Coen Echols is a team captain and the center for Katy this year, which is something Texas A&M's coaches are probably happy about. He's definitely an interior lineman, but he fits the trend of players A&M has used at the position, like Mark Nabou and Remington Strickland. Both of those guys played other positions before coming to A&M, but have that broad body type you want in a center.

Atascocita has a massive defensive front with Power 5-sized interior linemen, so it was. good test for Echols. He held his own and then some, as Atascocita failed to get any pressure all evening. Echols did a good job in the running game as he was able to frequently handle the big bodies and then get to the next level and continue blocking. The Tigers ran for 145 yards on 30 carries, which is decent but not great. If they tried to run outside, it was a struggle. But overall, Echols put in a solid if not spectacular performance. He blocked well, made all the line calls that were needed and had no trouble with snaps. There are few spectacular performances ever put in by centers, so you can't ask for a lot more than that.

One of the big draws for me to this game was Atascocita's 4-star running back, Tory Blaylock. As it turned out, he probably wishes that I had come on another night.

Blaylock had 14 carries for 81 yards and a catch for another 9, but he also fumbled three times, including once inside the Katy 5. The last one led to his benching, and the emergence of a player I'll discuss in a second.

Blaylock is already clearly bigger than the 5-foot-9, 170 pounds he was at the last update. He has really thick legs and is a physical runner. He doesn't dance around, he hits the hole and gets going. If you hit him low, you'd better wrap up, or he'll run through you. He'll also put a shoulder down to initiate contact with a defender if he needs a yard or two.

The fumbles, though, were concerning. He had the ball out away from his body and Katy clearly targeted it, knocking the ball out on three occasions. He's a solid back and I like his overall game, but he's got to hold onto the football.

When Blaylock went to the bench, Atascocita turned to athlete Cardae Mack to take over at running back. And, not to overstate things, he was phenomenal.

Mack reminded me a lot of Trey Williams -- not Trayveon, Trey -- with his size, quickness and elusiveness. The first carry he got was on the Katy 14, and he ran off right tackle and there was nothing. It was completely walled off. He immediately cut back, used a jump step to avoid a tackler and went completely back across the field to score. He ended up with 14 carries for 167 yards and 3 scores. That's nearly 12 yards a carry against a defense filled with college football players in the making.

Mack has excellent north-south speed, but his vision and elusiveness are truly 5-star caliber. There were a lot of Division I football players on that field, and Mack was the best. Power 5 teams should be falling all over themselves to offer.

Texas A&M came after Jelani Watkins hard early in the recruiting process, but he had pretty much locked things in with LSU well before he actually committed to the Tigers on Aug. 4. He transferred in to Atascocita this season and clearly the coaches want to get him the ball deep.

Possibly the fastest player in Texas high school football (it's probably either him or A&M commit Earnest Campbell of Refugio), Watkins repeatedly blew by Katy defenders on fly patterns. But they didn't connect very often, to his frustration. Still, he had two catches for 38 yards and Atascocita's first touchdown, so he showed enough for me to think LSU will be quite happy to get his signature in December.

3-star OL Nate Kibble committed to Texas during their commit spree in June. He's listed as a guard but he was Atascocita's right tackle in this game. Honestly, he didn't do a whole lot early on -- he was more than solid in pass protection, but didn't get much push in the running game. But, as the game went on and Mack started to get the majority of the carries, Kibble was the lead blocker he got behind. He's got pretty good footwork, but I was expecting him to be a little more of a force out of the gate.

Katy used Brinkley as a defensive end against Atascocita and it did not work. He was undersized in comparison to the tackles he faced and got no push against the run and no pressure in the passing game. And it wasn't just against Kibble; he didn't fare well against the Eagles' left tackle either.

Rivals (and Kansas) like him as an outside linebacker and I think that would be the right move. He needs to operate in space and use his speed. Going head to head against talented 6A tackles is a mistake, because he's just not big enough.

Katy used several upperclassmen at running back in the first half with mixed results, but went to Hill in the third quarter. The decision to wait was quickly questioned, as Hill got behind Echols and burst through for a 54-yard touchdown on his first carry. He would score again later in the game from 2 yards out to finish with 60 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 4 carries. Hill is closer to Blaylock than Mack in terms of his style of play -- he gets going straight ahead quickly and finds ways to get navigate through small gaps without losing speed. He apparently runs in the 4.6 range, which could limit some interest, but I'd give him a long look all the same. He makes plays.