It took six months from the time San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was selected as the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft for him to turn \u201cMr. Irrelevant\u201d into a misnomer.<\/p>\n
Since then, the much-more-relevant Purdy has drawn comparisons to the slain Brady, Peyton Manning<\/a> and, yes, seriously, Joe Montana<\/a>despite his career spanning roughly 2.5 games.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Purdy is none of those guys. He can only be himself: a gritty big-game leader who is willing to do whatever to get the job done, almost to a fault. The Niners drafted Brock Purdy, and they got Brock Purdy. A hardy few were paid to watch Purdy before his NFL glow-up, and they explained to SFGATE exactly who he is.<\/p>\n Let’s start at Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona, where Purdy was a three-year starter in one of the country’s toughest high school divisions. There, he put up numbers that helped him win the state’s top football award.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a total gamer,\u201d Jordan Hamm, a reporter for Arizona outlet Sports360AZ who covered Purdy from high school through college, told SFGATE. \u201cYou hear the same things in the NFL. He’s not the biggest guy, maybe not the quickest, but he was always super slippery and it felt like they’d have four defenders around him and, somehow, he’d get out of it and have a perfect touch pass where it would be a touchdown. It felt like always in the biggest games he would show up.\u201d<\/p>\n Hamm cited two games that stood out during Purdy’s senior season. One was a 65-63 win against Hamilton High School, where the quarterback threw for 383 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns. The other was a loss in the state championship that Hamm says Purdy \u201cpretty much was willing them to stay in that game.\u201d He threw for 322 yards and five touchdowns, completing 19 of his 42 throws.<\/p>\n Yet, in spite of what he had put together on the field, he had yet to receive an offer from a Power Five school.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve never seen a recruitment like his,\u201d Hamm said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt got to a point where his senior year he’s putting up record-setting numbers and there’s nothing there,\u201d Hamm continued. \u201cI hosted a recruiting segment for the longest time and usually I’m just doing the news, but in this case, and this is the only time I’ve ever done it, I looked into the camera and I was like, ‘Colleges , what’s the deal? What are we missing here? He’s a high character kid, good GPA, incredible leader, so much poise, has all the mental skills, maybe he’s a couple inches too short but you ca n’t argue against his production. ‘\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n twitter<\/p>\n \u2014 JordyHamm twitter<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\n <\/p>\n Purdy didn’t get his first Power 5 offer until Dec. 21, 2017, when Kansas came calling<\/a>. Things would eventually work out as he’d get an offer from the school he would commit to, Iowa State, 21 days later<\/a>though still well after his senior season.<\/p>\n A change in recruiting rules was huge. That year’s new \u201cearly signing day\u201d allowed players to make commitments official in late December, and trickled down to less-heralded recruits, who shot up recruiting boards across the country once the must-have names were signed. <\/p>\n \u201cAll of a sudden I think these coaches saw tape of Brock and it became very clear that he was the best available quarterback remaining,\u201d Hamm said. \u201cIf this happened one year prior, I don’t know if we’re talking about Brock the same way, or if we’re talking about Brock going to Iowa State. I think that timing is very important there.\u201d<\/p>\n And the timing worked out on the Cyclones’ depth chart, too. Within a single month in 2018, senior Kyle Kempt got hurt and three-star 2017 recruit Zeb Noland got benched, setting the stage for Purdy’s breakout.<\/p>\n ‘I’ve never seen a recruitment like this’<\/h2>\n
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\n <\/p>\n‘This quarterback is pretty fun’<\/h2>\n