Jaydan Mayes could continue building the Army-to-NFL pipeline after receiving his latest accolade. Mayes earned a spot on the coveted Shrine Bowl 1000, the East-West Shrine Bowl’s yearly preseason watchlist of prospects on their radar. Mayes quietly had an outstanding season in 2024 with four interceptions and seven pass breakups. His four interceptions were the most by a Black Knight since 2014.

The East-West Shrine Bowl, the country’s longest-running all-star game, is in an interesting position. More well-known talent such as Colorado’s Shiloh Sanders and last year’s receiving triple crown winner (#1 in receptions, yards, and touchdowns), Nick Nash of San Jose State, have accepted invitations recently. Despite that, the game is quickly losing prestige. The Shrine Bowl returns to the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility in 2026, after a one-year test run at AT&T Stadium in 2025. Even worse, next year’s game is on a Tuesday. With that, the East-West Shrine Bowl has become a shell of what it once was. 

Nonetheless, Black Knight fans should welcome this honor with some excitement. After regularly inviting players from the three FBS service academies from 2001 to 2019, the East-West Shrine Bowl has mostly abandoned Air Force, Army, and Navy. Since 2022, the service academies have each sent just a single player to the game. NT Nolan Cockrill was Army’s last Shrine Bowl participant back in 2022. This shift has coincided with heavier involvement from the NFL in the game since 2022. 

Mayes’ inclusion in the Shrine Bowl 1000 is ironic. Mayes and his 2024 starting counterpart at corner, Donovan Platt, entered the transfer portal during the offseason. While Platt landed at Virginia, Mayes withdrew and returned to West Point for his Cow year. So Platt left the program for seemingly better opportunities but did not make the Shrine Bowl 1000 list, while Mayes stayed and made it.

Mayes seems primed to make next season’s East-West Shrine Bowl, too, since he is a Cow this year. More importantly, he shows future prospective Black Knights that pro scouts still have Army on their radar. Mayes’ inclusion in the Shrine Bowl 1000 comes after an offseason that saw Army lose a 1000-yard rusher and an elite pass rusher to the transfer portal. so perhaps ayes’ inclusion on this list could sway some future early risers in Army’s program to stay and graduate while flirting with pro football aspirations. 

Though All-Star games generally have lost some of their luster, they still represent prized opportunities for programs like West Point, which rarely sends players to the NFL. Last year, WR Casey Reynolds received the honor of another chance to don the black and gold with some of college football’s best in the Tropical Bowl. Hopefully, Mayes’ inclusion in the Shrine Bowl 1000 allows another Black Knight the opportunity to represent the Black Knights in College Football’s oldest all-star game.