re: Class of 2017 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: Say Your Goodbyes Edition

Steve Wiltfong CB'd Ruiz to Bama

Sure hope so

OT Walker Little, and Marvin Wilson's teammate, got a few CBs to Stanford this weekend. That's great news in regards to Wilson and keeping him from Ole Miss. Little is an OM legacy and was seen as one of the main reasons Wilson was considering them.

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Ole Miss recruiting is way down this year. Very Underwhelming

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I wonder why?

Even though Maurice Smith was mulling a transfer, he's not listed in the Media Guide.

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BEAVERTON, Ore. — Saturday’s action at The Opening Finals featured the OL/DL challenge, hours of Nike 7on7 pool play and the first round of the Nike 7on7 Championship Tournament at night. This year, we’re breaking down our prospect reports by region instead of 7on7 team. Here’s who caught our eye today from Texas.

Alpha Dog

OL Walker Little — At 6-foot-7, 305 pounds, Little is a monster — literally. Little’s size and length is engulfing. The four-star prospect was the most consistent offensive lineman of the day and was clearly the best of the group. Edge defenders failed to beat him with speed and those that tried to engage him had no chance. Little is on pace to come out of the event as one of the top ranked offensive linemen in the country.

Next 5

RB J.K. Dobbins — The Ohio State commit showed that he is definitely an all-purpose back by using his speed to get open down the sidelines on several occasions. A small-school star, Dobbins is used to playing a little bit of everything for La Grange. He is a dynamic athlete that won’t be only used to tote the rock at the next level.

LB Anthony Hines — Hines started off strong as he came away with an interception of Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the first game of the day. Hines was excellent in coverage, has great length and moved extremely well. While he is the No. 1 inside linebacker in the nation, Hines has the features of an outside backer.

LB Baron Browning — The five-star prospect was kind of quiet today, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Browning did a terrific job of not allowing throwing lanes. At 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, Browning moves well in space. Browning has a nice blend of length and speed, which allows him to excel in coverage.

S Jeffrey Okudah — A five-star recruit, Okudah is ranked as the No. 1 safety in the nation, but he is a true lockdown cornerback. Okudah shut down the entire side of his field for Alpha Pro and allowed other talented defenders to make big plays. Okudah is a complete defensive back that can play anywhere in the secondary.

S Robert Barnes — Barnes might not be the biggest name on this list, but the four-star prospect was perhaps the best prospect not named Walker Little from Texas today. The Oklahoma commit was a ball hawk on the back end, deflecting a number of passes and logging an interception against Hyper Cool.

Emptying the Notebook

— Both Texas quarterbacks Sam Ehlinger and Chris Robison had up and down days. Ehlinger started off strong as he threw a pair of touchdown passes in his first game but failed to get the offense going in his next two appearances. Ehlinger had a nice end to the day as he threw one touchdown and led his team to a win in the championship bracket. Robison threw for just one touchdown in three games.

— This is a strong year in the state for wide receivers, but the position group didn’t really impress. Omar Manning was out with injury, Tylan Wallace struggled with drops and Tyrell Shavers was quiet. The best of the bunch was Oklahoma commit Jalen Reagor, who did some damage in the slot.

— It wasn’t a good day for players in the trenches from the Lone Star State. Five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson didn’t have his best day, while offensive linemen like Xavier Newman, Austin Deculus and Jack Anderson were inconsistent.

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BEAVERTON, Ore. – The Opening Finals are a wrap. After three days of position drills, 1on1 competition and a 7on7 tournament that culminated in a championship for Team VaporSpeed at the Nike World Headquarters, it’s time to close the book on the premier all-star event of the summer. This year’s we’re breaking down our prospect reports by region instead of 7on7 team. Here’s the players from Texas that caught our eye this week from the West Coast.

ALPHA DOG

OT Walker Little, Houston Episcopal: This was an easy call as the 6-foot-7, 303-pound lineman improved his stock more than anybody else in the state over the course of the week. Already built like an NFL left tackle, Little has trimmed up and gotten more athletic recently. He showed his nasty side on Sunday when he threw four-star defensive end Drew Smith to the ground in one-on-ones.

NEXT FIVE

S BJ Foster, Angleton (2018): The top-ranked player in the state for the class of 2018, Foster was relatively quiet but steady the first two days. He did have an interception on Saturday but saved his best for Sunday. In overtime of the first tournament game, he had a pick to seal the win. He had another in the championship game en route to helping his team to the title. He also had several big pass breakups and proved to be one of the top defensive backs in attendance, regardless of class.

RB J.K. Dobbins, La Grange: The nation’s No. 3 all-purpose back and No. 50 prospect overall, the Ohio State commit is one of the best pound-for-pound players in the country. He showed speed getting open deep several times but was also able to use his change of directions to make defenders miss.

S Robert Barnes, Southlake Carroll: The 6-foot-3, 194-pound Oklahoma commit does not always get as much publicity as some of the other top defensive backs in the state but he had an outstanding weekend in Oregon. For the second day in a row on Sunday, the four-star logged an interception, picking off Michigan commit Dylan McCaffrey.

LB Anthony Hines, Plano East: It’s not easy for linebackers to get noticed in the seven-on-seven format but the nation’s top inside linebacker prospect had several nice pass breakups throughout the weekend. He was able to run stride for stride with running backs on wheel routes and in the flats.

S Jeffrey Okudah, South Grand Prairie: The five-star safety prospect did not do anything flashy but, then again, the quarterbacks stayed away from him most of the time. Most impressive was the fact that the 6-foot-1, 188-pound defender played corner much of the time, playing man against some of the best outside receivers in attendance.

TOP PLAY

Foster gets the nod as his game-winning interception paced the way for his team to make it to the title game.

EMPTYING THE NOTEBOOK

-Lancaster four-star wide receiver Omar Manning had a real chance to be one of the stars of the event but a lingering hamstring injury caused him to miss all but a couple of reps in the Elite 11 portion of the event.

-Though his first day was not what he was hoping for, Frisco offensive guard Jack Anderson rebounded the next two days to have some solid one-on-one reps. The Texas Tech commit and two-time Opening finalist is very strong on the interior of the line. He barely missed the cut of top performers from the Lone Star State.

-A couple receivers from Texas – Alabama commit Tyrel Shavers and Oklahoma commit Jalen Reagor and Oklahoma State commit Tylan Wallace – both were relatively quiet throughout the week. However, both had touchdowns in the championship game.

-Five-star Kennedale linebacker Baron Browning is built like a senior in college already. He looked solid in coverage but, as previously stated, it is hard for linebackers to truly stand out.

-Five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson had his moments but was not quite as consistent as one would expect from a Top 10 national talent. He’s definitely very, very good though.

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BEAVERTON, Ore. – The Opening Finals are a wrap. After three days of position drills, 1on1 competition and a 7on7 tournament that culminated in a championship for Team Vaporspeed at the Nike World Headquarters, it’s time to close the book on the premier all-star event of the summer. This year, we’re breaking down our prospect reports by region instead of 7on7 team. Here’s who caught our eye this week from the Southeast region (not including Florida, which has its own article).

Note: We didn't include quarterbacks in this piece.

Alpha Dog

Richard LeCounte III — The 4-star safety from Hinesville (Ga.) Liberty County made play … after play … after play all week. Lecounte covered a ton of ground — and always seemed to be in the right spot. He’s freakishly athletic, breaks on the ball extremely well and has uncanny instincts. He had numerous pass break-ups and multiple interceptions over the course of the event. Basically, he’s a playmaker.

Next 5

Devonta Smith, Amite (La.) — The top-100 receiver doesn’t seem to have many, if any flaws. His hands were terrific. He made every kind of catch, with some of his best coming in traffic. He might be the smoothest receiver in the country.

Jamyest Williams, Boganville (Ga.) Grayson — The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Williams arguably was the best player pound-for-pound at The Opening. Playing nickel, broke on the ball as well as anyone here, covered a ton of ground and had some of the slickest interceptions you’ll see. One of his picks came off a deflection and was returned for a touchdown.

AJ Terrell, Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake — Terrell was among the best corners in the event, applying blanket coverage throughout. His ability to shrink a receiver’s catch radius with his length was vital to his success. But he proved to be extremely quick and physical — and he smoothly turned his hips in coverage.

Drew Jordan, Suwannee (Ga.) North Gwinnett — Jordan is a slightly undersized weak-side defensive end, but he continues to shine against high-caliber competition. He’s quick and explosive off the ball, re-directs well and gets great leverage. Also, Jordan is tenacious. The Duke commit lived up to his 4-star ranking from 247Sports and reached the final five in one-on-ones.

Jamaree Salyer, Atlanta (Ga.) Pace Academy — The 4-star junior offensive guard was a beast on the interior, at times an immovable force. His best work came against 5-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson. Sawyer has some nastiness to him to say the least. The bottom line, he’s a mauler.

Emptying the Notebook

-Four-star receiver Jeremiah Holloman of Covington (Ga.) Newton hot and cold. But while he did have some drops, he also made some really good catches and showed a lot of promise. Body wise, he’s near the top of the heap. Same for his athleticism. This is an upside guy with a world of potential.

-Quietly, Auburn 4-star offensive guard commit Nick Brahms of Navarre (Fla.) was one of the best offensive linemen on hand. While rated at guard, he got work at center. Technically, he was among the best on hand.

-The youngest player on hand, sophomore Owen Pappoe of Grayson (Ga.), showed some serious flashes. He’s built like a tank — and recorded an interception Sunday that was called back because the other quarterback didn’t get the throw off in time.

-Alabama linebacker commit Markail Benton of Phenix City (Ala.) Central was solid. He nearly came away with an interception in the end zone and generally was intimidating in coverage.

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BEAVERTON, Ore. – The class of 2017 has graduated from The Opening and the quarterbacks have gone through the trials of the Elite 11. It's time to evaluate their performance.

This is how 247Sports ranks the 12 quarterbacks at the Elite 11 based strictly on their performances this week and what we were able to see with our own eyes. Significantly more weight was given to 7on7 play than anything that happened on air over the first few days of work.

1. Alabama commit Tua Tagovailoa - I want this guy on my team. He had the steadiest hand of any quarterback I've ever seen at The Opening. And watching him throw the football was like watching an artist go to work. He led a last second comeback for a win early in the day on Sunday with the calm of a guy flipping a coin. He had the same demeanor in his team's blowout championship win. The kid is a winner.

2. Stanford commit Davis Mills - By Sunday afternoon, Mills looked like the top quarterback in the country. He's got all the tools to be ranked that way - size, arm, smarts. After a slow start, Mills hit his stride and looked like a thoroughbred by Sunday afternoon.

3. Georgia commit Jake Fromm - He was by far the best quarterback on Saturday. Sunday he couldn't ever find the end zone but he still showed the touch, accuracy on the short and intermediate stuff and command of the offense to keep a lofty spot on this list. When he was clicking on Saturday, his team was the best team at the event.

4. Syracuse commit Tommy DeVito - This is Dino Babers' next star pupil at quarterback.The kid has a hose and he's poised to break some records at Syracuse. He scored touchdowns on half of his drives under center and that was the best percentage of any quarterback at the event.

5. Michigan commit Dylan McCaffrey - He looks like a pro on the field. Not in terms of his size or physical traits, not even his technique. The way he processes what's in front of him is elite though. He has a glaring technical flaw that he needs to clean up but when that happens, he's going to be special for Jim Harbaugh.

6. LSU commit Myles Brennan - Brennan was on the same team as McCaffrey and the two had almost identical weekends. There were some moments on Sunday when Brennan looked like he was the best quarterback at the event. Other times his play dipped. When he eliminates those dips, LSU is going to have their answer at quarterback.

7. Oklahoma commit Chris Robison - Robison took the back seat to Tua Tagovailoa through much of the weekend, but when he got his opportunities, he was very solid. A dropped touchdown on Sunday's first game would have helped his stat line but by the weekend's end, he was the only quarterback that didn't throw a single interception.

8. Uncommitted Jack Sears - He's as good at the big throw as anybody in the Elite 11. Big, strong and athletic, Sears can really rip it and he was very productive too. By our count he scored on seven of his 15 drives under center. Had he been able to find a little bit more consistency, he has the physical tools to have been ranked even higher. Duke, USC, UCLA and Utah are his top schools.

9. Texas commit Sam Ehlinger - It was a quiet weekend for Ehlinger but when he was under center, I always felt like the offense was in good hands. Ehlinger doesn't make any throws that drop your jaw but he always makes the right throws. We tallied him with seven touchdowns on 22 drives with only two interceptions.

10. Ohio State commit Tate Martell - There were times early on Saturday that Martell looked like he was really clicking but he trailed off some late Saturday. Sunday things went downhill and he wasn't able to find the end zone. We counted three touchdowns on 11 drives for Martell with two interceptions. He just never got enough snaps to find his rhythm on Sunday.

11. Penn State commit Sean Clifford - He ended Saturday night as one of the hottest quarterbacks at the event. There were moments that he flashed that same hot hand on Sunday. Unfortunately, his mistakes were big. Despite two touchdowns on Sunday, he also threw two pick-sixes that ultimately put a nail in his team's coffin.

12. Clemson commit Hunter Johnson - It just wasn't Johnson's weekend. More specifically it just wasn't Johnson's day on Saturday. On Sunday, he scored a touchdown on the only drive under center before his team was eliminated from play. Had he been able to steal another game under center, he may have heated up and had a run similar to what Shea Patterson made last year. Instead, Johnson was forced to stand on a rough Saturday outing.

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Portland, Ore. – The Opening, college football’s top recruiting showcase, wrapped a five-day run on Sunday. We spent the week at Nike’s campus covering the event, and we’ve put together an All-Opening team of its top performers.

We decided not to be bound by strict limits on roster size, in the interest of painting the fullest picture possible of how things went. Here’s what we’ve got:

Quarterback

Tommy DeVito
Tua Tagovailoa

Quarterback performances varied wildly during the two 7-on-7 competition days, but DeVito, a Syracuse commit, and Alabama’s Tagovailoa were the most consistent. Stanford commitment Davis Mills may have made the most next-level tosses, but he also had some down moments in a strong tournament overall.

Georgia commit Jake Fromm was the best on Saturday by far, but did not have a strong Sunday.

Give the Elite 11 some credit for taking 12 quarterbacks who all looked more or less like they belonged. This is a welcome change from taking 18 in previous years.

Running back

Stephen Carr
JK Dobbins

USC commit Carr kept showing up on film, because he’s good at making himself available and then doing more than just stepping out of bounds.

Ohio State commit Dobbins is a physical marvel.

The Opening’s primary competition mode is seven-on-seven with no pads. This is a setting which doesn’t favor all backs.

Wide receiver

Joseph Lewis
Devonta Smith
Jerry Jeudy
DJ Matthews
Tee Higgins
Oliver Martin
Jhamon Ausbon

So, a lot of guys here. But hear us out.

Only Clemson’s Higgins, LSU’s Ausbon and Florida State’s Matthews are committed out of this group.

Lewis has a legitimate argument for the top receiver spot in the class, Smith is an excellent athlete with hands, and there might not be a more all-around talent in the class than Jeudy. He showed a lot of chemistry with Tagovailoa, the Alabama commit, and it was hard not to wonder if there might be a future between those two.

Higgins made one of our favorite catches of the week. He’s not the best receiver just yet, but he’s every bit of 6’5 and will be a terrific player for Clemson.

The most surprising player here is Martin, a three-star from Iowa whose recruiting hype doesn’t match the rest. But Martin is always around the ball, and he’s got top-level hands. He made precious few mistakes.

Tight end

Matt Dotson
Joshua Falo

Newly minted Michigan State commit Dotson stuck out, even in a non-contact environment that doesn’t favor brutish blockers. Falo showed an aptitude for making himself open in the middle of the field, which’ll serve him well once the pads go on. He is a huge target.

Tight end was a spot where almost everyone performed well. We also have plenty of highlights coming from Oklahoma commit Grant Calcaterra and Stanford commit Colby Parkinson.

Linemen

We did not get to see enough reps to fill out an All-Opening squad on the offensive or defensive lines, due to the ridiculous setup that prevented media from getting a clear view or any hope of filming.

What’s happening with the offensive and defensive linemen? We couldn’t tell, either.

However, the offensive line group did completely dominate the defensive linemen. Offensive linemen Foster Sarell (uncommitted), Jamaree Salyer (uncommitted underclassman), Walker Little (uncommitted), Alex Leatherwood (Alabama commitment) and Wyatt Davis (Ohio State commitment) all won multiple reps during the time we were able to observe.

Sarrell is focused on Washington, Stanford and Notre Dame, while Little likes Stanford, Ole Miss and Texas. If he can deal with the distance from his Houston-area home, Stanford might be the pick. He has already visited three times. This is an excellent offensive line year and a weak defensive line crop.

Hopefully, next year, Nike will figure out a way to not erect a wall of humanity in front of the linemen as they compete. They deserve better coverage, and their parents who flew out on their own dime to watch their sons do, too. (Several were furious.)

Linebackers

Baron Browning
VanDarius Cowan
Dylan Moses

Moses is rated as the No. 2 player in the country, in large part because he was out-of-this-world good when he was very young. We’re not sure he should still be ranked quite that high, but he is still an excellent player. He regularly stymied top overall prospect Harris in one cat-and-mouse drill, though seven-on-seven is not the best part of his game. Word from The Opening is that Texas and LSU will be battling until the end for Moses.

Cowan is a lot like Moses in that they both look like they have spent several years in a college strength program. He’s the Next Terrifying Alabama Linebacker, and while many assume he’ll end up as an outside linebacker or defensive end type, this is the second time this year we’ve seen him have strong coverage performances relative to his size.

Browning is better in coverage than either one of them, and he might just turn out to be the best linebacker in the 2017 class. His game has no real holes, though he is learning to blitz having recently converted from safety to linebacker. He is a target of all major Texas schools and the likes of Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, etc.

Georgia commitment Jaden Hunter also came away with numerous pass breakups and interceptions.

Defensive backs

A.J. Terrell
Robert Barnes
Stanford Samuels III
Darnay Holmes
Benjamin St-Juste
Bubba Bolden
Jamyest Williams
Richard LeCounte

Terrell was consistently around the ball, and he kept showing up as we cut highlight footage throughout the week. (You’ll see some of that in the days and weeks to come.) Oklahoma safety commit Barnes was really dominant at times, making two interceptions and generally imposing his will with a big frame and closing speed.

St-Juste might still fly a little bit under the radar, even though he’s a Michigan commit. He’s about 6’4 and very athletic, and we wonder if he hasn’t been a bit slept on because he comes from Quebec, not a typical Power 5 talent pipeline.

It’s totally possible that Holmes is the best player in the country. He was born with athletic gifts that even most other five-stars simply don’t have. He’s going to be a great DB in college, but he’s absolutely a blue-chip receiver, too.

Bolden was all around the ball and has a knack for making the big play. The USC commitment outjumped five-star receiver Trevon Grimes for a crucial pass breakup that turned a game.

Jamyest Williams similarly made play after play, and though he is short, proved he belonged. Word from The Opening is that he may be buying in to being a feature player at South Carolina. Stay tuned to see if the Gamecocks can land Williams.

Georgia’s LeCounte does not test off the charts, but when he’s actually playing football, he’s as competitive as any safety in the country.

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