Out of the many high school football programs, only a few have produced top quarterback talent and could be considered a QB factory. 

A few that are on that list: Mater Dei (Matt Leinart, JT Daniels and Bryce Young), St. John Bosco (Josh Rosen, Re-Al Mitchell and DJ Uigaleli), IMG Academy (Deondre Francois, Kellen Mond and Shea Patterson) and Bishop Gorman (Tate Martell, Dorian Thomas-Robinson and Micah Bowens). Although these are impressive lists, Pinnacle is considered to be one of the top QB schools with the likes of Brian Lewerke, Spencer Rattler and JD Johnson.

The quarterback is arguably the most important position on the team. The QB is the head of the team who has to call plays, do audibles, make important throws and be the leader. 

The search for a good quarterback happens in every level of football from the NFL, college, high school and even in Pop Warner football. 

Some NFL teams are said to waste a season to have their choice at the best quarterback in the next draft. Luckily for Pinnacle, they do not have to go through that for the most recent talent at QB they have had.

The most recent QBs at Pinnacle have been productive at their times at the school and gone to big college programs.

Lewerke is a senior at Michigan State and is their current starter. He has 6,539 yards, so far, in his time there. At Pinnacle, Lewerke started three years, tossed for 5,523 yards and 71 touchdowns.

Rattler was a five-star recruit out of Pinnacle and was ranked the No. 1 quarterback in his class. He was even featured on a Netflix show called “QB1: Beyond the Lights” that features three of the top quarterback prospects and follows them for a season. He was a four-year starter at Pinnacle and accumulated 11,083 passing yards and 116 TDs during his time in North Phoenix. And he even committed to Oklahoma after his sophomore season.

Rattler is now at OU where he is the backup for Jalen Hurts, but looks to compete for starting job next season and has already received high praise from coach Lincoln Riley. He will look to continue the solid QB history at Oklahoma with the likes of Kyler Murrary and Baker Mayfield just before him. Both won the Heisman Trophy and were selected first overall in the NFL draft.

Johnson is the current starter at Pinnacle. Although he backed up Rattler last year, he received multiple offers based on talent and limited playing time prior to this season, and has already committed to the University of Michigan. 

The term “ QB U” gets thrown around when looking at their last three quarterbacks, but coach Dana Zupke would not agree with the term.

“We are a QB friendly school,” Zupke said. “We have had a good strain of guys who live in the area that are happy to come to school where we are going to throw it around and we are good at it.”

The “good strain of guys who live in the area” is something offensive coordinator Mike Brown reiterates when talking about his the team's positive situation. 

“The best thing about these kids playing at Pinnacle is that all of them grew up in the neighborhoods and were supposed to go to Pinnacle,” Brown said. “These are not kids that transferred in from another attendance zone.”

Although this is the positive of the situation, there are negatives as well when athletes choose to go to another school due to playing time.

“The downside of it is that kids that do have parents that shop them around and live in the attendance zone won't go to Pinnacle,” Brown said. “When they think their kids might get beat out by the guys that are there.”

Despite this issue, the Pioneers still have had success with the QBs that are in the area and do attend Pinnacle. The key to that success for the team is utilizing the signal-callers' best abilities and making them fit their right system with their play style.

“We don’t just run a system and say that you have to fit this system,” Zupke said. “We adapt our system to the QB and what fits them.”

The adjustment to the talent they have at quarterback has gone a long way to help the quarterback reach their potential and succeed. 

“When you have special talents and see Rattler vs. JD vs. Brian, they all have their own special skill set,” Zupke said. “We adapted our offense to maximize their talents.”

This has benefited all of the quarterbacks, including Johnson. He has 2,802 yards and 26 TDs at his time in Pinnacle, and is only five games into this season. He has led the team to a 4-1 start on the campaign as the Pioneers hope to grab a spot in the inaugural Open Division tournament at the end of the season.

Brown has high praise of Johnson and has no doubts about the talent he is. 

“JD is the most coachable QB I have had and is a 'bash and bomb' type QB,” Brown said. “Very strong arm, great size, decent feet.”

Even with the likes of Lewerke and Rattler being the starters before Johnson and high hopes of the coaches, he has felt no pressure being the starter at Pinnacle.

“I don’t feel that much pressure because, Lewerke is a great quarterback and Rattler a great quarterback as well, (these are guys) who I have learned a ton from,” Johnson said. “I feel this is my time and I am ready to step in.”