What we liked: IMG 7-on-7 National Championship

BRADENTON, Fla. -- This year’s annual IMG 7-on-7 National Championship featured the usual slate of talented teams from around the country but as part of the event this year, some of the nation’s top linebackers and offensive linemen were in attendance to compete in a concurrent event.

The result was a start-studded weekend filled with talent at positions across the board. Rivals.com Southeast analysts Rob Cassidy and Woody Wommack were on hand for the festivities and rundown some of the things that impressed them most.

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Auburn wide receiver commit George Pickens recently made a massive jump in the Rivals.com rankings, from outside the Rivals100 into the nation’s Top 50. Over the weekend, he showed why as he teamed with Auburn quarterback commit Bo Nix to lead Cam Newton’s team to the tournament’s championship game.

Nix and Pickens are part of a loaded team that also features five-star wide receiver Jadon Haselwood. But after Haselwood went out with an injury on Sunday, it was Pickens almost single-handedly carried his team’s offense the rest of the way. Pickens has tremendous body control to go along with great leaping ability and excellent hands and his chemistry with Nix is fun to watch. Auburn fans are in for a quite a treat if they continue to play together at the next level.

The South Florida Express’ youth team, which went undefeated and won the event championship, is full of players that will land long lists of FBS offers. Two of the standout prospects from the event were wide receivers Brandon Inniss (2023) and Yulkeith Brown (2021). Inniss and Brown were absolutely electric during the two-day event and project as high-level college prospects. Neither has landed a scholarship offer just yet, but that will change down the road.

Brown was one of the tournament’s most effective players and was nearly impossible for players of his own age group to stop. Innis, on the other hand, caught a few long touchdowns at the event a week after grabbing the attention of Florida State coaches at the Seminoles’ prospect camp. Innis is a more do-everything, while Brown will like play in the slot on the college level should he not hit a late growth spurt.

Class-of-2021 wideout Malik Rutherford, who already holds offers from UAB and Southern Miss, also impressed.

Class of 2020 offensive lineman Michael Lofton used Sunday’s Under Armour lineman event to raise his stock, as stood out from an extremely talented group. A prospect in the class of 2020, Lofton arrived in Bradenton with no ranking and no offers, but both of those facts will be changing soon.

The 291-pound prospect will play his junior season at Tampa’s Sickles High School and will get the exposure he needs to attract college interest. The potential is already there in spades.

Russell was named the MVP of Sunday’s lineman event and with good reason. Russell has incredible length and a quick first step. He needs to add muscle, sure, but that will come in time. Russell remains committed to the Bulldogs but is likely to take visits in the month ahead.

Mississippi State should make hanging onto Russell a priority, as his performance on Sunday was plenty to raise his recruiting profile. It would shock nobody that saw him in action if a long list of suitors come calling in the near future.

Last year at this time, Bryton Constantin was traveling to camps in an effort to jumpstart his recruitment. Now he’s a four-star and committed to Clemson. But his newfound notoriety hasn’t slowed him down one bit.

Constantin took part in the Ray Lewis Academy, an event focused on linebackers and running backs and impressed from start to finish. He’s not only added weight in the last year, but he’s also continues to grow. Already an effective cover man, the more weight he adds to his frame the more likely he is to see the field early when he arrives at Clemson. The Tigers don’t recruit Louisiana often, but it’s easy to see what they dipped into the Bayou for Constantin.