We’re kicking off the 2026 Bemidji State War on the Shore Team Camp’s All-Offensive Squad with the best overall football player from the multi-day event. Blake Loughlin Blake Loughlin 6'3" | 220 lbs | LB Shakopee | 2027 State MN , a 6’3, 220 lb. LB and RB for the 6A Shakopee Sabers, also happens to be one of the best prospects in attendance, as he’s committed to the Northwestern Wildcats to play linebacker in the B1G at the next level, but for now, PRZMN got to enjoy his utility and flat-out physical dominance with his high school teammates. First off, the play speed on Loughlin was tremendous. True sideline-to-sideline run defender with great coverage ability to boot, and he was a hammer and a very consistent producer and presence from the middle of Shako’s defense. Yes, Loughlin looked good throughout the various team scrimmages, mixers, and skelly competition, but this kid turned the dial up to 11 during the vaunted War on the Shore competition to end the camp, but excitingly, his best work came on the offensive side of the ball as a RB.

Shakopee ended up reverting to their traditional triple-option/veer attack from last season when the lights were the brightest, and Louglin made sure to take full advantage of the opportunity, turning into a runaway freight train with the ball in-hand that no single defender or defense could seem to stop. Loughlin was eating and working through tackle attempts like a ATV working through underbrush, and you could hear the collision mid-rep, think “no way that RB is still upright”, and then up comes Loughlin, pumping those legs like nothing happened and into the endzone. He was unstoppable goal line back, producing a FB dive TD against Simley very late in War on the Shore, and he could easily break multiple tackle attempts in a single carry, bouncing would-be tacklers off his lower body with ease. Loughlin ended up scoring the walk-off, game-winning TD against Forest Lake to crown his Sabers the champions of the 2026 Big School War on the Shore. Additionally, as a LB, the NUFB Family commit was a TFL machine, filling gaps with speed and ferocity, showing off his impressive closing speed, and generally taking great flow/path to the ball while showing he can mirror tailbacks as he dropped and broke down his hips, and closed with authoritative physicality on a Maple Grove toss. Stuck a Burnsville RB between the tackles in a beautiful 1v1 stick in the box that we remember very clearly as well.

This kid is a dang good football player and an even better athlete. Northwestern got a stud!

RB MVP

Golly, what a matchup the finale was at the War on the Shore at the Bemidji State Big School Team Camp and the one blasting forward in the Sabers backfield was led by Northwestern commit Blake Loughlin Blake Loughlin 6'3" | 220 lbs | LB Shakopee | 2027 State MN . If you wanted to see gritty, powerful inside runs on Wednesday, you had to be in Bemidji to see them as Blake ran thru contact almost like a bulldozer at a job site. He finished off his workmen like effort showing off the twitch the 6’3 220 pound Big Ten linebacker commit showed the Cats before he committed, as I loved seeing my final camp eval of the summer come from a 2027 prospect that I remember very clearly on when he jumped on D1 radars, as I was there for it at the MFCA Training House Combine a couple years back already as Blake showed off the explosive that was there back then and has grown into joining the Big Ten next year.

One of the most fun, high-potential, and Hardest Hitters in Minnesota’s 2027 class, Shakopee’s Blake Loughin was also one of the 2025 Summer Camp SZN’s biggest winners and breakout stars, proving his eye-popping athleticism and ability all over prospect camps of the Upper Midwest last summer. The then-6’2, 205 lber. ran in the low 4.7s and popped up a few mind-bending 10’+ broad jumps at various points on the Summer Camp Circuit, so I absolutely believe his reported 10’10” broad jump, 39″ vert, and 4.6 40 in his Twitter bio. Additionally, Loughlin is up to a reported 6’3, 220+, a terrifying predicament for potential 6A opponents to try and manage next fall, and he’s more than likely to beat his 76 tackles, 7 TFL, and 2 sack total from his 2025 junior campaign.

Loughlin is fresh off a big-time Ivy League tour, visiting Cornell, Princeton, and Yale, and the junior holds offers from Northern Iowa, Central Michigan, Cornell, South Dakota, Yale, and North Dakota going int April. The recently-named Shakopee football captain for 2026 can consistently chase down RBs from the backside of the LOS and owns excellent defensive range and is a real-deal sideline-to-sideline defender. Loughlin owns smooth, concise lateral agility, which helps him plug holes with physicality between the tackles, and he flashes a bat-out-of-hell get-off and acceleration from a standup EDGE spot, which allows him to beat OL blocking schemes before they develop thanks to his vision and play speed. Loughlin is positionally versatile, as he lined up and made plays from a variety of positions all over the gridiron and can go 0-60 in a blink. Now, onto the hitting. Loughlin straight-up knocks ball carriers around at the contact point. The 220 lber. comes into collisions with so much speed and force that RBs either vanish beneath his mass or pinball and ping pong through the air and off the turf in chaotic fashion. He’s a strong form tackler who will square up RBs and go toe-to-toe and shoulder-to-shoulder and dominate thanks to his strength, physicality, and leg drive post-contact. Loughlin has a rep of him absolutely demolishing a Lakeville North and splattering him to the turf in embarrassing fashion, off a few steps of momentum too I may add. The junior is overall a fluid, rangy, fast, aggressive ‘backer who looks sleek, functional, and impactful in the black & red of Shakopee. Could watch him hawk down RBs and knock the ball loose all day long. I would not want to get hit by this kid. Loughlin is no-doubt on P4 offer watch.

Maybe the biggest winner of the 2025 camp season and one of the most exciting uncovered finds from the summer camp trail, Shakopee High School is home to yet another certified D1-hopeful in 2027 ‘backer Blake Loughlin. At a verified 6’2, 200+, Loughlin tested impressively well at a couple of regional summer camps, catching the eye of some heavy hitters on the recruiting trail, notably North Dakota State and Minnesota, who have sent a boatload (pun intended in MN’s case) of recruiting graphics to Loughlin throughout the season to maintain their level of attention to the developing linebacker from MN’s 6A ranks. North Dakota and South Dakota State also sent gameday invites in the summer.

Loughlin is a fast, physical presence from his ILB spot, with the speed to chase down ball carriers for TFLs from the backside of the LOS. The 200+ pounder is laterally agile and can use that quickness to easily maneuver around climbing OL attempting to climb to the second level, and he does a good job of finding and sniffing out the football to meet RBs at the line of scrimmage for minimal gains. As his stats show (48 tackles and 3 TFLs), Loughlin is also a good tackler who is technically sound and runs his feet post-contact, and his midseason tape is full of good sticks and winning at the contact point against 6A RBs. This stock is only getting hotter!