Texas vs The Nation Collegiate All Star Bowl

[Hottoddie]

Hadn't seen anyone talking about this & thought some might want to try & catch the game Saturday. I believe it is any Texas born player can play for Texas, no matter what college you played for. The rest have to play for the nation.

There are a lot of obscure players in this game that you may never have seen before. After all, how many of you have seen a Stillman College or University of San Diego game? Last year, 12 players were drafted & another 66 players were signed as unrestricted free agents, albeit for the practice squad. What gems will surface in this game?

There are 3 players I'm especially interested in seeing.

Brian Witherspoon (CB) - Alleged 4.2 speed

Eric Bakhtiari (DE) - Small school sack machine.

Bruce Hocker (WR) - 6'4" 205lbs. & good speed.

http://texasvsthenation.cstv.com/

 

[rmartin65]

Yep, those are the 3 small schoolers I really want to see. Rudolph Hardie from Howard should be interesting, so does Xavier Omon.

 

[beerlover]

what impresses me are the roster last names litered with household NFL surnames, which makes me wonder how many are related directly or indirectly with their already famous family members?

well I checked one out, Corey Lynch FS Appalachian State to see if he was related to John Lynch, NOT :elle: still one player to watch could make the team in special teams alone has a knack for blocking kicks, good size & deep cover ability which would fit a Rhodes scheme. not a bad use of 7th rd. pick.

 

[Lucky]

Anyone hear The Nation's HC Buddy Ryan's GD blast as the teams were leaving the field at halftime? Still classy after all these years...

 

[Hottoddie]

Texas 41 The Nation 14

http://texasvsthenation.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/020208aac.html

Well, did anyone watch the game? I wasn't able to catch the first half & part of the third, but I did catch the rest of it. Unfortunately, the online feed wasn't that great.

I was mainly watching for the 3 I mentioned in the original post.

Eric Bakhtiari (DE) had a solid game from what I saw & the announcers mentioned that he'd been putting pressure on the QB all day. He looked really quick & relentless off the edge & played the run well in the limited time I saw him. He definitely has a non stop motor. He did get washed out in traffic really bad one time, but managed to get free & start moving toward the RB prior to him being tackled. I'm even more intrigued by this young man. Also, he plays the right side of the line.

Brian Witherspoon (CB) didn't do anything while I was watching, but The Nation kept throwing to the opposite side of the field for the most part. I don't know if that means anything, or not. I noticed that he was easily blocked downfield by the opposing WR's, but wasn't afraid to throw his body into the RB coming down the sideline. He does seem to have a lot of speed, but got burned over the middle late in the game. The coverage was fairly tight & he did stop the WR before he broke the goal line though. But, it was still a big play. I'm still intrigued by his speed & would like to see what he can do with the right coaching.

Bruce Hocker (WR) didn't have a ball thrown his way by the time I turned the game on. So, I don't have anything to say about him. I still like his size & speed.

Xavier Omon (RB) ran very well & won the game MVP. I'd say he opened some eyes in the NFL.

Corey Lynch (FS) from what I saw of him looked pretty good. He seemed to be around the ball on most plays, but couldn't get over quick enough to keep the QB from sweeping around the left side for a late TD. He did deliver a few pops when I was watching.

Well, that's my brief take on the game. Anyone else catch the game & did you see a gem or two?