Navy All-American Bowl: Rankings questions that have arisen
SAN ANTONIO – The week of practices are finished and now the Navy All-American Bowl is in the books, which leads to rankings questions that will need to be addressed in the final rankings update for the 2025 class.
Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney looks at five.
1. Will there be a Texas switcheroo of five-star receivers?
Jaime Ffrench is one of the best receivers in the country but this week at the Navy All-American Bowl he has been pretty quiet while fellow Texas signee Kaliq Lockett has been really impressive.
Could a five-star switch be coming among future Longhorns receivers?
It’s definitely a question that will need to be discussed during the final rankings meetings because Ffrench also had a quiet senior season, maybe through no fault of his own as Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin four-star QB Tramell Jones was out with injury.
But even back to the offseason, the question that needs to be asked is whether Ffrench has dominated at the level of expectation of a five-star receiver.
That’s really not a question with Lockett, who had an impressive season and has more than looked the part at this all-star event. The Sachse, Texas, four-star is smooth, glides during his routes, has awesome hands and has taken a big step forward all week.
2. Is there another five-star WR from the All-American Bowl?
This has been an ongoing discussion as we desperately search for five-star receivers in the 2025 class. Right now, there are only two in Oregon signee Dakorien Moore and Ffrench but based on historical trends and NFL Draft trends, there should be at least one – if not two – more five-stars at that position.
Lockett is one that will definitely be discussed because in my eye he has separated himself from the pack here in San Antonio. He has clearly been impressive through every practice and will be in that five-star talk. The next two in the current receiver rankings are Ole Miss signee Caleb Cunningham and Texas A&M’s Jerome Myles but they didn’t do any all-star events (let alone hardly any other events through the offseason) so while that could still happen it’s a tougher conversation.
There are definitely other names to consider from the Navy All-American Bowl.
Talyn Taylor can get open in any one-on-one situation. Andrew Marsh is sneaky productive and catches everything. Daylan McCutcheon was really impressive on Day 1 of practice and shows off an extra gear to catch up to overthrown balls. Ohio State signee Quincy Porter is a physical presence who is still putting it all together. Ole Miss signee Winston Watkins Jr. was as productive as anybody for long stretches of practice.
There are names to consider – and conversations to be had.
3. Could Burgess move even higher?
There might not have been a more physically impressive or imposing defensive end at the Navy All-American Bowl than Notre Dame signee Christopher Burgess. He also plays a premium position so there will be discussions about whether the 6-foot-5, 248-pound defensive end should move higher among the four-stars or even be in that five-star talk.
With only 28 five-stars heading into the final ranking and still the possibility of movement among those players, there is some flexibility and wiggle room to add at least a handful more to mimic the first round of the NFL Draft with 32 players.
The Chicago (Ill.) Simeon standout will be in those five-star conversations because he has great size, he’s thick, he’s tough and he moves well. The tricky part is that Texas signee Lance Jackson, one spot ahead of Burgess in the strong-side defensive end rankings, is even more impressive physically although he didn’t work out at any all-star events.
One other defensive end to consider will be Iowa signee Iose Epenesa, who started slow at the All-American Bowl, probably because he’s not used to the high-end competition. But he rose to the occasion later in the week and showed dominant qualities.
4. Which cornerbacks will move up?
The notion heading into the all-star events has been that the cornerback class is superb at the highest end – with five-stars Devin Sanchez, Na’eem Offord and Dijon Lee leading the way – and then kind of fell off a little bit into that second tier.
But after seeing some of these four-star cornerbacks in San Antonio, that belief might be wrong.
Alabama signee Chuck McDonald had a great interception during one-on-ones mid-week after coming off a phenomenal season at powerhouse Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei. He’s already ranked as the fifth-best cornerback in the class so there might be limited movement up possible there.
But Texas signee Kade Phillips is impressive physically and he can move well in coverage, Florida signee Ben Hanks Jr. is skinny but he has phenomenal instincts and then in the 2026 class four-star athlete (he played defensive back all week) Jorden Edmonds looks like a star in the making.
5. Should we move Henderson to dual-threat QB?
One of the discussions we had when it came to Keisean Henderson’s initial ranking is that he would be higher as an athlete than a pure quarterback because the 2026 standout from Spring (Texas) Legacy was one of the highest-end athletes in the class but still had some work to do to be a college quarterback.
That looks like it has changed based off his performance all week at the Navy All-American Bowl.
It’s actually one of the more interesting storylines to watch in that recruiting cycle because the Houston commit seems dead-set on playing quarterback in college and not moving to receiver – where he would be dynamic – or another position.
Right now as an athlete, Henderson is the top player in the Texas state rankings and third overall at athlete behind five-stars Derrek Cooper and Brandon Arrington.
The thought was always that Henderson would be ranked higher at athlete than quarterback but this week he showed off a smooth release, great accuracy, terrific arm strength and clearly he has dynamic playmaking ability.
There’s an argument to be made that Henderson’s ranking shouldn’t move at all if he stays at quarterback and maybe even goes higher as he improves playing the position.
