Texas: Predictions for the Five-Star Challenge

The state of Texas is well represented this year with four five-stars participating in the Rivals Five-Star Challenge Presented by Under Armour. The arrow is pointing up, especially for Walker Little and Baron Browning, who are the newest additions to the five-star ranks. How will they fare over the weekend, and how will the rest of the group from the Lone Star State?

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In Austin Deculus’ interview with Rivals when he announced his commitment to LSU, he said that one of his next goals was to pick up his fifth star at the Five-Star Challenge. He’ll have an opportunity to do just that; he’ll be taking more reps against better players this weekend than he did in his appearance at the Rivals Camp in Dallas. Walker Little has already drawn a few comparisons to former five-star OL Mitch Hyatt, who made his hay stepping up big in his Five-Star Challenge appearances. If Little can repeat his performance from Dallas, he’ll be in the conversation for MVP at his position.

We have seen in several successive events that Baron Browning is very capable in pass coverage. While the long balls down the sidelines draw the reaction from the crowd, the vast majority of throws in 7-on-7 games are intermediate passes and dump-offs. Browning has elite speed and quickness at the linebacker position and is certainly athletic enough to shut down the middle of the field with his bounce and reach. He’ll bait a couple of quarterbacks into taking a shot at a running back or tight end down the seam and end up taking it back the other way.

The similarities between watching B.J. Foster and Jeffrey Okudah will be an interesting study. Both had similar results at the regional camp appearances and both are naturals in coverage despite being safeties. Okudah has stayed in the conversation for as a top-two player in his state, which features the nation’s top prospect, Marvin Wilson. If Foster can keep pace both in the one-on-ones and 7-on-7 competition, we will get an advanced look as to whether he can have a shot at Okudah’s crown. Perhaps both will line up alongside each other in the same secondary.

Muhammad has the size, stride and length to line up outside as a wide receiver. What he’s going to be able to do against opposing linebackers will be unfair. We saw in last year’s Five-Star Challenge when Isaac Nauta took over the 7-on-7 session that tight ends can be a tremendously valuable asset in the tournament. Muhammad gives maximum effort to catch every pass thrown to him and with such a large catch radius to go with a big pair of soft hands, he should glide his way to tops at the position.

Wilson is in the midst of running bell-to-bell as the top player in the country and is highly motivated to hold his title as the top prospect. Defensive linemen that have come to the Five-Star Challenge as No. 1 players have a good history of fitting the bill (Byron Cowart, Rashan Gary), and Wilson has the look of a player that can be every bit as good, or better, than the previous players that held that distinction.