Skyler Mornhinweg committed to Florida on Monday. That's after massive changes out of his control forced him to abandon commitments to Stanford and Penn State.
Photo by Jim Stout
It has by no means been an easy recruiting process for
Skyler Mornhinweg — through no fault of his own.
The standout 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback from
St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia) gave a verbal commitment to then-Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh as a sophomore. But when Harbaugh went to the San Francisco 49ers, Mornhinweg wanted to explore other options.
The next choice happened to be Penn State, a selection he made over the summer. Mornhinweg liked coach Joe Paterno's old-school style and the way the coaching legend graduated his players and ran his program. So when Paterno was fired as a casualty of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Mornhinweg felt compelled to reconsider another option.
That option? Florida.
Skyler Mornhinweg, St. Joseph's Prep
Photo by Ed Rohde
The quarterback said so Monday night, amid much speculation.
"Last Friday I committed to coach [Will] Muschamp, but I actually wanted to wait a little bit out of respect for Coach Paterno's funeral," said Mornhinweg, the son of Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. "Penn State is a great place, but I picked Florida for a few reasons. I got the opportunity to meet the players and they're a great group of guys. I was also really impressed with coach Muschamp and I liked coach [Brent] Pease as the offensive coordinator.
"They're building an outstanding program there, and Coach Pease is installing a system that fits really well with a lot of things I like to do. I'm real excited to get to Gainesville. I have to admit, it is a relief. My parents and [St. Joe's] coach [Gabe] Infante have been really, really supportive. It's good to have it over with. Coach Infante has done a super job in looking out for me in this whole process, and I wanted to make sure I told Penn State before I called coach Muschamp."
This past season, Mornhinweg accounted for 27 touchdowns and amassed 2,529 total yards in leading the Hawks to a 7-4 overall record. He completed 146 of 276 passes for 1,787 yards and 21 touchdowns. He finished his career throwing for 4,861 yards and 53 touchdowns.
"I'm ecstatic for Sky," Infante said. "No kid has ever gone through a situation like this in all the years that I've been coaching, and I'm really happy for the young man. He's been through a lot and handled it with class. When Prep lost its head coach after his sophomore year, Sky was being pressured by outside sources to transfer, and we lost a bunch of kids. Sky stayed and handled it. I can't really say enough good things about the kid. He's shown nothing but class battling through adversity like he was Peyton Manning. I can't wait for him to take the reigns of that Florida program and shut everyone up that said he couldn't play SEC football.
"I'm happy for the kid and I think he's entering a great situation. He's going to play for a coach who really wants him. It's an opportunity for Sky to play at the highest level — the SEC. He's going to play at not only one of the best schools, but in the top conference in the country. Sky is going to be fine, he's going to be great. I can't wait to see him play at Florida."
