U.S. Army All-American Bowl Announces It's Nominees

by Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

Officials of the 10th Annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl have announced the 400 nominees for next year's all-star game that will be played January 9, 2010 in the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas. The pool of 400 will be eventually reduced to an East and West squad made-up of 45 players each.

Texas has the most nominated players with 49 on the initial list.

Last month, eight former U.S. All-American Bowl players were drafted in the first round of the NFL draft with 21-players overall being drafted. Over 32,000 fans attended last year's game.

The High School Football Huddle is compiling the players nominated from each state. To check-on your state, please go to the links section in the righthand column and click.

Florida High Schools Begin Spring Football Practice

by Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

Spring football practice is blooming in Florida with Monday marking the first day that teams across the state could strap-on pads to begin preparing the the start of the 2009 season. The Orlando Sentinel wasted no time in putting out an article that took a look at ten things to keep your eyes for next season, while pointing out that the season doesn't open for 122 days.

One item in the Top 10 that caught my idea...powerful Daytona Beach Mainland could have dropped to 4A this year, but instead, asked to play at the 6A level.

Click here to read the story.

Texas Lawmakers Re-Examine Steroid Testing Program for High School Athletes

by Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

Is the economy affecting the way Texas is looking at the state's mandatory steriod testing program? According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, there is debate over whether to maintain the $3 million a year program at its current level. In the first two years of testing, only 11-students tested positive...out of the 29,000 tested.

It's my opinion that the testing program seems to be working and is a great deterrent to anyone that might be considering using steroids. I sure hope that budget deficits aren't the overriding factor in this case.

High School Football Huddle readers...what's your opinion? Please way in with a comment.

Click here to read the story in the Houston Chronicle.

New Jersey Versus The Northeast

by Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

How good are New Jersey's top high school football players? We'll find out next month when the Garden Staters take on an all-star team made-up of players from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York and Virginia in the New Jersey-Northeast All-Star Classic at Rutgers University.

For the previous 11-years, the game has pitted New Jersey against New York in a game known as the Governor's Bowl. Click here to read more about the format change for the June 7th game.

Former NFL quarterbacks Phil Simms (New Jersey) and Joe Theismann (Northeast) will be the head coaches.

New Jersey Roster
Offense

QB-Brent Caprio, Mainland
QB-Mike Colvin, Morristown
RB-Ray Graham, Elizabeth
RB-Aaron Hayward, Penns Grove
RB-Dillon Romain, Don Bosco Prep
FB-Blaze Caponegro, Wall
FB-Patrick Schuhl, Gloucester Catholic
TE-Malcolm Bush, Hackensack
TE-Mike Naples, Somerville
WR-Quron Pratt, Palmyra
WR-Roderick Tunstall, Glassboro
WR-Jerry Waters, Camden Catholic
WR-Tyree Watkins, Camden
WR-Nick Williams, Hun
OL-Nick Cattolico, Delran
OL-Zach Chibane, Paramus
OL-Elijah Grant, Piscataway
OL-Max Hay, Burlington City
OL-Eric Mahler, Old Bridge
OL-Evan Regas, Toms River North
OL-Cody Wallace, Moorestown
OL-Khalil Wilkes, St. Peters Prep

Defense

CB-Jeremy Crayton, Piscataway
CB-Kendall James, Roselle
CB-Eric Loper, Timber Creek
CB-Logan Ryan, Eastern
S-Josh Evans, Irvington
S-Jason Hendricks, Hudson Catholic
S-David Kenney, Peddie
LB-Greg Burton, South Plainfield
LB-Carlo Calabrese, Verona
LB-Glenn Carson, Southern Regional
LB-Ka'lial Glaud, Winslow Twp
LB-Marcus Green, Scotch Plains
LB-Brian Leffler, Hun
LB-Zach Protin, Lakeland
DT-DaShawn Cassell, Shawnee
DT-Tyson Chandler, North Plainfield
DT-Tyler Danielson, Sayreville
DT-Julio Geronimo, East Orange
DE-Mike Cole, North Brunswick
DE-Aaron Hush, Piscataway
DE-Mike Larrow, Union.

Special Teams
LS-Mike Alberque Jr. Ridgefield Park
K-Drew Evangelista, Cedar Grove
P-C.J. Feagles, Ridgewood.

Coaching Staff
Head Coach-Phil Simms, NY Giants
Assistant Coaches-Chuck Johnson, Ridgewood
Ken Trimmer, Caldwell
Charlie Pirrillo, Holy Cross
Dan Higgins, Piscataway
Tim Gushue, Shawnee
Joe Matterich, Jefferson
Rich Hansen, St. Peter's Prep
Warren Wolf, Brick.

As soon as I can find the entire Northeast roster, I will pass it along.

Would LeBron James Have Been The Best Receiver of All-Time?

by Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

There's nothing better than starting a Sunday morning with the New York Times sports section! Today's paper was particularly chock-full of interesting feature stories, including one that looks back at LeBron James' high school football career at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio.

While King James didn't play football his senior season to protect the NBA riches that were ahead of him, he did have a very solid seasons. Click here to read Jonathan Abrams good story that includes a great pic of James as a high school wide receiver.