Football Hotbed just joined some elite company. This year, 10 athletes who previously competed on the Football Hotbed showcase platform earned invitations to the NFL Scouting Combine—putting our “program” in the same numerical conversation as many of the top college football brands in the country. If Football Hotbed were a college, these 10 invites would place us alongside some of the most productive pipelines to the NFL in this year’s draft cycle.
Our “QB room” features Fernando Mendoza (Indiana), who appeared in our High School Showcase Sophomore Game, giving him an early stage to develop the poise and presence now on display at the national level. In the backfield, CJ Donaldson (Ohio State) represents our “running back tradition,” first flashing his potential in the Middle School All-American Game and now carrying it all the way to the Combine.
At tight end, Football Hotbed’s “TE factory” includes Tanner Koziol (Houston), who used the High School Showcase Junior Game to refine his skills as a versatile, physical target. Up front, our “defensive line unit” stacks up with the best in the country: Rueben Bain Jr. (Miami), a product of both the Freshman All-American Game and College Tour, plus Tyreak Sapp (Florida), who came through the Middle School All-American Game, and Zion Young (Missouri), an alum of the High School Showcase Sophomore Game. For any traditional college, three defensive linemen in one Combine class would be a headline; for Football Hotbed, it showcases the strength of our trenches.
Our “linebacker room” is headlined by Wesley Bissainthe (Miami), who progressed through both the Middle School All-American Game and the High School Showcase Sophomore Game—mirroring the kind of multi-year development path top college programs love to promote. On the back end, our “DB room” boasts Jalon Kilgore (South Carolina), a High School Showcase Sophomore Game standout, and D’Angelo Ponds (Indiana), who emerged from the National Middle School Invitational Showcase. Together, they represent the kind of versatile, competitive defensive back pipeline that many Power Four programs strive to build.
Even on special teams, Football Hotbed stacks up like a top-tier program. Specialist Ryan Eckley (Michigan State), who developed through the Middle School All-American Game and National Specialist Showcase, mirrors the way elite colleges highlight their punters and kickers as key weapons in the field-position battle.
When you look at the numbers, the picture is clear: 10 NFL Combine invitees from one developmental platform places Football Hotbed in rare air. While traditional colleges count their success in draft picks and Combine invites, we can now point to a comparable level of impact—earned not at the college level, but years earlier in an athlete’s journey.
If we were listed on the same graphic as this year’s top colleges by Combine invites, Football Hotbed would stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the biggest brands in the sport. That is the true significance of these 10 invitations: they prove that our showcases don’t just mirror the intensity and expectations of top college programs—they help build the athletes those programs and, ultimately, the NFL covet.
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