of QB coaches. He made the Elite 11 and placed very well, beating out a lot of the top ranked guys in many of the drills. Baylor jumped on Zach early (prior to Elite 11). When he commited to Baylor he shut everything down. He wouldn't even take calls from other coaches.
While he was committed to Baylor, Saban and O'Brien called him several times. This was the one school he said through it all he'd listen to. He threw for them on numerous occasions and we sat in Saban's office 3-4 times. O'Brien really liked Zach and told Saban he thought Zach's ceiling was the highest of any of the guys they were looking at. They had Ty Simpson committed and there was some uncertainty around his commitment at that time (TN was doing all they could to flip Ty and get his dad, Jason, a job at UT). Needless to say they loved Ty and thought very highly of him, but they did like Zach as well. But they had to be cautious out of fear of losing Ty. Saban looked us dead in the eyes and told us they want him to be a part of the team but at that time it was a numbers game. There was some uncertainties around Milroe and what he could give them at QB (Saban wants him on defense - heard that from Saban himself), and Paul Tyson was still enrolled, but not sure what he was going to do. So in that initial meeting Saban offered Zach a gray shirt. Zach looked him in the eye and politely told him "no thanks". They kept pushing throughout the season, having Koolaid work Zach pretty hard. They did this all the way up to early signing period, and I believe they wanted him to be a part of the class but wanted him to sign in Feb. See Bama thought they could just flip an instate kid that practically grew up in Bryant Denny (we were season ticket holders)...they have that cockiness about them when it comes to in-state kids. But Zach stood his ground and stuck with what he believed in.
Arkansas offered Zach but he wasn't feeling their recruiting tactics. UF was on the phone with him after Napier was hired pushing him to hold off his commitment and wait until Feb. Zach didn't want to do that. Collin Klein from K State absolutely loved him and was pushing hard. Joey McGuire and Zach Kittley @ Texas Tech were trying to make a late push also. And Ole Miss was at the school talking to his HC about him a ton, but coach Shade told them Zach was locked in with GT. See, once Zach committed to GT it was over. His connection to coach Key was incredible. This is very important and a huge reason Zach is at GT. It was like they had known each other for years. We knew going in that things were shaky for the current staff, but Zach just felt God was leading him to GT. Key did an exceptional job recruiting Zach. Zach felt that going to Tech he would have an opportunity to compete pretty early on. Not taking anything away from Jeff, but he felt this might be Jeff's last year at GT, so that played a big role in it. He studied the history of GT football and loved what he learned. He loved it was very close to home and that his family would be able to be around a great deal more. He is actually really big on education and he fully understands there is life after football and he is well aware of the value of a GT education.
Zach didn't pick GT as a last resort. He picked GT because he believed it was the best path for him to obtain all his goals. He believed in Brent Key and still does. Looking back on all of that now and how it's playing out, it's pretty amazing really. I say all this to say, Zach wants to be at GT. He wants to help make GT relevant again. He wants to help GT play for ACC championships and he is very, very adamant that will happen before he leaves.
About 20 minutes after the game this past Saturday Key called Zach to check in on him. He didn't have to do that, but he did because that's just the type of guy he is. Weinke also called Zach not long after the game was over. We have a huge amount of respect and love for Chris Weinke as well. He's a keeper for sure.
