Elijah Haven

Physical Profile

Haven carries a prototypical franchise-quarterback frame: 6-5 with listed weights ranging from 215 (Wikipedia/local press) to 235 (247Sports profile) across the last year, meaning he has added real mass since his commitment. He is a legitimate two-sport athlete, an all-state basketball player who averaged 13 points and 10 rebounds as a freshman and played guard in high-level AAU, and 247Sports credits him with 'dunker's athletic ability.' That translates to an unusually high release point, natural throwing angles from a 3/4 slot, and enough functional agility and power to be a real red-zone runner (44 career rushing touchdowns, 948 rushing yards as a sophomore). He was still splitting time with basketball into his junior year and had reportedly thrown only a handful of times between December 2025 and March 2026, so his football-specific conditioning and mechanics have obvious room to grow even from this baseline.

Play Style

Haven plays like a supersized point guard. He sees the field from a high vantage point, wants to hold the ball and let concepts develop, then delivers with a compact 3/4 release that can flatten into a sidearm when a lane closes. He is a rhythm thrower within structure but is at his best when the play breaks: he slides away from pressure rather than bailing, keeps his eyes downfield, and throws accurately on the move to both sides. The 2025 tape shows a heavy dose of RPO and quick-game efficiency mixed with vertical shots where his velocity and ball placement outside the numbers stand out. As a runner he is a power-first athlete who lowers the shoulder near the goal line, not a scrambler who hunts open grass. Turnover avoidance is a genuine trait, not a product of conservatism, given his 12-plus yards per attempt.

Strengths

• Elite efficiency and ball security: 72 percent completions, 12.25 yards per attempt and only 7 interceptions on 332 attempts as a junior (roughly one pick per 47 throws), with 134 career TD passes against 17 interceptions across three seasons.
• Pocket poise and play extension: Andrew Ivins of 247Sports describes him as 'rather confident under duress' with the ability to avoid pressure, buy time and deliver from varied arm angles; the two-point conversion he completed while being tackled in the 2025 playoffs is the film cut coaches cite.
• Processing speed: LSU performance director Jack Marucci's cognitive testing reportedly graded his football comprehension comparable to college starters, and Ivins notes he 'processes the game quickly for a high school passer.'
• Off-platform and on-the-move distribution: comfortable throwing from the pocket or on designed movement, mixing touch and velocity, and he validated it against peers at the 2026 Elite 11 Finals (16 of 20 in the pro-day session, nine straight to open, earned an Elite 11 selection).
• Dual-threat production that is not gimmicky: 2,383 career rushing yards and 44 rushing TDs at his size make him a goal-line and short-yardage weapon without the offense being built around QB run.

Areas to Improve

• Decision-making and timing consistency: Ivins' own evaluation says he 'must continue improving as a decision-maker' and that his 'peaks' are elite but not yet his floor; Elite 11 observers saw him 'up and down' on Day 1 before settling in.
• Level of competition: Dunham plays Louisiana Division III Select (small-school private), so pressure looks, disguised coverage and closing speed on his intermediate throws will be a different problem at Alabama.
• Football-only development: with basketball consuming winters, his footwork, drop mechanics and offseason throwing volume lag his physical tools; the first full year of dedicated QB training should produce a visible jump.
• Body composition management: he has moved from 215 to 235 within a year; keeping the mobility that makes him dangerous while carrying the added weight is a real coaching point.

College Projection

He will arrive in Tuscaloosa in 2027 into one of the deepest rooms in the country: Austin Mack and Keelon Russell (2026 starters), Jett Thomalla and Tayden Kaawa, plus fellow 2027 commit Trent Seaborn. Expect a redshirt or developmental year in 2027 while Russell holds the job, with a real competition for the starting role in 2028 and a multi-year starting run from 2028 or 2029 onward. 247Sports projects him as 'a multi-year starter for a College Football Playoff hopeful,' and the raw production plus the frame support that even in a crowded room. His stated comfort with the competition ('not being afraid to compete') and a hard commit that survived a Georgia push both suggest he is not a flight risk.

NFL Outlook

This is a first-round-caliber profile if the development curve holds. The 6-5 frame, arm strength, off-platform accuracy, interception avoidance and cognitive testing all fit what NFL evaluators want in a 2030 or 2031 draft class, and 247Sports' comparison is a long-time NFL starter in Jacoby Brissett, which reads as a floor rather than a ceiling. The variables are the ones that always decide QB drafts: whether the decision-making tightens against SEC defenses and whether he wins and holds the Alabama job for two-plus seasons. His two-sport background means his football ceiling is arguably less mapped than most five-star quarterbacks, which cuts both ways for scouts.

Best Fit

A pro-style spread with heavy play-action and movement passing, exactly what Alabama's staff under Kalen DeBoer and passing-game coordinator Bryan Ellis runs. He does not need an offense built around designed QB runs, but a scheme that uses his size in short-yardage and red-zone packages and lets him throw on the move from bootleg and half-roll actions will maximize him. The ideal environment is a program with elite receivers and a veteran offensive line so he can be a distributor first, plus a staff that will invest a full developmental year in mechanics after his basketball-split high school career.