The Rivals Camp Series starts again this weekend in Los Angeles, one of four regional camps before the Rivals Five-Star this summer. Here is a look at 10 of the best players to ever come through the Los Angeles Rivals Camp Series over the last decade.
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Making a running back No. 1 overall is very difficult based on historical NFL Draft trends but Harris was such an exceptional prospect that the Antioch, Calif., prospect ended up in that top spot for the 2017 Rivals250.
Harris first attended the Rivals Camp Series in the Las Vegas camp but then shined in Los Angeles as well, along with going to the Five-Star Challenge.
The five-star was all of 6-foot-1 and 222 pounds in high school and looked like a man among boys at every event. He stuck with Alabama although Michigan tried to flip him up to the last minute. He’s now the starting running back of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The top-ranked athlete in the 2017 Rivals250, Lenoir was the second-best cornerback in that California group which looking back was absolutely loaded with Darnay Holmes (Las Vegas Raiders) and Jaylon Johnson (Chicago Bears) also in the top eight.
The Los Angeles Salesian standout attended Rivals Camp Series events all over the country including Los Angeles and the Five-Star Challenge, where he brought his physical and tough style to the defensive side of the ball as he ended up one notch away from five-star status.
Oregon held off USC and Nebraska for Lenoir. Now a San Francisco 49ers cornerback, Lenoir signed a new five-year, $92 million extension in November.
A former USC commit who flipped to Washington, Nacua attended the 2018 Rivals Camp Series in Los Angeles and definitely had a strong performance but we’d be lying if we could’ve predicted his enormous success with the Los Angeles Rams.
The four-star receiver from Orem, Utah, played for the Huskies before transferring to BYU and ending up as a fifth-round pick so his ranking at No. 152 in the Rivals250 is almost dead on. Two seasons ago, Nacua exploded onto the scene as one of the league’s best - and most reliable receivers.
One of the more physically impressive prospects to come through the Los Angeles camp in recent memory, the five-star defensive end was just bigger, stronger and faster than everybody at the regional event and then got tested pretty good at the Five-Star Challenge.
At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, the Redlands (Calif.) East Valley standout was pretty much maxed out physically in high school and then had a crazy journey to becoming a first-round pick including medically retiring from football at UCLA only to come back and play at Miami. He was taken in the first round by the Miami Dolphins where he still plays.
One of the friendliest and most affable kids to come through the camp circuit during the Rivals Camp Series, the five-star all-purpose back has been coming out to events since his freshman year and doing well even back then. His physical maturation over the years was something extraordinary to see and his dominance only followed.
The top-ranked all-purpose back in the 2020 Rivals250 picked Texas over USC (where many believed he would end up) along with Ohio State and others. He rushed for more than 3,400 yards there and was the eighth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Looking back, it’s frustrating that we didn’t pull the trigger on making Sewell a five-star after his dominant performances at the regional camp and then the Five-Star Challenge but there was concern that he had some bad weight and might have to move inside at 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds.
The former high four-star from St. George (Utah) Desert Hills has actually trimmed down by five pounds since being in the NFL – an early first-round pick of the Detroit Lions – so when he was in high school he was actually maxed out physically.
Oregon beat out USC, Alabama and many others for Sewell, who ended up as the fifth-best offensive tackle in the 2018 Rivals250.
Maybe no one ever in Rivals Camp Series history has been as dominant a receiver – or came to every event trying to prove a point – more than St. Brown, the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2018 Rivals250. We nailed his five-star ranking, and it was a colossal miss by NFL teams that let him slide to the fourth round and 112th pick in the NFL Draft, as St. Brown has become one of the NFL's top receivers.
For many years starting early (and following his older brothers Equanimeous and Osiris), St. Brown dominated Rivals events including stops in Los Angeles and the Five-Star Challenge. He proved he was unquestionably the top receiver in the class. He went to USC and then has proven to be one of the best receivers in the league with the Detroit Lions.
Stroud went to the Rivals Camp Series in Los Angeles earlier in his career and we were so wrapped up in whether we thought Bryce Young or DJ Uiagalelei was the top quarterback in the class that Stroud was probably overlooked a little bit.
A dynamic passer with a live arm, the four-star from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., really emerged later in his high school career and then picked Ohio State over USC, Georgia and others. He was a star at OSU and became the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft right behind Bryce Young.
If we’re being honest, Tagovailoa was not someone who screamed five-star quarterback especially during the early years of attending Rivals Camps Series events. Plus he’s a lefty and at that time that was even more frowned upon than it is today (maybe because Tua stopped some of those preconceived notions that receivers don’t love lefty QBs).
But over the years, Tagovailoa did more events and showed up again and again. He kept throwing a beautiful ball, got bigger and stronger, and he ended up as the third-best QB in the 2017 Rivals250. That was still not high enough as Tagovailoa starred at Alabama and then was the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft.
Rivals Camp Series alum Joe Burrow was the only quarterback taken ahead of him.
A five-star in the 2020 Rivals250 and ranked second overall, Young has been coming to Rivals Camp Series events since an early age and started getting MVP awards at the 2017 Los Angeles camp. He continued to show up every year, to every event, to compete at everything.
Young ended up as a five-star even though there were size concerns which followed him even to the NFL. But that didn’t stop him from being the No. 1 overall pick and the current starter for the Carolina Panthers.
Whether it was in Los Angeles or at the Five-Star Challenge or numerous other events, Young never backed down from competition and always was out to prove he was the best quarterback there.
