The HBCU Legacy Bowl and HBCU Combine were big hits in New Orleans. Here's what you missed and some takeaways.
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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.