The defenses, especially the National team, dominated yet again
JB: While there is certainly more offensive talent on the American team, I don’t want that to dismiss just how dominant the entire National team defense has been. Jacob Rodriguez was the best player I saw all week in Mobile. His coverage skills shined big time, and his instincts are truly next level. He is a guy who absolutely deserves first-round talent hype.
Pitt LB Kyle Louis was all over the field again. He is someone who has made himself a lot of money this week. Louis had a pick-six in the Backs-on-Backers drill and followed it up in team periods with several big hits and pass breakups.
TCU safety Bud Clark put together a second consecutive great practice. Clark is another one of those versatile defenders that the National team has an abundance of. In dime looks, it was often Louis and Clark playing linebacker. The two of them were very fun to watch together.
RP: To echo Joey, I’ll be shocked if the National team’s offense scores more than some garbage-time points with how sloppy they’ve looked this week. Both defenses have performed well in practices, so the American offense should have a tough battle on Saturday.
We’ve been singing the praises of Rodriguez, Louis, and Clark all week, but the amount of talent on that squad is something else, and there are a few others who made some impressive plays today.
Iowa’s Max Llewellyn hit a nasty spin move that put him right in quarterback Sawyer Robertson’s lap, forcing an errant throw.
North Carolina cornerback Thaddeus Dixon showed great eyes and timing to break on this Cole Payton throw for the INT.
But we really can’t undersell how much of a group butt-kicking it was all week.
But we gotta show our guy Ryland Bickley some love and shout out one of his Oregon State Beavers. For the second day in a row, Skyler Thomas picked off a Taylen Green throw during the American team practice. This one came on an attempted deep shot.
The tight ends are showing out
JB: Houston tight end Tanner Koziol closed out the National teams practice with a spinning catch in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. The tight ends as a whole have been surprisingly very solid throughout the week. Stanford’s Sam Roush has established himself not only as a great blocker, but a legitimate receiving threat. Alabama’s Josh Cuevas and Syracuse’s Dan Villari both caught touchdowns for the American team in 11-on-11 situations. The tight ends have been a fun group to watch over the course of the week.
Catch of the day
Nussmeier and Steelers OC candidate execute flawless two-minute drill
JB: It was arguably the best practice of the week for LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier. Interestingly enough, his offensive coordinator for this week is Steelers offensive coordinator candidate Scott Tolzein. The pair executed a flawless two-minute drill to end the day for the American team. Nussmeier lost a lot of his draft stock after being hampered by injuries and a rough season at LSU, but he’s doing everything he can to grab back the attention of teams.
Bits and bobs
- Came into the week excited to see running back Mike Washington Jr. up close and he hasn’t disappointed. Versatile back, and he finishes the week of practices with the top speed reached among RBs at 21.02 MPH
- Arkansas QB Taylen Green is a very fun developmental prospect. He has the most air yards on a single pass of any quarterback this week with that bomb to Malachi Fields that traveled a whopping 61.5 yards in the air. He also has the ability to run in a low 4.5-second 40-yard dash at the combine next month. He could be a fun player to monitor in the right situation. – JB
- Tyren Montgomery as the talk of the town during the first two practices, but had a quieter day today that included some drops. Found out today that he was set to be a walk-on basketball player at LSU in 2020, but had that derailed by the pandemic season. Only started playing organized football in 2024, yet was one of the top route runners in Mobile this week who made some impressive contested catches. Hell of a story, we’ll be rooting for him to stick with a squad next fall. – RP
- Cyrus Allen is someone both of us continue to be impressed with. He had a phenomenal catch for a touchdown in team periods. His movements and ability to separate have been apparent this week. – JB
- Diego Pavia fumbled a snap for the third straight day, this time it was in a shotgun look as opposed to under center the last two days. He has struggled this week. – JB
- Some of the other linebackers hogged the spotlight this week, but Oregon’s Bryce Boettcher was another player who was always showing up on the play, whether he was in the backfield to stop the run, breaking up the pass, or stopping a receiver short of the sticks, as he did to end one series of 11-on-11 drills where the teams were operating with a chain gang to track downs. – RP
- Something to monitor, Penn State RB Nick Singleton went down with an injury early in the day and limped off the field with a trainer. – JB
- Elsewhere on the injury front. Penn State defensive end Dani Denis-Sutton went down on the field and needed attention from the trainers, to the point that the 11-on-11 drills switched to the other half of the field. Thankfully, we saw him rejoin practice towards the end of the session. However, we also saw Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad and Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun both being escorted off the field to the locker room by trainers one right after the other. We didn’t see what happened to them, but they were both carrying their helmets and didn’t return. – RP
