The Garcia Awards: OT7 Finals
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – While the tournament wound up as the latest notch on the belt for an all-time 7-on-7 run from Lo Pro, the road to Sunday evening featured jaw-dropping plays, consistent performances and new names to know from the national event.
Rivals looks back and dishes out some hardware of its own after taking in each day of the action.
OT7 FINALS: Recruiting Rumor Mill | Top performers from opening day | Garcia’s takeaways from Saturday
THE BREAKOUT: Derrick Baker
The South Florida native is set to kick off the fall as QB1 at Milton (Ga.) High School, but he’ll have some extra momentum going into his junior campaign in the Peach State. Baker is well-built at about 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds, but his pace, precision and progression in piloting the Cam Newton offense went from nice storyline to consistent threat against the nation’s elite club teams.
Baker was a true point guard on grass, directing traffic and executing to all three levels en route to C1N’s semifinal run. Plenty of offers are already in for the 2027 passer, who also showed off his wheels when blitzed, as early relationships at Florida State, Indiana, Virginia Tech and others have his attention.
MR. COMPETITIVE: Briggs Cherry
The four-star Louisville commitment showed great drive on the football and plenty of trust in his arm talent all weekend long. Cherry wrapped up the playoff run as the only primary passer in the national tournament to have made successful stops at the Elite 11 Finals, Rivals Five-Star and OT7 Finals.
Despite more volume of throws than just about any quarterback in the country during that stretch, Cherry was still pushing the ball deep with ease well into Sunday afternoon. The competitiveness and head-turning talent has other programs checking in on the Cardinals commitment.
SNAG CITY: Devin Fitzgerald
This setting provides plenty of footballs in the air, revealing those with polish among those who may fight the football some. The latter never comes up with the son of the NFL legend, who must be tired of hearing those comparisons at this point.
Still, the way Fitzgerald finishes plays is something his old man would surely appreciate.
The four-star, who may be trending to Notre Dame, plucks the ball away from his body on routine. He can work the sideline with body control, go up and get it, or track it in stride with true consistency.
SPIDEY SENSE: Joey O’Brien
No matter what position a defensive back may occupy, the instincts one shows when the football is in the air can become the difference between a pass breakup and an interception – and O’Brien had plenty of each over the weekend.
The OT7 Defensive Player of the Year saved some of his best juice for the final tournament of the season even as onlookers expected him to make that type of impact. O’Brien’s length and trigger allows him to play the seam downhill but he also shows lateral range and true ball skills against other concepts.
There has been some cornerback talk and even offensive packages for the Notre Dame commitment, but his free range game as a high safety is easily the most consistent in this setting.
WALK IT, TALK IT: Brysen Wright
It doesn’t take long to hear the 2028 prospect demand the football on a given play but it also doesn’t take long for Wright to make one of those ‘wow’ plays all the same. On a Miami Raw roster loaded with blue-chip pass catchers, it’s the 14-year-old who splashed as much as any wide receiver on any roster over the weekend.
Wright is open even when he doesn’t create separation, which isn’t often, and when the ball is in the air he comes down with it well more than not. He plays with emotion and an edge that may not be for everyone, but there also aren’t many defensive backs who showed an ability to slow him down despite his youth.
THE TELEPORTER: A’mir Sears
The 7-on-7 setting is offense-driven and people want to see points on the board, but certain prospects make it that much harder to accomplish. Sears is one of them in the secondary and he shows it in working all over the field for Miami Raw.
Elite anticipation and an even more elite wingspan allow for Sears to take real chances on the football from both depth and underneath in coverage. The freshman had the interception of the tournament in baiting OT7 MVP Maika Eugenio over the middle before tipping the football to himself and corralling it on the way back down.
Sears would get his hands on plenty of passes and even flash on offense as a receiver before all was said and done.
THE CANNON: Trae Taylor
The rising-junior Nebraska commitment has had some strong showings throughout the offseason circuit and he saved his hottest run for a chunk of championship Sunday. Taylor has work to do from a consistency standpoint like most young passers, but when he was asked to fire the football with velocity and/or to the third level he may have been the best in show despite a loaded field.
Taylor can rip the football through the air without much wasted motion and he came out of the gates with that mentality on Sunday, particularly with speedy Ohio State wide receiver commitment Jamier Brown. That could be among the most dynamic duos on the circuit next offseason given their youth.
BLURRRRRR: Bryan Hamilton
Pitt may have found another steal in the Sunshine State with the Tampa (Fla.) Gaither star wideout. Hamilton made plays all over the field in helping his team make a deep run in the tournament, but his statement plays shared one element in common – he got behind the defense.
Hamilton, who touched sub 4.5-seconds in the 40-yard dash in February before clocking a 10.66-second 100 meter dash in March, showed it wasn’t just offseason work and instead it continues to translate.
The improved ball skills on top of the pure speed forced plenty of ‘who is that?!’ moments from onlookers close to our position this weekend.
CAPTAIN CLUTCH: Maika Eugenio
The end of the 7-on-7 run for one of the most decorated players in the setting ended how many would have predicted a few days ago – with a tournament crown. Lo Pro’s undefeated run was a bit of a breeze in pool play but it came with plenty of contention on Championship Sunday.
Eugenio led the team to quarter and semi-final wins on walk-off passes. The Hawaii commitment was especially clutch against Raw Miami, where he was once down a pair of scores before forcing overtime and eventually firing a sudden-death dime to send the local program home.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Zyren Menor
There is a perception that the OT7 champs trot out a roster that doesn’t have much FBS talent on it for these events but that certainly is not the case. There is also officially a new Power Four prospect on that roster in rising-sophomore wide receiver Zyren Menor.
The program’s leading pass catcher was impossible to miss as the event wore on, beating defenders down the field with speed as much as he found the hole in the zone to snag a score.
The strong route-running and even better hands Menor showcased led to an offer from the Miami Hurricanes before Lo Pro traveled back to the West Coast.
