Remembering CFP National Championship Game stars as recruits

Alabama and Georgia are set to face off for the second time this season, this time for the College Football Playoff National Championship. Both rosters are full of many of the nation’s best college football players.

On3’s Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power and Senior National Recruiting Analyst Gerry Hamilton scouted many of the game’s top players extensively as high school recruits. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at their recollections of some of those stars.

QB Bryce Young, Alabama

“I had the chance to see Bryce Young a bunch during the 2020 recruiting cycle. In all, we got to see Young throw hundreds of balls live over the course of The Elite 11 and The Opening Finals along with all week at the All-American Bowl. I also closely tracked his senior season at Mater Dei. Young’s unique field vision and playmaking ability were readily apparent over the course of his career, particularly his senior season at Mater Dei. He had a sixth sense for feeling pressure and making improvisational plays. But Young was also as consistent a performer as I’ve seen among top quarterbacks. His ability to constantly show up and play well at every turn was so impressive. You could drop him in any environment and he was going to perform well. Young was almost always the best player on the field, whether it was a game on Friday nights, a quarterback camp, 7-on-7 or a national all-star game. It really wasn’t a tough deliberation to rank him as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2021 cycle.” — Charles Power

Click here to read more about Young as a recruit.

OLB Will Anderson, Alabama

“We were really looking forward to seeing Will Anderson at the All-American Bowl in January 2020. Anderson’s junior and senior video was awesome; he was regularly in the backfield before offensive linemen were out of their stance. We didn’t know quite how big or long he was and just hadn’t had the chance to see him in person. He checked in at 6-foot-2.5 and around 230 pounds with a 34-inch arm. Anderson dominated practices from the jump. We figured he would be athletic based on his film — and he was. But the strength on contact and speed-to-power was jarring. He was putting 300-pound offensive tackles on their tail. He also showed his laser focus and outstanding on-field demeanor. It was the second-most impressive all-star showing I’ve seen from an EDGE prospect after Myles Garrett at Under Armour in 2014.” — Charles Power

“I remember at one of our camps, Nathan O’Neal, the defensive line instructor, walked up and said, ‘Mark my words, that kid is going to be a star.’ I’ll never forget him walking up and saying that early on in the camp.” — Gerry Hamilton

LB Nakobe Dean, Georgia

“Nakobe Dean to this day is the smartest football player that was ever in the Under Armour All-America Game when I was part of the selection committee. You talk to Deion Sanders and whoever was associated with the game at the time — everyone walked away so impressed with Nakobe Dean’s understanding of the game of football. There were thoughts that he could’ve called the defense the entire game and he would’ve been just fine. That’s how much how the coaching staff thought of this kid intellectually as a football player. You take the talent he has with the heart, the motor and work ethic and add understanding and grasp of the game, and that’s why I think you’ve seen him ascend to be one of the top two or three defenders in college football.” — Gerry Hamilton

WR Jameson Williams, Alabama

“We had Jameson Williams in the Under Armour All-America Game. I remember him in the first practice running a vertical route and literally looking he was shot out of a cannon. He ran by every defensive back that week. He showed just elite vertical speed. He’s looked like I thought he would. That was my biggest takeaway — how fast he was in pads that week. He looked different than other guys running in pads.” — Gerry Hamilton

TE Brock Bowers, Georgia

“We didn’t get to see Brock Bowers in person or as a senior due to COVID-19 cancellations of camps and the fall season in California. That said, I tried to do extensive digging on Bowers for our 2021 rankings. We settled on ranking him as a five-star. Even though we had him the highest among the industry, that ranking — No. 32 overall — looks too low. Bowers was an elite athlete as a tight end. He ran a 4.55 40-yard dash and posted a 40-plus-inch vertical before his junior season. Then you flip on the video and you see a big-time playmaker. Bowers had 1,098 yards and 14 touchdowns while averaging over 28 yards per catch as a junior. He was taking short passes and easily outrunning the secondary. The workout videos were very impressive as well. You almost never see Power 5 prospects from Napa, Calif., but Bowers wanted to play against the best and actively sought out the SEC. He’s even better than we thought. I think he has a strong case as the best freshman tight end, maybe ever.” — Charles Power

QB Stetson Bennett IV, Georgia

“I started tracking Stetson Bennett once he got to junior college. We had heard how he impressed while playing on Georgia’s scout team as a walk-on. Bennett was at one of the better junior college programs in Mississippi —Jones County Junior College. Bennett had a solid season, helping Jones to the state title game and a bowl win. That said, you would not have expected him to be the starting quarterback for a Georgia team appearing in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Bennett did show off some creative tendencies with the ability to extend plays with his feet. But he’s certainly played with a higher level of efficiency during his second stint in Athens.” — Charles Power

OT Evan Neal, Alabama

“I saw Evan Neal when he was a freshman through every year up until he graduated at IMG. I remember seeing him as a youngster when he was still at Okeechobee High in Florida. You just don’t see many guys that big at that age. Back then, you could tell he had great feet and flexibility at an early age. It was just going to come down to how he developed and how he changed his body. My takeaway from seeing him the week of Under Armour was just how physical he was on contact. He created a jolt. He rocked guys. Even if the defensive linemen came off the ball physically, his first jolt got them on their heels almost immediately. He has a lot of natural power. I’m not sure we saw that as much at a young age as we did when he was older.”
— Gerry Hamilton

DL Jalen Carter, Georgia

“My first memory of Jalen Carter was Coach (Rick) Darlington telling me he had a rising sophomore who was going to be the best prospect to come out Apopka High [near Orlando] on his watch. I had been through that school many times over the years. I was kind of taken aback by that. Martez Ivey was at Florida at the time and Apopka has had a lot of talented guys. When I saw Jalen Carter, just his agility at that height and weight — how well he moved and how low he played — that really stood out to me.”
– Gerry Hamilton

“Jalen Carter was really, really good at the Under Armour All-America Game in 2020. We already had him ranked as a five-star at 247Sports and actually caught some heat for pulling the trigger on that ranking heading into his senior year. Carter was really more of an offensive player as a H-back/tight end to that point. He answered any questions as a senior and at Under Armour. His natural explosion and leverage rendered him nearly unblockable. Carter regularly got underneath the pads of opposing offensive linemen and would forklift them into the backfield. I remember him being particularly dominant during the actual Under Armour game. There was no doubt he was a top-10 prospect in what was a loaded 2020 cycle.” — Charles Power

DL Travon Walker, Georgia

“Travon Walker was a high-upside prospect with a great frame and good athleticism. He was a bit raw, but had some unique physical traits and an athletic profile that pointed to room for continued development. I remember him playing linebacker for his high school [Upson-Lee in Thomaston, Ga.] despite being the size of a defensive tackle. I did the measurements at All-American Bowl check-in that year and Walker was one of the more impressive players to come through. His frame and length were awesome. Walker was 6-foot-4.5, 288 pounds with a 34⅞-inch arm and 10⅞ hands. You could just see the first-round ceiling once he got high-level coaching and development at Georgia.”
— Charles Power

OLB Dallas Turner, Alabama

“What stood out about Dallas Turner when you first saw him was the arm length and wing span at 6-foot-3. And then when you saw him throw a long arm, you really could understand how long his arms are in the camp setting. He tested like an NFL combine guy. I remember telling the guys I worked with that he put up NFL combine-type numbers at young age. You just knew how high his ceiling was at the time. He ran a ridiculous shuttle and L-cone from what I remember.” — Gerry Hamilton

S Lewis Cine, Georgia

“What always stood out to me about Lewis Cine was not just how hard he hit, but how solid the contact was he made. He squared guys up when he was in high school in Everett, Mass., and then after he transferred to play with Deion (Sanders) as a senior and then at the Under Armour Game. I believe he was a little hurt at Under Armour, but seeing him before that — just seeing how hard he hit and the strikes he had. He could really break down, uncoil his hips and deliver a pop. They weren’t shoulder shots. He was striking and wrapping up. He was as good a tackler I saw at that age around that time.” — Gerry Hamilton