On February 5, 2011, I attend the Texas vs. The Nation senior bowl. Before attending I had never heard of this senior bowl I was only familiar with the Under Armor senior bowl and East West Shrine game. So going in I wasn’t hesitant about the talent level but once I was there I was blown away at the amount of talent. Out of the 110 players 95 of them had invitations to the NFL combine in Indianapolis. All of the players playing in the game were rated by NFL scouts to be in the top ten at their respective position. Within those players were two first round prospect both nose tackles. One playing for the Nation his name was Kenrick Ellis from Hampton University which is located in Hampton, Virginia. The other playing for the Texas team his name was Jerrell Powe from Mississippi which is located in Oxford, Mississippi.
When I first arrived to practice I was confused because there were player from colleges outside of Texas playing on the Texas team. I was then told that to be on the Texas team you just needed some kind of Texas tie the most obvious being playing for a state of Texas University or playing high school in the state of Texas. Which is how Mario Fannin, running back, from the National Champion Auburn Tigers was allowed to play on the Texas team.
As for the game, it started out looking like it would be a shootout because both teams scored on big plays in the first quarter. Taylor Potts from Texas Tech connected with Denarius Moore from Tennessee for the games opening touchdown 3 minutes into the first quarter. Then Damien Berry from Miami University ran for a 72 yard touchdown run. After that both teams pretty much staled on all their drive with the final score being 13-7 Texas winning. Team Texas leads the overall series 3-2. Taylor Potts was named game’s MVP.
Overall, I thought the talent level was great and could see this game become a great partner for Team USA American Football Stars and Stripes. All of the player will either be drafted or get picked up as free agents and given a look by NFL teams. For Team USA I would say keep a database of all these players because any of them would make great player for Team USA not all of the will make NFL rosters next year and our game will be a great opportunity for some of them to get another look in a game setting and to stay involved with football.
For more check out http://texasvsthenation.com/
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