Montgomery Catholic teammates Caleb McCreary and Luke Harkless commit to Troy football

Montgomery Catholic junior quarterback Caleb McCreary and senior wide receiver Luke Harkless formed one of the best passing connections in Alabama high school football this season.

While that connection is over for now, it will only be on pause for one year as McCreary and Harkless both announced their commitments to Troy football Friday afternoon.

McCreary, a 6-foot, 187-pound left-hander, is a three-star on 247Sports, No. 615 in the 247 Composite and the No. 58 quarterback in the Class of 2024. He completed 134 of 220 passes for 2,809 yards this season, throwing 43 touchdowns to just two interceptions while adding 802 yards and 10 touchdowns on 80 rush attempts.

MORE:How Caleb McCreary, Montgomery Catholic's sensational QB, is growing up in third season

MORE:Troy football rides Gunnar Watson's arm to dominant Sun Belt title win over Coastal Carolina

A three-year starter for Catholic, McCreary has a career record of 38-5 and guided the Knights to the AHSAA Class 3A state championship game in 2020 and semifinals each of the last two seasons. In his career, he's thrown for 107 touchdowns and 7,947 yards, which rank fifth and 15th in AHSAA history, respectively.

McCreary committed to Troy over offers from Georgia Tech, Maryland, Nebraska, South Alabama, UCF and others.

The 5-11, 175-pound Harkless had a huge final season with the Knights, catching 60 passes for 1,193 yards and 25 touchdowns. The 25 receiving scores rank second in AHSAA history for a single season.

Additionally, Harkless rushed nine times for 120 yards and two touchdowns, had a pair of punt return touchdowns and made 14 tackles, four tackles for loss and broke up a pass while playing defensive back. He had offers from Troy and Austin Peay.

Harkless is the 10th commit in Troy's 2023 recruiting class and second from the Montgomery area, joining Stanhope Elmore wide receiver Jackson Thomas and long snapper Colton Walls. McCreary is the Trojans' first 2024 commit.

Troy (11-2), which won a conference championship in coach Jon Sumrall's first season, has the seventh-ranked class in the Sun Belt for 2023.

Catholic went 13-1, reached the Class 4A semifinals and averaged 50 points per game with McCreary and Harkless leading the aerial attack this season.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.