Ad Disclosure
For about four years I had a big role in helping get talent to the Under Armour All-America Game.
As the Clemson-Alabama game approaches this Monday and a lot of the players that played in those games from 2012-2014 have taken major roles in both programs it’s time to look back at some old notes and remember what went through my mind during the week of those games.
Alabama was really loading up: Just going back to the 2012 game and forward it was clear that Alabama was loading up for dynasty type of run. Amari Cooper had blown up in the summer of 2011 and walked into the game as the best wide receiver in the nation even though he wasn’t ranked that high. Reggie Ragland was also in the 2012 game and he was a big kid, way bigger than I expected. A big kid that could move. I remember seeing Ragland for the first time when he was going into his junior year at one of those Nike camps. He was fast then, he added a lot of bulk.
In 2013 Reuben Foster came into the game having struggled at a lot of the showcases. He wasn’t very good in space and 7-on-7 football didn’t cater to his strengths. Full-contact football was another story. He came into the week of practice at the 2013 game ready to unload on ball carriers and he did. O.J. Howard was such a good-looking player. I liked him right away because he wore a throwback Tampa Bay Rays hat and anytime you see someone outside of Tampa or St. Petersburg, Florida wearing a Rays hat it gives you a double take.
In 2014 Alabama had about a dozen recruits in the game but I really keyed in on Cam Robinson and Da’Shawn Hand. Hand was the best player there for the first two days of practice, no one could block him. He had moves to frustrate the tackles and too many power and leverage moves for the guards. Robinson was really good too and already looked like a college football lineman. Much like I thought Florida had another national title on the horizon after the 2010 UA Game, Alabama looked like a team that was going to win in 2013 or 2014. It took a little longer.
Clemson was coming along: The Tigers didn’t have large numbers of prospects in the game like Alabama but the players they did have were solid. I loved Jay Guillermo in during the week of the 2012 game. He was necessarily a world beater but he was a competitor and I loved his attitude. Whether he won or loss reps he was always competitive until the whistle. He was in the front of the line for everything. He wanted to be a leader. Ben Boulware (2014 game) was another player that I liked. He was old school type. Really seemed to embrace the role of a pure middle linebacker, which is to be the quarterback of the defense.
Alabama QBs didn’t show much: Neither Cooper Bateman (2013) nor David Cornwell (2014) did a ton for me. Quarterbacks are tough to rate in these games because they are working with new linemen and going up against defensive lines better than anything they’ve ever seen up to that point. Alabama had a nice run of quarterbacks that weren’t super but knew how to manage the game and make plays when they needed. Guys like Greg McElroy and A.J. McCarron. Bateman and Cornwell didn’t do anything to stand out but you figured they would be in the McElroy type of role and not quite as good as McCarron. In hindsight I shouldn’t be shocked that Jacob Coker is the starter.
Watson didn’t play at all: DeShaun Watson was the No. 1-ranked quarterback in 2014 but he sat out the game with an injury. It wasn’t a great year for quarterbacks and the game really missed him because the rest of the guys were not impressive. Justice Hansen? Michael O’Connor? Didn’t last with their teams for more than a season. Heck O’Connor is playing Canadian college football right now. Sean White was actually the MVP of the 2014 game and played well but Watson was the most skilled passer/runner at the position and he was missed.
If Tony Brown gets his head straight…: He will be a special player. Brown and Marlon Humphrey were in the 2014 game and they had a little bit of Mike Haynes/Lester Hayes combo type work going with them. Humphrey was Haynes — very sound, very business-like, not a lot of emotion — he expected to stop the ball from being caught. Brown had attitude like Hayes. He was aggressive. He played with charisma and loved to engage in the verbal warfare. He didn’t get beat deep often all week but he wasn’t afraid to get beat because he didn’t back down from anyone. If Brown can recover from his transgressions he can still be a great player.
Missing out on Mackensie Alexander still bugs me: I was one of the guys that waved the Alexander flag and thought he was better than Vernon Hargreaves III in the 2013 class. We ended up ranking Hargreaves No. 3 nationally and Alexander No. 4. Both were five stars but I felt like as a fan I missed out on that competition because Alexander decided to play in the Army game. Hargreaves killed it during the week of practice and was close to jumping Carl Lawson and Robert Nkemdiche for the number one spot. At the end of the day an elite defensive linemen just have a little more value than an elite corner. Oh well. I still think had Alexander showed up that week he might have convinced some to rank him No. 1 nationally.
Alabama recruits in Under Armour Game:
2012
Landon Collins, S
Eddie Williams, S
Cyrus Jones, ATH
Chris Black, WR
Brandon Greene, OT
Amari Cooper, WR
Korren Kirven, DT
Reggie Ragland, LB
Dakota Ball, DT
2013
Reuben Foster, LB
Robert Foster, WR
Dee Liner, DT
Alvin Kamara, RB
Tim Williams, DE
Cooper Bateman, QB
O.J. Howard, TE
Maurice Smith, CB
Grant Hill, OG
2014
Cam Robinson, OT
Da’Shawn Hand, DT
Tony Brown, CB
Bo Scarbrough, RB
Marlon Humphrey, CB
Laurence Jones, S
Christian Miller, LB
Cameron Sims, WR
Rashaan Evans, LB
David Cornwell, QB
Ross Pierschbacher, OG
Ronnie Clark, ATH
Josh Casher, OC
J.C. Hassenauer, OC
O.J. Smith, DT
Clemson recruits in Under Armour Game
2012
Chad Kelly, QB
Jay Guillermo, OC
Patrick Destefano, OL
2013
Ben Boulware, LB
Tyrone Crowder, OG
Ebenezer Ogundeko, DE
2014
DeShaun Watson, QB
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
