photo cred: Rusty Mansel – 247 sports
It was just last week on the 10th of May when Luke Shiflett earned an offer from Middle Tennessee, and now we are here tonight, with the 2018 play-caller publicly pledging to the Blue Raiders via Twitter.
Extremely thankful to officially be a MTSU Blue Ra18er? @Mansell247 @coachtf @CoachStock @RisingSeniors pic.twitter.com/SROh12uTa2
— Luke Shiflett (@LukeShiflett) May 15, 2017
Shiflett jumped onto the scene about a year ago when we made his profile, and was a standout at The Opening, catching the eye of football expert Rusty Mansell of 247 sports. Colleges from around the country started to take a growing interest in Northwest Whitfield, which is not a high school familiar with frequent college visitors. About a year ago Columbia became the first school to offer Shiflett, and over the last year he had slowly secured more local mid-major offers.
Middle Tennessee had been recruiting Shiflett for some time, and in fact, they were the first college camp he went to last summer. Today, he revisited the school with his family before making his commitment official.
So what are the Blue Raiders getting in Shiflett? For one, they are getting one of the more polished passers in the state of Georgia and a player that has run a 4.54 confirmed college camp 40 time. He is also an excellent student with a 4.0 GPA, and is an ultimate competitor, excelling at multiple varsity sports including basketball, where he is also a star.
Last season the 2018 gunslinger threw for 2,334 passing yards, 24 TD’s and only 8 interceptions, while also rushing for 710 yards and 9 scores. One part of Shiflett’s game that you cannot quantify is his ability to create on the fly in the pocket while under duress. The athletic dual threat senses pressure well, while also keeping his eyes up field looking for open receivers.
Next season he will be breaking in some new wide receivers, and might be relied on as more of a rusher for that reason – at least early on. But we fully expect him to build on last season and put up even bigger total yard and touchdown numbers. Shiflett is the first commit for Middle Tennessee in the Class of 2018 and they will once again look to make a big impression in the state of Georgia.
