Editor’s note: Two more quarterbacks were invited to the Elite 11 Finals on Tuesday evening — Nick Starkel (Argyle, Texas; Oklahoma State commit) and Shane Buechele (Arlington, Texas; Texas commit).

Quarterback gurus Trent Dilfer and George Whitfield were intrigued by what they saw over the weekend in Los Angeles at the Elite 11 Semifinals, a two-day event showcasing the top 30 signal callers in the country for the 2016 class.

Two SEC commits, four-star Brandon McIlwain and five-star Shea Patterson, didn’t disappoint and earned two of the remaining four invites to the Elite 11 Finals at Nike’s The Opening camp later this summer.

Among the eight highly-rated passers who had already secured Finals invites before the event, five are SEC commits or targets including Jacob Eason, the nation’s top-ranked pro-style quarterback with his sights set on Georgia.

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McIlwain, a South Carolina commit, shined during the evaluation period and flashed incredible accuracy with great technique to win MVP honors. Dilfer raved about the Pennsylvania native’s attention to detail and maturity during pre-7 on 7 meetings.

“Brandon, I can’t say enough about Brandon. I hadn’t seen Brandon in a year and to see him come in and he made eye contact with me the first meeting,” Dilfer said per 247Sports’ Barton Simmons. “Every meeting he was so locked in taking copious notes. He was so invested in the process. We’ve had kids do that before and then stink it up on the field. And he was awesome on the field.

“So the combination of that, he’s everything we’re looking for in a kid. If Brandon McIlwain isn’t a major league baseball pitcher, second baseman or NFL quarterback, he’s probably gonna be more successful being a senator or the president of the united states or a CEO. He’s that kind of kid.”

McIlwain joined Ole Miss gem Patterson as passers who impressed and out-played others in contention for those final four invites. Patterson had one of the strongest arms at the event, firing missiles through hapless targets during the skills portion.

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He was one of the last quarterbacks to arrive on Saturday after taking the 5 a.m. red eye out of Memphis, Tenn. Patterson spent the previous day in Oxford, Miss. at the Rebels’ elite camp.

“Shea again was a no-brainer,” Dilfer said. “Shea I would have invited last year as a sophomore. I was trying to break the rules last year and bring him as a sophomore.”

Patterson has 29 scholarship offers, but he isn’t the SEC’s leader in the category. That distinction belongs to Tennessee commit and Elite 11 finalist Jarrett Guarantano (Oradell, N.J.) who holds 35 offers.

SEC targets/commits who reached the Elite 11 Finals at Nike (Beaverton, Oregon)

  • Jacob Eason, five-star, Georgia
  • Shea Patterson, five-star, Ole Miss
  • Feleipe Franks, four-star, LSU
  • Jarrett Guarantano, four-star, Tennessee
  • Brandon McIlwain, four-star, South Carolina
  • Jawon Pass, four-star, uncommitted
  • Dillon Sterling-Cole, three-star, uncommitted

Other Elite 11 finalists include Messiah DeWeaver (Michigan State), K.J. Costello (Stanford), Jett Duffey (Texas Tech), Malik Henry (Florida State) and Dwayne Haskins (Maryland).

The remaining 30 semifinalists — and where they’re committed — are listed below:

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