Rivals Roundtable: Recapping Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge

The Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge presented by adidas took place a week ago in Indianapolis and with more than 100 of the nation's top high school football prospects participating, there still is plenty to discuss. Today, the Rivals.com analysts that covered the event chime in on their thoughts in a roundtable format.

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ROB CASSIDY (Southeast): Trevor Lawrence and it’s not just “some” schools. Lawrence is good enough right now to play for roughly more than half of the Power 5 programs in America. That seems insane, I know, but I firmly believe it.

MIKE FARRELL (National): The obvious answer is Amon-Ra St. Brown because it's easier for wide receivers to transition and make an early impact in college than it is for any other offensive position. He's strong, fast, runs great routes and attacks the football. But I'll be honest, I was surprised when the first name that popped into my head was 2019 OL Clay Webb. St. Brown is my answer, but Webb could be very special.

ADAM GORNEY (National/West): I thought most of the wide receiver group was physically dominant and many of them looked like they could be playing college football right now. Not only did they have excellent size but many of them including Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kevin Austin, Brennan Eagles, Terrace Marshall, Al'Vonte Woodard and Devonta Jason especially were jacked up and just looked great. Probably no one looked better than Austin, who's all of 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds and looked like a special recruit in the making.

JOSH HELMHOLDT (Midwest): Amon-Ra St. Brown is a good pick, but I'm going with the two quarterbacks: Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. Maybe the best top two quarterback performances I have seen at this event in the six-year history. Besides having all the physical tools, they both see the field extremely well and have all the intangibles.

NICK KRUEGER (Texas): Coming into the camp, we all thought that Amon-Ra St. Brown and Trevor Lawrence were going to be show-stealers and they certainly delivered. St. Brown is going to be a lethal inside-out receiver in college and Lawrence’s quiet confidence paired with his skill makes him the top player in the country. Otherwise, I thought the defensive back group from Texas were all exceptional, with Anthony Cook, D’Shawn Jamison and Jalen Green all providing some brilliant moments against a strong wide receiver group.

CHAD SIMMONS (Southeast): Amon-Ra St. Brown is the guy. He is an advanced wide receiver and the position he plays is one of the easiest for young players to make an impact at. He plays with an edge, he has great hands and he is a great route runner. He could skip his senior year in high school and make a big impact in college football in 2017.

WOODY WOMMACK (Southeast): It's kind of a copout to go with the nation's No. 1 player, but if he's the best how can you go wrong? Trevor Lawrence was his usual impressive self and he showed the ability to make pretty much every throw. Throw in his level of engagement and competitive sprit and it's hard to believe Lawrence couldn't step in and start for a number of college programs this fall.

ROB CASSIDY (Southeast): The giant bruise that still lingers on my chest is a nice reminder of the one-on-one rep I took against four-star athlete Dominick Watt. I won’t be forgetting that for a few weeks. Aside from that, it was probably watching Lawrence and fellow five-star quarterback Justin Fields throwing side by side.

MIKE FARRELL (National): The morning session one-on-one rep between 2019 OL Kardell Thomas and 2018 DT Rick Sandidge when I thought they were going to come to blows after the whistle. Thomas was a bit frustrated after losing a few early reps and has a reputation for being very physical at the end of reps and he hit Sandidge late after the whistle. Sandidge, who was destroying kids to that point, came back at him but the two just jawed a bit and hugged. It was an intense moment and both kids showed me something.

ADAM GORNEY (National/West): My most memorable moment was really something off the field. It was when I talked with five-star cornerback Anthony Cook about what he thinks of Texas and first-year coach Tom Herman. I really got the impression that he loved what Herman was about and that Cook was seriously thinking about playing for the Longhorns. He called Texas "America's Team" and while that might be an overstep it definitely takes us inside what Cook thinks about the program.

JOSH HELMHOLDT (Midwest): One of the funniest exchanges during check-in was class of 2019 offensive lineman Elton Ndoma-Ogar being shocked at how big Jowon Briggs is for a rising junior, even though Ndoma-Ogar is no small kid himself. The quote of "he has a full beard and I can barely grow peach fuzz," left the room in stitches.

NICK KRUEGER (Texas): Woody Wommack and I drafted the Team Three-Stripe, and in the first playoff round in 7-on-7, I felt that the officiating was working more in favor of Lawrence’s team – and I let him and some of his teammates know as much. I also wasn’t happy about his team’s lack of urgency to start plays, bleeding valuable time from my team’s cause. On the last play of the game that eliminated my team, I made one last comment to Lawrence and as he threw the prettiest ball of the day 40 yards into the end zone to win, and he turned around and shot me a look that will haunt me for years to come as he ran down the field to celebrate.

CHAD SIMMONS (Southeast): Amon-Ra St. Brown's celebrations after touchdowns for me. He was on my team, so I watched him a lot in the 7-on-7 play and he was putting on a show on the field and then after he made the big plays. He threw the ball to the ceiling, he spun the ball, danced over it, then kicked it, he took off his shirt like Brandi Chastain .... he was something to see.

WOODY WOMMACK (Southeast): The best moment of the weekend had to be the "Hail Mary" style touchdown to seal the victory in 7-on-7 hauled in by Amon-Ra St. Brown. The five-star receiver is one of my favorite prospects in the 2018 class and after a spring of dominating camps it was only fitting he capped things by scoring the winning touchdown in dramatic fashion.

ROB CASSIDY (Southeast): I was interested to see how wide receiver Kevin Austin would do against elite-level defensive backs. Austin’s size has always been his calling card, but I wondered if he would have the necessary acceleration to get separation from top-flight defenders. He did so easily and shined from start to finish.

MIKE FARRELL (National): Is St. Brown that good? The answer was yes. Now he's not in the ballpark of guys such as Percy Harvin or Julio Jones or AJ Green for me at this time, but he's creeping up on being an all-timer if he continues to improve.

ADAM GORNEY (National/West): I'm now more confident than ever that we have it dead right when it comes to the top of our rankings at quarterback and wide receiver. And it might not even be close. Lawrence was so dominant and clearly better than any other quarterback in this class. Having him No. 1 overall is no problem to me. And St. Brown was so much better than any receiver - and that's not a knock on others because they're talented as well - but he took over during 7on7. They both proved their ranking, and just how talented and special they are all weekend in Indy.

JOSH HELMHOLDT (Midwest): Jaelen Gill has fully recovered from his broken leg and is back to being as explosive as he was pre-injury. As the event went on the Ohio State commit became more confident planting and cutting off that leg and he was pretty much uncoverable by day's end.

NICK KRUEGER (Texas): In my region, new four-star defensive end Joshua Landry played well enough to justify his bump. I had been thinking that Jamison probably had been having a good enough offseason to work his way back into the Rivals250 prior to his showing last weekend, but I think the unanimous opinion was that he certainly proved worthy during the camp anyway.

CHAD SIMMONS (Southeast): Lawrence and Fields are definitely the top two quarterbacks in the country. Lawrence did nothing to hurt his ranking, but Fields has closed the gap in my eyes. Fields led his team to the 7-on-7 title, he won the quarterback challenge, and with all of his intangibles, Fields is going to have a great chance of winning the Heisman Trophy on the next level. I could easily see Fields winning the Heisman Trophy and Lawrence being the No. 1 draft pick in the NFL Draft down the road. Both are elite.

WOODY WOMMACK (Southeast): Even though I pushed for him to earn five-star status prior to the event it was nice to see Terrace Marshall come in and validate that ranking with his performance. Marshall doesn't do a ton of talking on the field and he makes things look so effortless that it's easy to look past his natural ability. He's got a few schools on his short list but I don't think it matters where he goes, he will be a star.

ROB CASSIDY (Southeast): What is John Campbell? Campbell is a prospect with massive upside, but he’s yet to consistently reach his potential. Coaches love his measurables and his length, but he seems to regress at times and sometimes is overmatched by elite competition. Campbell looks hyper impressive in streaks but has valleys as well. Projecting his trajectory is no easy task because what’s holding him back is not especially clear.

MIKE FARRELL (National): Is James Cook as good as his brother Dalvin at the same stage? The obvious answer in hindsight is no but you have to remember that Dalvin was splitting time at RB heading into his senior year and James is a talented kid. The big question will be whether James wants it as bad as Dalvin did because that could be the difference.

ADAM GORNEY (National/West): What's still unclear to me, and maybe even more muddled after the Five-Star Challenge, is the cornerback rankings in this class. Some of the top-ranked players were not there but many were and it's going to be very close to call in the next round of rankings. Four-star Isaac Taylor-Stuart not only won Fastest on the Field but he was physically dominant. Four-star Al Blades was phenomenal early in the day. There's going to be a lot of debate and discussion about how these rankings should be reworked.

JOSH HELMHOLDT (Midwest): The discussion of whether St. Louis defensive lineman Ronnie Perkins is better-suited for the three-technique tackle or five-technique end position in college is going to have to continue into the fall. His explosiveness off the edge suggests to me end, but he does lack ideal height/length for the position and is already 270 pounds. He could play either, but where is his upside the highest?

NICK KRUEGER (Texas): I am still wondering if Brennan Eagles can find his way to a fifth star. He has all the physical attributes that you could want in a big-time wide receiver prospect, and speed doesn’t seem to be a problem for him. But he still has some trouble getting significant separation from defenders on longer routes. No matter what, he’ll always be dominant on one-cut intermediate routes and flares to the corners of the end zone, but I wouldn’t say that he overwhelmingly proved himself able to consistently break free of top-level pass coverage.

CHAD SIMMONS (Southeast): Nobody knows who Justin Fields is favoring — maybe not even himself. He was in Indianapolis fresh off decommitting from Penn State, so he faced numerous tough questions about that decision and where he stood in recruiting. He is smart in front of a camera or recorder, says all the right things. He has some guessing Florida leads, some feel Florida State may be the school for him, Auburn is one to watch closely and Georgia is his home state school with his sister headed there to play softball. At the end of the event, nobody really had a true feel where Fields stands and that may even include himself.

WOODY WOMMACK (Southeast): Where will Justin Fields end up? It was crazy to hear even the other prospects at the event speculate where he might land and do their best to recruit him. Several fan bases think they're landing him but it's clear nobody has a read on where he will end up. I imagine it will be a fast and furious process so it will be fun to follow the drama.