Army Bowl: Three hot teams from Monday's action

SAN ANTONIO – The first day of practices for the 17th U.S. Army All-American Bowl kicked off on Monday and several schools saw their committed prospects fare well. Our three hot teams feature two programs that made this season’s college football playoff.

MORE: Complete Army Bowl coverage | Videos from the Army Bowl

Buckeye nation is reeling after an early exit from the College Football Playoff, but help is on the way based on how the Buckeye’s commits fared during Monday’s practice session.

Spread across both the East and West teams, the group was led by defensive end Chase Young, whose explosiveness off the edge was on display throughout Monday’s practices. His fellow East team member, Shaun Wade, was also solid, although five-star offensive lineman Josh Myers struggled.

The West team features even more Ohio State commits, though running back J.K. Dobbins and wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey are injured and unable to play this week. Five-star linebacker Baron Browning lived up to his billing, showing well in 7-on-7 play.

Quarterback commit Tate Martell was the best quarterback performer on Monday, though his only competition had an off day. Offensive guard Wyatt Davis, meanwhile, was very good.

All of Georgia’s commits in this year’s Army Bowl are playing on the East team, and there are a whole mess of them – nine in total.

The group was paced by Rivals100 quarterback Jake Fromm, who took top billing among all signal callers who competed on Monday. He found his future target, Jeremiah Holloman, often during the day. One of the few outside receivers on the East, Holloman showed a soft pair of hands and the ability to make the tough catch.

On the defensive side of the football, safety Richard LeCounte is the vocal leader of the group and he had a solid day playing free safety and also covering one-on-one. Linebacker Nate McBride was around the football often during team play and cornerback Tray Bishop, the Dawgs newest commit, made a particularly nice play in team where he broke up a deep ball while running in the hip pocket of the wide receiver.

Alabama has won the team recruiting rankings title seven of the last eight years, and currently sit No. 1 again in 2017. The Crimson Tide only have three of their 26 current commits playing in this year’s Army Bowl, but all three performed well on day one.

The nation’s No. 1 ranked prospect, running back Najee Harris, does have that knack of making the impressive look easy. He was doing that again on Monday, showing quick feet and running with authority.

Over on the East squad, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was part of an impressive group of signal callers. He improved noticeably as the day went on and he was able to figure out the timing with his wide receivers.

Offensive line commit Kendall Randolph, meanwhile, went the other way – showing out early in the day by being light on his feet and strong at the point of attack, but disappearing in the afternoon session.