Under Armour All-America Game 2015: 5 Lessons We Learned

More than 100 of the nation's top high school football prospects took to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday for the eighth annual Under Armour All-America Game. It was our first chance to see some of college football's next crop of superstars square off against similar top-tier competition, close to what they'll face in 2015 and beyond.

The final score—Team Highlight romped to a 46-6 win over Team Armour—and the individual and team statistics don't matter much; how certain players looked will make a lasting impact. For players who have already committed to a school, this gave those teams' fans an opportunity to salivate over upcoming standouts, while the uncommitted had an opportunity to give a huge boost to their recruiting stock.

We saw a lot of both and learned a heck of a lot more about the class of 2015's best and brightest. Click through to see the five biggest lessons learned from the Under Armour All-America Game.

USC Is Headed Back to Being Running Back U

USC hasn't had a player lead the Pac-12 in rushing in 25 years, an amazing statistic considering that four of the school's six Heisman Trophy winners have been running backs.

That streak came close to ending this season with junior Javorius Allen, who finished third behind Utah's Devontae Booker and UCLA's Paul Perkins, but USC's recruiting efforts for 2015 make it look like that drought will be over quite soon.

The Trojans have three running back commitments in their recruiting class, led by 4-star prospect Ronald Jones II. The 6'0", 185-pound rusher from McKinney, Texas, showed off what he could do in the All-America Game by breaking off a 58-yard run in the first quarter as part of his 86 yards on 11 carries.

Florida State Will Be Quite Fine Without Jameis Winston

Florida State saw its 29-game win streak come to an end on Thursday when the defending national champions lost to Oregon in the Rose Bowl. It might have seemed like the end of an era for the Seminoles, especially with quarterback Jameis Winston and several other underclassmen likely to turn pro early.

But as famous FSU alum Lee Corso would say, "not so fast my friend!"

Anyone checking in on the Under Armour All-America Game didn't have to watch long to see that Florida State will be just fine in 2015. In addition to all of the studs the Seminoles already have coming back next season, another big crop of potential superstars are headed to Tallahassee.

Many of those were on display in St. Petersburg, as both teams featured a future FSU quarterback either slinging it all over the field or scampering for yardage on designed runs. Deondre Francois completed all four of his passes for 103 yards and a touchdown, while De'Andre Johnson threw for 55 yards and also had six carries for 16 yards including a 14-yard run.

Eight receptions were made by future FSU receivers, including a four-yard TD catch by Da'Vante Phillips, while George Campbell caught a deep pass thrown by Francois.

The Chase for Daylon Mack Will Be Intense

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5-star DT prospect Daylon Mack

Though the team he played for got blown out, odds are none of the schools hot on the trail of 5-star defensive tackle Daylon Mack noticed that. Not when he spent so much time blowing up plays on defense in spite of what the scoreboard showed.

Mack, rated as the No. 19 overall prospect in the country, was named the Player of the Game after registering seven tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack and a fumble recovery. He appeared to have forced another fumble on a sack, but the play was blown dead.

Originally a Texas A&M commit before backing out of that pledge on Dec. 19, Mack has visited TCU and plans to visit Texas and Texas A&M later this month. He was scheduled to visit LSU, as well, but ESPN's Derek Tyson tweeted Thursday that trip was canceled in the wake of defensive coordinator John Chavis leaving to go to A&M.

Special Teams Recruiting Matters Just as Much as Offense and Defense

So much time and effort gets spent on the recruiting trail going after the best offensive and defensive players. But if the Under Armour All-America Game showed us, finding good special teams players is just as important.

The game featured two punt-return touchdowns, as well as a blocked extra point that was returned for two points. It also featured solid punting and kicking, with Notre Dame commit Justin Yoon making an early audition to replace departing senior Kyle Brindza.

Yoon, a 3-star prospect from Massachusetts, made all three of his point-after attempts and was also 3-of-3 on field goals. That included a 47-yard field goal just before halftime that set a game record.

For Daylon Charlot, an uncommitted 4-star wide receiver from Louisiana, his 53-yard punt-return TD came after he initially muffed the ball before recovering and then flying through the defense for the score. Charlot has visited LSU and has planned trips on the schedule for January to Alabama, Arizona State and Miami (Florida).

Alabama Still Dominates the Recruiting World

Alabama might not be playing for a national title on Jan. 12, despite entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. But that doesn't mean the Crimson Tide's run at or near the top of college football is going to end anytime soon, not as long as they continue to crush the recruiting game.

The Tide had 11 already committed players participating in the Under Armour All-America Game, including 5-star prospects in quarterback Blake Barnett, receiver Cameron Ridley and cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick. Then the rich got that much richer by landing pledges from two of the six players who used the ESPNU telecast as their platform to make a college choice.

Alabama received commitments from 4-star defensive tackle Daron Payne and 5-star cornerback Kendall Sheffield on Thursday afternoon.

"Alabama is addressing the secondary in a very major way," Bleacher Report College Football Analyst Michael Felder tweeted after Sheffield became the 24th player in Alabama's top-rated class.

All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.