Saturday, June 3, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile - 7 p.m.
All of the 06 Bama signees from Mississippi will not be playing in the game. Besides Mike McCoy and Justin Woodall, Terry Grant and Milton Talbert have also declined invitations to play for the Mississippi All-Stars.CapstoneGrad06 said:Seems a lot of the Mississippi boys are pulling out the game; Justin Woodall, Mike McCoy, and Marcus Tillman among a few others.
Seventy-four of the best high school football players in Alabama and Mississippi will arrive in Mobile today to begin a week of practices leading up to the 19th annual Alabama-Mississippi High School All-Star Classic, set for Saturday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Players for both squads will arrive at the University of South Alabama's Brookley Field annex this afternoon to receive their equipment and room keys, with practices set to begin Tuesday.
The teams will conduct two-a-day practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with just a morning session on Friday.
MOBILE - Florida State signee Tim Rawlinson, a linebacker from Prattville, was the only player who attended the Alabama mini-camp who did not report Monday as the all-stars checked in at the University of South Alabama's Brookley Field.
Rawlinson informed his coach, Bill Clark, on Sunday that he would not play in the game, said Alabama All-Star head coach Joey Jones of Mountain Brook.
The linebacker was quickly replaced by Theodore's Anthony Brown. "It's good to have him on our side finally," said Alabama assistant coach Scott Lesley of Mary Montgomery, a Springville High School graduate. "He's been a thorn in my side for three years."
It's four months after signing day and Andre Smith's mailbox is still crammed full of letters from college football recruiters.
But unlike the months leading up to his signing with Alabama in February, none of those letters are for him.
"You used to come home and look in the mailbox and see all the letters," Smith said. "Now you come home and look in the mailbox and those letters are for my little brother. Instead of 'Andre Smith', they say 'Chris Smith.'"
I,m not surprised at this. They have probably already taken enough flack from Mississippians about leaving the state , without hearing it from their teammates.Crimson Surfer said:All of the 06 Bama signees from Mississippi will not be playing in the game. Besides Mike McCoy and Justin Woodall, Terry Grant and Milton Talbert have also declined invitations to play for the Mississippi All-Stars.
Each Saturday during last football season, Chris Smelley and Deon Williams couldn't wait to get their hands on the sports section of the newspaper.
`I wanted to see how many touchdowns Deon had scored," said Smelley.
"And I wanted to see how many yards Chris passed for," said Williams.
Williams and Smelley had good reason. Combined, the two accounted for 103 touchdowns at Tuscaloosa County and American Christian, respectively, in 2005.
Mississippi loses three
MOBILE - Three players failed to report for Mississippi on Monday. West Point defensive back Kymario Cannon and offensive tackle Keidrick Rush did not report and Johnny Sanders, a linebacker from Hazelhurst, also did not report.
Akeem Simmons of Moss Point and James Hareis of Gautier joined the roster Thursday.
In the first few days of practice for any football team, the defense is usually expected to be ahead of the offense. Alabama coach Joey Jones of Mountain Brook said his squad's defense is living up to that expectation after a strong performance on Tuesday.
"I thought the defense got much better from the first practice to now," Jones said. "Even since mini-camp, they've really improved. That's made me feel much better, because they ought to be dominating out there."
Jones had extra praise for linebackers Charlie Higgenbotham of Mountain Brook, an Alabama signee, and Ryan Powers of Tanner, a two-time all-stater who is going to Arkansas.
Good to hear that Higg is doing well!Crimson Surfer said:
From what I have read about his progress since his knee surgery he is doing very well, progressing ahead of schedule, and showing no signs of losing a step. It sure looks like he is going to be a good MLB.BEATtutorsee said:Good to hear that Higg is doing well!We may look back one day and wonder how he didn't get more pub. Maybe another Meco in the making.
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The receiving crew here consists of six players who made big impacts on their own high school programs. In addition to Hawthorne, who signed with Auburn, they are Cornelius Williams of Hoover, Rashaud Slaughter of Minor, Terrell Zachery of Wadley, Tebiarus Gill of Vigor and tight end Preston Dial of UMS-Wright. Williams signed with Troy, Slaughter and Gill signed with UAB, Zachery signed with Auburn and Dial with Alabama.
In Wednesday's morning practice, a sluggish start finished with a bang as Hawthorne hauled in at least two TD receptions including one short pass over the middle on a slant he turned into a score, and Dial got loose on another.
Both the Alabama and Mississippi squads have lots of speed on defense. Both have huge offensive lines. Both have bruising running backs and tall, sure-handed receivers.
But only one of them will win the 19th annual Alabama-Mississippi High School All-Star Classic, which will kick off tonight at 7 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Tickets for the game are $6 and will be available at the gate.
"Ready or not, here it comes," Mississippi head coach Johnny Hill said Friday, as his players joined their Alabama counterparts for a lunch of barbecue sandwiches at the stadium. "Hopefully, we've improved from the first day of practice to the last. I guess we'll find out tomorrow night."