DESOTO, Texas -- A number of blue-chip prospects showed why they are some of the most highly-recruited players in a country in a star-studded Dallas Nike Football Training Camp on Saturday at Eagle Stadium.
Seven get open at the Dallas Nike Football Training Camp
The event unsurprisingly produced a host of coveted invites to The Opening.
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Seven earned invites to The Opening, the prestigious Nike event held every summer in Portland, Oregon that features 150 of the top prospects in the country.
The recruits invited to The Opening:
- Allen (Texas) quarterback Kyler Murray
- Cedar Hill (Texas) wide receiver Damarkus Lodge
- Euless (Texas) Trinity offensive guard Patrick Vahe
- Mesquite (Texas) Poteet linebacker Malik Jefferson
- Pflugerville (Texas) Hendrickson cornerback PJ Mbanasor
- Whitehouse (Texas) safety Justin Dunning
- Midwest City (Okla.) safety Will Sunderland
Unsurprisingly, the players invited to The Opening made up the majority of the positional MVPs:
Quarterback -- Murray
Running back -- Longview (Texas) product JaMycal Hasty
Wide receiver -- Lodge
Offensive line -- Vahe
Defensive line -- New Orleans (La.) Landry-Walker defensive tackle George Lea
Linebacker: Jefferson
Defensive back: Sunderland
One of the most mechanically sound quarterbacks in the country, Murray makes up for his lack of ideal size with his athleticism as well and threw the best ball throughout the day. With his quick feet and clean delivery, Murray can really spin the football, maximizing his already above-average arm strength.
At wide receiver, Damarkus Lodge showed why he was so successful as a junior last year and why he’s not a Composite five-star recruit.
A Texas commit, Vahe was impressive throughout the event. One of the early positional drills asked the offensive linemen to sit in their stance for as long as they could, a test of strength and flexibility, and Vahe was one of the last to give in.
And, of course, he wouldn’t have earned his invite without excelling in the one-on-one drills:
According to ESPN’s Phil Murhpy, Vahe didn’t lose a single rep out of the seven that he watched.
Another standout didn’t quite make the final cut for The Opening, but showed his chops in pass protection -- Rockwall (Texas) Heath offensive tackle Trevor Elbert, a Texas A&M commit.
Physically, one of the most impressive prospects in attendance as 2017 Baton Rouge (La.) University Lab athlete Dylan Moses, who is currently committed to his hometown Tigers.
One observer said that Moses was the victor throughout the one-on-one portion of the day. As in, won every rep he saw. Not yet 16 years old, Moses is already 6’2 and 220 chiseled pounds. During the team drills, Moses worked at linebacker, his likely position in college, and looked like a quick study.
