SPRINGDALE — Some of the state’s best high school quarterbacks will compete against each other today to try to win the annual Top Gun QB1 Challenge.

Today’s competition, which begins at 7 p.m. at Shiloh Christian’s Champions Stadium, will be a series of on-field events where participants will be tested on strength, speed and throwing accuracy.

Former Arkansas quarterback Jason Allen, who created the quarterback challenge six years ago, said this year’s event should be exciting.

Last year’s winner, Springdale High’s Ashton Glaser, passed for 3,069 yards and 29 touchdowns for the Red’Dogs last fall and is now a freshman quarterback at Missouri.

“We’ve got a lot of talented guys out here, guys that are capable of scoring a lot of points,” Allen said. “It should be a fun competition for anyone who decides to come out. It’ll be a great way to get a football fix in the middle of July.”

Besides the 15 quarterbacks that were invited to compete, there are also five vacant spots that were left available this year for any quarterback that wanted to qualify for the competition.

The five quarterbacks that qualified on Wednesday morning are Clarksville’s Trey Schucker, Camden Fairview’s Brandon Keaton, Wynne’s Grant Smith, Springdale High’s Chris Clinard and Timberland’s (Mo.) Chase Cresong.

“We’ve had a lot of talented quarterbacks in this competition before, and I can tell we’ve got several again this year,” Allen said. “My guess is that it’ll be a really close result.”