http://www.news-journalonline.com/a...-parallels-between-Paxton-Lynch-Blake-Bortles
LAKE MARY — He's only worked with Paxton Lynch since Monday, but Charlie Taaffe can already draw some parallels with another well-known quarterback from Central Florida.
Taaffe, who now works year-round for quarterback training program QB Country, sees many similar traits between the Trinity Christian product and Jacksonville Jaguars star Blake Bortles. Taaffe spent six seasons as UCF's offensive coordinator, and Bortles blossomed into a first-round pick in three years of starting for the Knights.
Lynch could very well crack the first round after passing for 3,776 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and just four interceptions in his redshirt junior season.
"They're big guys, but they're both extremely athletic and mobile," Taaffe said Friday during a training session at D1 Sports Training in Lake Mary. "They can run and keep drives alive by extending plays. That's kind of the new breed of quarterback everybody's looking for in the NFL."
The similarities extend beyond merely the physical measurables. Lynch — at 6-foot-7 — stands two inches above Bortles, who set Jacksonville's single-season franchise record with 35 touchdown passes in 2015.
Both quarterbacks share similar stories in their paths to stardom.
Neither was heavily recruited out of high school. Recruiting website Rivals ranked Bortles the No. 44 pro-style quarterback in the class of 2010 despite breaking Seminole County records in passing yards (5,576) and touchdowns (53) at Oviedo High School. Lynch, who battled a knee injury his senior year, did not hold a college offer until the week before National Signing Day.
Lynch's recruitment picked up some momentum after earning Most Valuable Player honors of the 2011 Central Florida All-Star Game, throwing for 237 yards and scoring three total touchdowns. Two years earlier, Bortles was named the game's MVP.
In fact, Taaffe said he offered Lynch a scholarship over the phone around 7:30 a.m. on National Signing Day after the Knights lost out on a previous quarterback commit.
"I said, 'Look, it wasn't that we weren't interested in you, but we had one quarterback committed for a while from this class,' " Taaffe said. "He said he had just visited Memphis, they offered and he committed to them and was going to stay with his commitment. You've got to respect that.
"Some of the UCF people think we just didn't recruit him, which is not true. The scholarship didn't become available until the 11th hour."
Lynch said he was sold on Memphis when his phone rang, but the thought of playing in Orlando crossed his mind.
"The only thing that was a concern for me was being away from home," Lynch said. "I had never been away from home before. ... But talking to my parents, they knew the decision I had made and the commitment I had made to Memphis prior to that phone call. I needed to honor that.
"I believed in Coach (Justin) Fuente with what he was going to do to turn that program around. In the end, I made the right decision."
Lynch became the first redshirt freshman quarterback to start a season opener for Memphis in nearly three decades in 2013. He and Bortles faced off head-to-head that October, a 24-17 victory for UCF in which Lynch tossed two interceptions.
But both quarterbacks largely rolled through the American Athletic Conference and brought home MVP trophies in bowl games. Lynch dominated last year's Miami Beach Bowl with seven total touchdowns. Bortles led UCF to its biggest win in school history, 52-42 over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl, with 394 yards of offense and four scores.
Even trivial, coincidental parallels exist. For example, Lynch and Bortles each have a brother playing Division I college baseball.
Evin Lynch, a 6-foot-8 right-handed pitcher, started three games for Stetson in 2015. Colby Bortles slugged nine home runs for Ole Miss in his first two seasons, helping the Rebels reach the College World Series in 2014.
That's not to say there aren't differences, especially in terms of development during college.
Bortles played in more of a pro-style offense at UCF, while Lynch thrived in the spread system at Memphis. One of Lynch's primary tasks during the opening week of training is creating muscle memory for 3- and 5-step drops from under center, Taaffe said.
Additionally, Bortles was responsible for making checks at the line of scrimmage and managing the huddle.
"All the spread guys, in the gun, they start their snap count and then they stop to look over to the sidelines. That's the coach really checking the play for them," Taaffe said. "In the spread system, the coaches pretty much do it all. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Good, bad or indifferent, that's not what he's going to be required to do on Sundays."
