Texas vs. Nation College Football All-Star Game

A little known college All Star Game, Texas verses Nation was played on 2 February 2008. The game was broadcast nationally on CSTV, and I have provided a detailed game report. The best college football players from the other 49 states besides Texas played against the best players from Texas. It doesn't sound like a fair fight but you can tell by the score the selection committee tries to keep the rosters competitive. Texas can also use players that played high school football in Texas. The Texas All Stars destroyed the Nation's 41-14 in front of 26,821 fans at the Sun Bowl in El Paso Texas. The Texas All Stars forced six turnovers and limited the Nation team to a paltry 189 yards in total offense.

Running Back Xavier Omon from Northwest Missouri State (Maryville Missouri) was selected as the game's MVP and he was clearly the best player on the field. By the way, how did a prospect that played college football in Missouri and high school football in Beatrice, Nebraska end up on the Texas' Team? Oh well, it doesn't really matter, this was nothing new for Omon, who has dominated at every level of play. Omon was the leading rusher and second-leading scorer in Division II this past season, rushing for 2,337 yards and scoring 38 touchdowns. A five-time All-American, Omon is the first player in NCAA history to rush for 1,500 yards in four seasons. In the game, the 5' 11" 220 pound Oman rushed 9 times for 95 yards with 1 TD and an impressive 10.1 yards per carry average. Omon reminds me of the Cowboy's RB Marion Barber, he (Omon) runs low to the ground, displays excellent balance and strength and breaks a ton of tackles. Similar to Barber, Omon could be a 4^th round steal in the 2008 NFL Draft.

A few of the other players that impressed at the game for the Texas team were wide receiver Danny Amendola from Texas Tech. He was the game's leading receiver catching 3 passes for 77 yards including a beautiful over the shoulder TD pass. He caught a ton of passes for Texas Tech last season: 103 receptions for 1,177 and 5 touchdowns. He is a small (5' 11" 180 lbs), shifty, quick, underneath slot receiver. Amendola reminds me a little of the Patriots' Wes Welker.

A couple of other talented receivers were Joe West from right there at UTEP and Jaymar Johnson from Jackson State. West has nice size (6' 2" 210 lbs) and consistently got open catching 3 passes for 54 yards and Johnson, a little smaller ( 6" 0" 180 lbs) looked explosive catching 2 passes for 46 yards. He didn't do much in this game, but RB Alley Broussard is an interesting NFL Draft Prospect. Nice size and speed at 6' 0" 230 pounds. Broussard was once a highly prized recruit who signed and played with LSU. He got caught behind Joseph Addai and transferred to Missouri Southern. Offensive tackle Brandon Keith blotted out the sun for team Texas. Keith is a massive tackle with great feet from Northern Iowa. At 6' 5" 337 pounds NFL scouts will be taking a hard look at him for the 2008 NFL Draft.

On defense the best player from team Texas was Oklahoma State's Roderick Johnson. He has very nice size for the NFL at 6' 3" 250 pounds and comes up in a hurry to lay the lumber. He was team Texas's leading tackler with 5 tackles.

Even though Texas pulverized the Nation on the score board it looked like Nation had the most NFL Draft Prospect. If you are looking for a return man in the latter part of the NFL Draft look no further than Darnell Blackman from NC State. Blackman is an electrifying returner, he accumulated 232 total kick-off return yards including a spectacular 97 yarder for a touchdown. Wide receiver/punt returner Pierre Garcon from small school Mount Union opened up some eyes at the game. He totaled 62 yards on punt return including an exciting 47 yard punt return for a touchdown in the game. Garcon was also the leading receiver for the team Nation with 3 catches for 23 yards. Stocky, (6' 1" 205 lbs) quick and good hands, he really improved his chances of being drafted in this game.

Speaking of small school receivers, Bruce Hocker from Duquense University made a nice 13 yard reception. NFL Scouts like his potential due to his size (6' 4" 205 lbs) and athletic ability. On the offensive line, offensive tackle Demetrius Bell (6' 6" 295 lbs) from tiny Northwestern State LA performed very well in pass protection for the most part. Punter Michael Dragosavich from North Dakota State will likely be one of the only punters in the nation to be selected in the 2008 NFL Draft. Yep he is that good; at 6' 4" 215 pounds he has a huge leg and can consistently boom the ball 50 yards. In this game he had 4 punts with a 50 yard average.

The Nation team had a lot of talented defenders on the roster. I liked Tulane's defensive tackle Frank Morton. He disrupted a lot of plays with his penetration. He recorded 4 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 tackles for loss in this game. He is huge at 6' 2" 316 pounds and made some plays for Tulane this past season, recording 16 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Inside linebacker Danny Lansanah from Connecticut was the leading tackler in the game with 6 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. A little short at 6' 0" 240 pounds and not real fast, but he could be one of those undrafted free agents that makes an NFL roster by excelling on special teams. Rutgers Eric Foster hasn't received much interest from NFL Scouts because of his size, too small at 6' 2" 270 pounds to play defensive tackle, but he made some nice plays in this game, he uses his hands very well and recorded 3 tackles and 1 sack. He might have a chance at defensive end in the NFL.

Another interesting NFL Prospect that played for team nation was defensive end Marcus Dixon from Hampton, NFL scouts like his size (6' 4" 288 lbs) and speed around the edge. Dixon had a fantastic season in 2007 recording 58 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 6 sacks and 8 QB hurries.

Three defensive backs for Team Nation really stood out in this game. The Buck Buchanan Award Finalist Corey Lynch from Appalachian State made a fabulous interception where he ran half way across the field to get his hands on the ball. Coach Buddy Ryan singled Lynch out during the practices leading up to this game. Kareem Moore (6' 0" 210 lbs) from Nicholls State and Antwaun Molden (6' 1" 190 lbs) from Eastern Kentucky made some very nice plays on the ball and improved their chances of being drafted.