Alister Vallejo Highlights: Is He The Next Mason Graham?

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2026 Recruit Alister Vallejo: The Next Mason Graham? | Scouting Breakdown Is Alister Vallejo the next Mason Graham? In this video, Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts take a deep dive into 2026 defensive recruit Alister Vallejo. They explore his explosive play style, strengths on the line, and why top programs are already watching him closely. Don't miss this detailed scouting breakdown of one of the most exciting prospects in the 2026 class.

Transcript

00:00Is Alistair Vallejo the next Mason Graham? Let's dig into his highlights in today's video.

00:09Alistair Vallejo is almost a clone of Mason Graham. There are so many comparisons

00:15that we can make here, Ryan. He's so gifted. What stands out to you?

00:20I mean, the whole backstory is really fascinating. We'll get into that a little bit more down the,

00:24you know, at the end of the video, but like as a player, Joe 6'3", 310 pounds. And he does all

00:31of the things that you would expect a 6'3", 310 pound junior in high school to do well, right? Like

00:36he's physical at the point of attack. He's got strong hands, but the flexibility and the movement

00:41skills in tight areas is what really makes him a different type of player, in my opinion, right?

00:45Like this is not a, just a point of attack player. I think that he could be a penetration style player.

00:49I think he could be a two gap if you needed him to. This is just a really impressive,

00:52versatile interior defensive lineman that has been one of the biggest risers in the 2026 recruiting

00:57class. Yeah, I'm shocked. This is one of those guys that you watch his tape and you think, man,

01:01why isn't he graded higher? He is a high four star right now, rated the 242nd player in the class,

01:10the 32nd defensive lineman. But the comparisons that we make to Mason Graham are so easy. There's

01:15some plays on tape where he's flashing this flexibility that's hard to come by in high school

01:20recruits. And he also has tremendous power for a defensive tackle of his age. I love everything

01:27about him and it's, you know, no shock that we're going to see a player coming from Texas

01:33where he's played that he is going to translate pretty early on in his career, wherever he ends

01:38up playing. Yeah. I mean, I think it's just such an easy evaluation overall. I mean, and we'll talk

01:44about it again in the recruiting breakdown, but this is a player that I just, I don't see a massive hole

01:49in his game, right? Like maybe he's not the longest guy of all time, but on the interior defensive

01:54line and the ability to establish leverage, I'm not really overly concerned about that with the

01:57style he plays, right? Like he has the hand strength. He has got the lower body explosiveness.

02:02He's got everything in the toolbox to be a really upside run defender, but I really do think there's

02:07a lot of untapped potential of him as a pass rusher, as an interior penetrator, because he really does

02:13have a good quality first step. He is flexible. He's able to win one-on-one matchups. I I'm really

02:19high on this player as an all-around defensive lineman and a difference maker on the college level.

02:24To just tap into his background, as you mentioned, he is a four-star recruit from Liberty Hill, Texas,

02:31six foot three, three 10. And then some of his stats from 2024, 51 tackles, nine tackles for loss,

02:37seven sacks, 16 QB hurry. He was also a tremendous participant in shot put. So he's got that explosive

02:46capability. Like we see with some of these lineman recruits that they're generating force

02:51out there in the field events for track and field. What other background do you have here

02:57on Vallejo? I mean, it was just several weeks ago that Vallejo wasn't even, he wasn't even ranked by

03:03a couple of the major recruiting platforms. And he was pretty much, if he was ranked, he was a low

03:08three-star level player. And he has consistently just gotten more and more traction this off season

03:13by a host of schools from across college football. And we've steadily seen now his recruiting ranking

03:18rise. I would not be shocked that this kid is a top 150 consensus player at some point, maybe even a top

03:24100 consensus player. I think he has that type of upside, especially if he has his big senior year,

03:29but he reminds me a lot of Mason Graham, Joe, not only from the just physical perspective of what

03:34he does on the field, but his background's similar as well. If you remember Mason Graham,

03:38he was a three-star recruit coming out of Servite and was a little bit of an undervalued player,

03:41even though he was recruited by some bigger schools. I think Vallejo is very similar in the sense that

03:46he's been a little bit undervalued from a recruiting perspective. He's got a similar game and he's going

03:51to end up playing on a major college level and potentially be a difference maker. So I think all those

03:55things parlay and are pretty interesting parallels, which is why that I think that this kid

03:59is going to be one of the biggest risers in the 2026 class when all is said and done.

04:03Folks, comment your thoughts below on Vallejo. Hit that like button and subscribe.

04:08We'll talk to you later.

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