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KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The third day of Under Armour All-America practices wrapped up with the game’s Skills Challenge, pitting the most outstanding players from practices against each other in an array of drills and obstacles courses.
Here are the SEC recruits that stood out, plus how the events shook out.
Lineman Strength Challenge
Auburn commit Bailey Sharp, a four-star tackle from Georgia, took home the offensive line portion of the strength event. He made it through the course, which included tire flipping, hitting a blocking sled, a ropes obstacle and a 40-yard dash. Sharp completed the course in 26.94 seconds, outpacing North Carolina commit Tommy Hatton. Sharp showed great strength in the tire flipping and blocking sled segments.
Sharp outdid the defensive line participants as well, including SEC target Terry Beckner Jr., who is being recruited by Auburn, LSU and Missouri. Beckner did well in the strength segments as well, but was out-hustled by another UNC commit, Jalen Dalton, and finished the course in 29.9 seconds.
Hands Competition
Kevin Tolliver II, a five-star LSU commit, went head-to-head with top cornerback recruit Iman Marshall, who is being recruited by LSU, among other schools. Tolliver barely beat out Marshall with a time of 26.02 seconds, with Marshall finishing in 26.69 seconds. The players had to catch several balls from JUGS machines, as well as passes from some of the quarterbacks in the game. Tolliver let one of the machine-launched balls bounce off his hands, but blasted through the agility and obstacle portion of the drill and did a great job getting his head around and locating a deep ball.
QB Accuracy
Two five-star SEC commits were part of the six-player field, which included eight throws at moving targets and one long-distance toss. Blake Barnett, a Southern California native committed to Alabama, took home the competition, earning a small trophy for his efforts. The accuracy challenge involved hitting moving targets at three different depths: 10 yards (three throws), 20 yards (two throws) and 30 yards (two throws).
Barnett, who has a long throwing motion but throws a beautiful spiral, hit all his short throws and missed one each on the two longer distances. His deep throw had good arc and a tight spiral.
He beat out Kyler Murray, a five-star Texas A&M recruit. Where Barnett’s motion was elongated, Murray’s was very compact and he showed some good footwork and quickness getting the ball out as he moved through the targets. He was one of the only quarterbacks to hit both of the 30-yard throws, and his short throws were right on the money as well. He did miss his two 20-yard throws.
Also in the competition were two Florida State commits, DeAndre Johnson and DeAndre Francois, Baylor commit Jarrett Stidham (who was targeted by both Alabama and Auburn) and Brandon Winbush, committed to Notre Dame.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
