Lord Sun
06-26-2004, 08:43 AM
High school stars down NFL team
By Greg Jones, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Football and basketball collided on a court at Memorial Coliseum’s Expo Center on Friday, and with the size of some of the NFL players, it could probably be felt all the way across Fort Wayne.
“There is no way to move those guys,” South Side’s Courtney Pearson said. “You have guys with solid muscle. You just have to deal with it. We wanted to have fun with it and try to play hard.”
Pearson was part of the high school basketball all-stars which won 71-59 Friday night over a collection of past and present NFL players, in town for the Woodson-Fabini football camp.
“Nobody on this squad wants to lose,” Dallas Cowboys offensive linemen Flozell Adams said. “We go out there and do the best we can.”
Adams Central’s Landon Adler led the team of recent high school graduates with 17 points, while Harding’s Brandon Foster added 16 (playing against his father, Tracy, who was the NFL’s ringer).
With a lot of the NFL players also being two-, even three-, sport athletes in high school, the gridiron guys showed they have some moves on the basketball court.
“It is pretty much the same,” said Pearson, who played linebacker at South Side and will play football at Tri-State. “There isn’t much of a difference.”
Former NFL player Andre Hastings led his team with 13 points. Tracy Foster, who played basketball at UAB, added 11.
But even with it being just a couple of days since the NBA Draft finished up, don’t expect a repeat of the a high schooler being taken as the top pick in the NFL Draft anytime soon. Despite an attempt by Ohio State’s Maurice Clarett, USC’s Mike Williams and a half-dozen or so high school players to even get into the NFL, the league’s rule against players that young from entering has been upheld by the league and the legal system.
“High school kids today, they wouldn’t have a chance,” Adams said.
Adams pointed to the physical difference between high school and NFL players; size which is usually built up in college.
“College kids are coming along (size-wise), but it depends on the position,” Adams said.
“To go from high school to the NBA, it takes five or six years, most of them, to develop physically. As a rookie (at Dallas), I started but I had a tough time. I wasn’t comfortable until my third year, even though I was starting. It was a tough adjustment.”
Even if the rules do change and permit prep football players to enter the NFL, former player and broadcaster DJ Johnson doesn’t see a LeBron James, the 2003 NBA top pick, or Dwight Howard, the 2004 No. 1 selection, anytime soon.
“Yes, it will happen if rules permit,” said Johnson, a former teammate of Rod Woodson’s in Pittsburgh. “But will they be successful? It is hard to determine. If you are a guy coming out of high school, even a big linemen, you may be able to tolerate it for a little while and work your way up to being a good player. But it is a different ball game.
“As a high school player, you don’t get to concentrate much on working on your body. You work on it a little, than you have school work and a bunch of other stuff. It isn’t your job. These guys train and are the best of the best in the world.”
Johnson helps out at the football camp, but didn’t play in the basketball game. These days, he has moved onto the small screen as a regular on the daytime soap opera “As the World Turns.”
“Aggression is a big factor in the NFL and knowing when to turn it on and when to turn it off,” Johnson said. “A lot of high school players can’t do. They think they can at that level. But it takes a different level of turning it on. It is not basketball or baseball, where it may not get physical. This is football. I just can’t see any receivers or running backs coming out of high school and getting hit full speed by (Baltimore Ravens linebacker) Ray Lewis.”
“You have a (Detroit Pistons’) Rip Hamilton, who can be lanky and skinny and still manage. In football, that is not going to happen. These guys get bigger and more physical ever year that goes by.”
Pearson has some words for advice for players thinking about making the leap from high school to the NFL.
“I hope not,” said Pearson, who scored six points. “With the size of these dudes, I hope not.”
By Greg Jones, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Football and basketball collided on a court at Memorial Coliseum’s Expo Center on Friday, and with the size of some of the NFL players, it could probably be felt all the way across Fort Wayne.
“There is no way to move those guys,” South Side’s Courtney Pearson said. “You have guys with solid muscle. You just have to deal with it. We wanted to have fun with it and try to play hard.”
Pearson was part of the high school basketball all-stars which won 71-59 Friday night over a collection of past and present NFL players, in town for the Woodson-Fabini football camp.
“Nobody on this squad wants to lose,” Dallas Cowboys offensive linemen Flozell Adams said. “We go out there and do the best we can.”
Adams Central’s Landon Adler led the team of recent high school graduates with 17 points, while Harding’s Brandon Foster added 16 (playing against his father, Tracy, who was the NFL’s ringer).
With a lot of the NFL players also being two-, even three-, sport athletes in high school, the gridiron guys showed they have some moves on the basketball court.
“It is pretty much the same,” said Pearson, who played linebacker at South Side and will play football at Tri-State. “There isn’t much of a difference.”
Former NFL player Andre Hastings led his team with 13 points. Tracy Foster, who played basketball at UAB, added 11.
But even with it being just a couple of days since the NBA Draft finished up, don’t expect a repeat of the a high schooler being taken as the top pick in the NFL Draft anytime soon. Despite an attempt by Ohio State’s Maurice Clarett, USC’s Mike Williams and a half-dozen or so high school players to even get into the NFL, the league’s rule against players that young from entering has been upheld by the league and the legal system.
“High school kids today, they wouldn’t have a chance,” Adams said.
Adams pointed to the physical difference between high school and NFL players; size which is usually built up in college.
“College kids are coming along (size-wise), but it depends on the position,” Adams said.
“To go from high school to the NBA, it takes five or six years, most of them, to develop physically. As a rookie (at Dallas), I started but I had a tough time. I wasn’t comfortable until my third year, even though I was starting. It was a tough adjustment.”
Even if the rules do change and permit prep football players to enter the NFL, former player and broadcaster DJ Johnson doesn’t see a LeBron James, the 2003 NBA top pick, or Dwight Howard, the 2004 No. 1 selection, anytime soon.
“Yes, it will happen if rules permit,” said Johnson, a former teammate of Rod Woodson’s in Pittsburgh. “But will they be successful? It is hard to determine. If you are a guy coming out of high school, even a big linemen, you may be able to tolerate it for a little while and work your way up to being a good player. But it is a different ball game.
“As a high school player, you don’t get to concentrate much on working on your body. You work on it a little, than you have school work and a bunch of other stuff. It isn’t your job. These guys train and are the best of the best in the world.”
Johnson helps out at the football camp, but didn’t play in the basketball game. These days, he has moved onto the small screen as a regular on the daytime soap opera “As the World Turns.”
“Aggression is a big factor in the NFL and knowing when to turn it on and when to turn it off,” Johnson said. “A lot of high school players can’t do. They think they can at that level. But it takes a different level of turning it on. It is not basketball or baseball, where it may not get physical. This is football. I just can’t see any receivers or running backs coming out of high school and getting hit full speed by (Baltimore Ravens linebacker) Ray Lewis.”
“You have a (Detroit Pistons’) Rip Hamilton, who can be lanky and skinny and still manage. In football, that is not going to happen. These guys get bigger and more physical ever year that goes by.”
Pearson has some words for advice for players thinking about making the leap from high school to the NFL.
“I hope not,” said Pearson, who scored six points. “With the size of these dudes, I hope not.”