Army All-American Bowl 2016: Top Recruits Announcing Commitments at Game
With bowl season nearly in the books and recruiting about to awaken from the sanctioned dead period next week, this weekend’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl should steal some warranted attention among the college football landscape.
The game itself at the Alamodome in San Antonio has provided an early glimpse at some of the nation’s premier talent since its inception in 2000.
According to Patrick Maks of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, 299 NFL draft picks have played in this game, including 106 Pro Bowlers, 73 first-rounders and a first-overall pick in Andrew Luck.
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At least 30 of the 100 participants remain uncommitted, per Robert Judin of Campus Insiders, but five are expected to make their announcements this weekend.
Here is a look at some of the top talent who should reveal their landing spot.
Isaac Nauta – 5-Star, No. 1 TE, No. 9 Overall
The nation’s No.1 tight end has already made his decision on where he plans to enroll, per Bleacher Report’s Tyler Donohue, but Isaac Nauta just hasn’t let everyone else know.
He’s narrowed his list down to Alabama, Georgia and Michigan.
“I’m excited to get it off my chest,” Nauta said, per Donohue. “I’m ready to head to school and get this next chapter of my life started.”
The Bulldogs are favored to land Nauta, though his primary recruiter, tight ends coach John Lilly, will not be a part of new head coach Kirby Smart’s staff.
However, Nauta indicated last month that coaching isn’t necessarily the most paramount factor in his decision, per Jeff Sentell of DawgNation.com.
“…With me it has always just been you have to look at the program and the university itself and its location and not just the coaches,” said Nauta, who hails from Buford, Georgia, just 50 miles from the Bulldogs’ campus in Athens. "The coaching staff is just the cherry on top. As far as Georgia goes, they will definitely stay among my top schools.”
Despite no announcement yet, Nauta plans to enroll this semester at the school he selects, per Sentell. That could be trouble for Michigan, as it began classes on Wednesday.
Georgia opens the spring semester on Monday and Alabama on Wednesday, meaning Nauta will be quite busy traveling in the coming week if his hopes to enroll early come to fruition.
Javon McKinley – 4-Star, No. 18 WR, No. 107 Overall
Four-star wide receiver Javon McKinley is expected to announce this weekend he will leave his home state of California.
McKinley’s three finalists include Notre Dame, Oregon and Washington, and he discussed each just days ahead of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, courtesy of 247Sports' Tom Loy:
At 6’2’” and 200 pounds, McKinley has the ideal physical frame that should give him advantages against most secondaries. He’s tall enough to snag balls out of the air at their high points and strong enough to break away from single tacklers in open space.
Given his three finalists are offensive-minded programs, he should thrive and develop over the next three years into an NFL prospect, which he indicated is one of his highest premiums, per Loy.
Ross Blacklock — 4-Star, No. 28 DT, No. 271 Overall
Lone star product Ross Blacklock is one of the few top defensive players expected to announce this weekend. And by all indications, he will not be going far from home.
Blacklock is expected to choose between Texas A&M, TCU and Houston, according to Howard Chen of CSN Houston, with the Horned Frogs the favorites to secure his signature, per 247Sports.
He has the size and strength to barrel through the line of scrimmage, as Brian Perroni of 247Sports showed during U.S. Army All-American Bowl practice:
Blacklock is the son of Jimmy Blacklock, a former Harlem Globetrotter, and as such, was quite the basketball player as a youth. However, his 6’4”, 314-pound frame lends itself more to the trenches of the gridiron rather than the backcourt.
As Perroni's video showed, Ross Blacklock could certainly harness his lateral range at the line, but most of his deficiencies are fixable with good coaching. He’ll be a great sign for any of the Texas schools that land him.
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