All-American band member Keveon Taylor uses a unique technique to speed up his chicken wing eating during the All-American skills challenge — Cameron Smith/USA Today

SAN ANTONIO — The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is still four days away, but it already has it’s first official winner: The West squad, courtesy an eating crusade that included All-American offensive lineman Josh Barajas, cornerback Isaiah Langley, two All-American band members and two soldiers. It was a strong performance.

Still, that pales in comparison to the night’s true eating superstar: A trombone playing senior from Mississippi named Keveon Taylor, who might be the next big man to give professional competitive eaters Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut a run for their money.

Without the aid of water to lighten the bun load, Taylor demolished two chicken wings, a large burger and hot dog in the span of roughly 15-20 seconds. He almost single-handedly closed a massive gap of roughly one full eater in the six-man relay that was caused when East offensive lineman Dallas Warmack of Mays High in Atlanta struggled to finish his plate without the help of water (bottled water was eventually introduced for the final eater of each group).

“The trick to eating chicken wings, is you have to snap the bone and then just twist the meat off in one big pull, dip it in the sauce and eat it,” Taylor, who hails from Cleveland, Miss., said of his unique approach that nearly eclipsed the West squad’s large lead. “The mistake people make is they try to eat around the bone like corn on the cob.”

As for the hamburger and hot dog, that was all just down to Taylor’s prodigious appetite.

“Honestly, I felt like I could have eaten all those plates,” Taylor said as he got up to stand in line for the buffet … to eat some more.

Josh Barajas and team West celebrate their eating competition victory — Cameron Smith/USA Today

Eating wasn’t the only talent on display Tuesday night at the All-American Challenge, but it was the decisive one in awarding the annual skills trophy and determining which squad would get to eat first, no small treat in a room of more than 200 teenagers, many of them the largest football players in the nation. The previous two competitions, for sit-ups and pushups, were both captured by the East squad, with teams comprised of one football player, one band member and one soldier squaring off from each side. Trent Thompson, the ALL-USA Defensive Player of the Year out of Georgia, was the decisive pushup man for the East while a valiant sit-up effort from Tristan Hoge of Pocatello, Idaho, came up just short for the West.

None of that will be remembered in the long run. In fact, the sheer knowledge that the West squad was victorious will probably fade by game time. Keveon Taylor’s ferocious eating heroics? That kind of legend may yet live on.

The skills competition trophy one by the West squad — Cameron Smith/USA Today

Defensive back Isaiah Langley competing for the West squad in the eat off — Cameron Smith/USA Today

Dallas Warmack struggles during the eating competition — Cameron Smith/USA Today

Linebacker Darrin Kirkland competes for the West squad in the pushup competition — Cameron Smith/USA Today

Tristan Hoge flies through sit-ups in the skills competition