- Name
- Drew Novak
- Position
- QUARTERBACK
- Hometown
- MT Orab, Ohio
- High School
- Western Brown
- Height
- 6-6
- Weight
- 195
- Recruiting Class
- 2023
Drew Novak is one of the top quarterbacks in Ohio for the 2023 recruiting class. However, we feel college coaches might be missing the boat as Novak is only receiving high interest from DII college programs. Novak is a multi-sport athlete built with a long frame and just puts up big numbers. As a junior, he went 344-of-512 for 5,269 yards and 56 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions. Add in the fact he also rushed for 1,202 yards and 21 touchdowns, and you see why we feel college coaches are paying too much attention to the competition he plays against. As a sophomore, Novak passed for 2,543 yards and 26 touchdowns with five interceptions while rushing for 418 yards and five touchdowns.
Novak earned Ohio Division Three Player of the Year honors and was a finalist for Ohio’s Mr. Football award.
Novak stays calm in the pocket and can roll the pocket to buy more time. He keeps his eyes downfield, looking for an open receiver. When rushed, Novak can deliver the ball from several locations. Over the years, we’ve seen many quarterbacks not get the attention they deserve, and Novak is the latest. We scouted former Reading high school and University of Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike in high school and see many of the same traits. However, we feel Novak is more advanced in throwing the ball and is overall a better athlete than Pike was at the same stage of their development.
Before the start of the 2022 season, Novak is 76 yards shy of becoming the 14th player in Ohio High School history to throw for at least 10,000 yards during his career entering the season with 9,924 passing yards. He’s also 1,505 yards away from passing Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for sixth place on the OHSAA’s career list. Burrow threw for 11,428 yards during his prep career at The Plains Athens high school from 2012-2014. If Novak can match his output from his junior season, he’d place behind all-time leader Maty Mauk who passed for 18,932 yards, and Benjamin Mauk, with 17,364 yards during their careers at Kenton high school.
The knock on Novak seems to be one we’ve heard before. He Plays low-level competition and plays in an offense that allows him to put up big numbers. Over the years, we’ve heard the same said about Burrow, the Mauk brothers, and Zac Dysert before all had solid college careers.
