HBCU Legacy Bowl and Combine Hits Big in New Orleans
The HBCU Legacy Bowl and HBCU Combine were big hits in New Orleans. Here's what you missed and some takeaways.
Transcript
00:00 Anyways, yeah, you mentioned the HBCU Combine's Legacy Bowl.
00:03 Man, look, I'll start there.
00:06 It was a really big turnout this year.
00:08 And, you know, we were both there last year.
00:10 This year, you know, only one team was not represented.
00:14 Some teams had double scouts there.
00:16 You know, Omar Khan was in attendance.
00:18 Saints made a lot of appearances.
00:20 I saw a lot of players there, too.
00:23 You know, besides Alvin Kamara, Cam Jordan being out there,
00:25 there's some players that we just haven't seen anything from in quite some time
00:29 that were out at the Saints facility doing some kind of some work.
00:33 And, you know, I'm not going to name drop everybody,
00:35 but Malcolm Roach is one of them because he he's out there on social media and stuff.
00:38 But that was good to see, you know, some of these guys working alongside Matt Rhea.
00:42 And, you know, there's some real talent there in HBCU.
00:45 I think that's the biggest thing is you go from this is the third year
00:49 that they're doing this.
00:50 And the first year was at South Alabama Stadium.
00:53 And then this is the second year they're doing this in New Orleans.
00:55 And so it's right in the Saints backyard.
00:58 Of course, they're going to represent and such.
00:59 But, you know, more players that are on this list.
01:01 I thought there's a lot of talent.
01:03 And you're looking at guys that hopefully maybe at least in that day
01:06 to range, but definitely day three priority under after free agents.
01:10 And we got to see a lot of that talent throughout the week.
01:13 And then they were able to, you know, showcase their skills at the HBCU Legacy
01:17 Bowl. And, you know, I mentioned Omar Khan.
01:19 Obviously, he's a New Orleans native, but, you know, he's sitting there
01:22 talking to prospects, scouts talking to prospects.
01:25 You know, we're talking to these prospects, too.
01:27 And some of them were balling out, man.
01:29 You know, I think it was really cool to see.
01:31 But your impressions of the Legacy Bowl and just kind of that all experience
01:34 because, look, we talked to Jamis yesterday, you know, speaking to players.
01:38 We talked to Jamis yesterday.
01:39 We talked to, you know, just some of the guys that are behind the scenes
01:43 running the Legacy Bowl.
01:44 Chris Alave was out there.
01:46 You said coaches Marcus Robertson was out there talking to Justin Simmons.
01:50 That's a fun little one we'll talk about in the future later, later.
01:54 But just your thoughts and impressions on the HBCU Legacy Bowl.
01:57 Yeah, I mean, like I can't start a conversation around the HBCU Legacy Bowl
02:01 without talking about, you know, without talking about Davias Richard.
02:04 He was he was the guy kind of going into this Legacy Bowl
02:10 throughout the week.
02:10 He had been impressive, impressive, the combine, like impressed with throwing
02:13 and all these other things came out there, had the beautiful cover
02:15 to hole shot down the left side to Mosley down that down the sideline
02:20 and then kind of took that zone read keeper, ran it in for a touchdown
02:24 and, you know, took a took a tough situation with his ankle
02:29 kind of turning the way it's not supposed to turn.
02:31 You know what I mean?
02:33 Had to they put the air cast on him, had to, you know, cart him off and everything.
02:37 And it was a tough scene.
02:38 Like that was the first it was a four play five play touchdown drive.
02:42 He was two for two for 50 plus on that, plus the rush, everything.
02:45 And so that that really stunk to sort of see all that because he was so impressive.
02:49 He was one of those guys that you look at and you go, OK, he along with a couple
02:53 of other of those HBC prospects, that's he was like one of those guys that you
02:57 looked at and was like, OK, that's the quarterback that might get the shot,
02:59 you know, and that's such a big thing for, you know, this level of competition.
03:04 You look at some of the spring leagues and stuff like that.
03:06 I think you just get one quarterback in then all of a sudden the entire
03:09 conversation around the level of play changes and he might've been one of the
03:13 guys that could have done that, you know, with a late round flyers and undrafted
03:17 free agent, now he's going to undergo, you know, this sort of recovery process
03:21 and everything, and hopefully we get to see him again after that.
03:23 But we know how fickle the NFL can be sometimes when it comes to all those
03:26 things.
03:27 So, you know, I got to start there.
03:29 I know it's the, it's the bad news, but it's the big news coming out of legacy
03:33 bowl.
03:33 So that, that, that part was, was kind of gut wrenching to see it was heartbreaking
03:36 to see, but then, you know, you saw these guys rally together, continue to play
03:40 afterwards.
03:40 And we saw some other good performances, some top level performances.
03:45 You know, on the defensive line some great performances at the, in the
03:48 secondary as well.
03:49 So, you know, there was some good things to take away from all of it, but
03:52 obviously that Richard news was the biggest hit you know, at the HFC legacy
03:56 bowl.
03:56 Yeah, that was horrible to see.
03:58 And, you know, I was talking to some of his people there and it just like,
04:01 they're, they're being heartbroken.
04:02 I mean, that's the only way you can describe it.
04:05 And, you know, his agent was telling me just to, you know, he's going to bounce
04:08 back.
04:08 He's a good kid.
04:09 You know, this, this isn't end of it for him by any means, you know, but it is
04:14 unfortunate.
04:15 And, you know, we kind of said, it's like, what's he doing running in this game
04:18 anyways.
04:18 Right.
04:19 And so that's, that's kind of a tough thing to see, but you know, the talent was
04:23 on display there again, you've mentioned the defense.
04:25 One of the crazy parts is Jarvion Howard.
04:28 He's probably the guy that maybe was impressed the most at HBCU practices and
04:34 legacy bowl and the combine.
04:36 He didn't play in the game, but you know, running back from Alcorn, man, he was
04:40 impressive you know, from the get go.
04:43 And so he was one of the guys talking to Omar Khan for, you know, a few minutes.
04:47 And again, I look at him, it's kind of like, I get Derrick Henry vibes, but not
04:52 really.
04:52 It just kind of the build and the way he's shaped and stuff, but it's just, he is a
04:58 big dude.
04:58 And he's somebody on this, looking at him like, man, I can't stop seeing Derrick
05:02 Henry, like in some aspects, but you know, again, he, you mentioned the game
05:06 itself, but defense was kind of the one that, that went, you know, team Gaither,
05:11 team Robinson, these two, their uniforms are on fire too.
05:14 I love that uniform design, a lot of support out there and such.
05:19 And look, Jeremy Moussa had made things interesting with that, that touchdown
05:23 drive and you know, it's a low scoring game, 10, six, but man, we saw some plays,
05:27 you know, one of the guys coming off the edge, he beats the tackle and he forces
05:32 the fumble and he recovers the fumble.
05:34 I mean, those types of plays that you remember the secondary play.
05:37 I mean, all those types of things that you see, you're putting your skills out on
05:40 display for sure.
05:41 And so again, it seems like, man, you say 10 to six game, but there's some good
05:46 tackling going on.
05:47 There's some good coverage.
05:48 There's some great catches, some lot of good things that you see from this game.
05:53 Yeah.
05:53 Yeah.
05:54 Lots of good stuff out of there.
05:55 We saw some good play on the defensive line as well.
05:57 Um, you know, uh, Zerion Hayes out of, uh, was it Alabama, Alabama, um, state, if I
06:03 remember correctly, uh, looked fantastic.
06:05 Obviously he came to Alabama, A and M, my apologies.
06:07 Um, he, he came out there, he won defensive player of the, of the game on the other
06:12 side and everything.
06:13 And so, you know, he was just disruptive, several sacks.
06:15 He had, you know, a couple of moments where he was involved in those, you know,
06:17 fumble exchanges in the backfield and things like that too.
06:20 So, you know, this is the second year in a row for me.
06:22 Like you think back to last year, um, you know, Dumas coming out of Southern last
06:26 year at the, um, at the, uh, legacy bowl, he was the big standout.
06:30 So another year to where you get this big interior, you know, guy that's, you know,
06:36 popping off, uh, over on the defensive line and everything like that.
06:39 And so it was, it was cool to see that too, because that's not a place that you
06:42 expect to see, you know, a lot of fireworks when it comes to an all-star game, you
06:46 expect to see it at wide receiver at corner at running back at quarterback, all that
06:50 kind of stuff, but to see it, you know, In the middle of the defensive line and out
06:54 on the edge, he moved around quite a bit, but you know, to see it on the defensive
06:57 line, I thought was a really good, um, just sort of opportunity to be able to
07:01 showcase where you are, you know, heads and shoulders above your competition,
07:05 even in an all-star game.
07:06 Yeah.
07:07 And then you got some receivers going at it and John at it with the DBS.
07:10 I mean, it's just a great atmosphere.
07:12 One of the guys, you know, just make sure I got his college, right.
07:15 But JV on Morton from Morgan state.
07:17 Yeah.
07:18 I mean, he's one of my favorites to watch.
07:19 Keep, keep looking at.
07:21 And again, you look at these guys, you know, some of these are going to be bread
07:24 and butter, special teams and stuff like that, but you know, again, there's a real.
07:28 Growth.
07:29 And I know Doug Williams has done a really good job at help heading this thing up.
07:32 And, you know, again, you know, the support's only going to grow from here,
07:37 you know, for this game.
07:38 And again, you don't sleep on these HBCUs, man.
07:41 Xavier Smith is a prime example.
07:43 I remember watching him at the combine last year.
07:45 I was like, this guy, it looks like he could be something and he lands
07:48 on with the Rams and such.
07:49 And so just all these talent and some of them are going to be in this new UFL
07:53 league, um, that's coming out in March.
07:56 So some of the guys that were prominent last year, but they're going to be some
08:00 of these guys from this game that are going to take that chance and try to put
08:02 themselves on the map, but, you know, again, a great event, Saints practice
08:07 facility, everything was great the whole week, you know, over at Yulman stadium,
08:11 Tulane, they had a baseball game going on at the same time too.
08:14 So that was kind of interesting, but great atmosphere.
08:16 It was handled extremely well.
08:18 So definitely good things from the HBCU, uh, legacy bowl combine
08:23 and the entire week out there.