Luginbill Talks UA Game & More

December 29, 2009 by Luke Stampini

The third annual Under Armour High School All-America Football Game will be televised live to a national audience on ESPN from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Saturday, Jan. 2, at 11 a.m. ET. The all-star football competition, organized by ESPN and Intersport, debuted on Jan. 5, 2008, on ABC, at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Some notable alumni of the game from south Florida include Janoris Jenkins (Pahokee/Florida), Duron Carter (St. Thomas Aquinas/Ohio State), Brandon Harris (Booker T. Washington/Miami), and Sean Spence (Northwestern/Miami).

The 2010 version of this talent laden All-American game features a host of players from Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties. Chris Dunkley (Pahokee) and James Louis (Delray Beach Atlantic) are members of the talented receiving corps in the game, while defensive tackle Todd Chandler (Northwestern) and defensive end Corey Lemonier (Hialeah) help make up a strong defensive line. Both the wide receiver corps and the defensive line are what impress National Recruiting Director for ESPN Scouts Inc., Tom Luginbill.

“It’s a class that has dominated along the defensive line, as well as at the wide receiver position,” said Luginbill. “We’ve got more prominent defensive line prospects between the two teams than we’ve ever had before. The wide receiver class is very reminiscent as the one we had two years ago in the 2008 class that featured the likes of Julio Jones (Alabama) and A.J. Green (Georgia).”

The remaining prospects in the game from South Florida include Lamarcus Joyner (CB St. Thomas Aquinas), Cody Riggs (CB St. Thomas Aquinas), Shane McDermott (C Palm Beach Central), Torrian Wilson (OG Northwestern), Demar Dorsey (S Boyd Anderson), and Cody Parkey (K Jupiter).

Luginbill also discussed the jump these prospects will experience when they move from the high school ranks to college and will they be able to make an immediate impact, more specifically a couple Florida State Seminole commitments.

“I don’t think there is any question, in fact I don’t have a single doubt, that Jeff Luc and Lamarcus Joyner can come in and physically be prepared and capable of playing and having an impact as a true freshman. The determining factor is, and always will be, can they mentally handle the jump from high school to college, going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a guppy in a lake.

“There are some kids, where physically they can go and play and mentally they handle that transition as well. There are other kids that maybe don’t develop as quickly to the point where they feel comfortable with everything going on around them and they have maybe more of a limited role or the coaching staff chooses to red shirt them.”

With the recent turn of events in Gainesville surrounding the University of Florida coaching situation, there has been a lot of speculation of how it would affect Chris Dunley’s decision, one of the biggest uncommitted Gator recruits playing in the game. Luginbill gave his thoughts on the Gators current recruits in the wake of the Urban Meyer news.

“I think this class, right now, is in a bit of a holding pattern,” said Luginbill. “Keep in mind; we are in the middle of the recruiting dead period, so no recruiting efforts can take place, in terms of contact on behalf of other teams to current Florida verbal commitments. However, the moment that ends, don’t kid yourself, the chums going to be in the water and the sharks will be circling.

“I think that Florida and Urban Meyer have to come up with a way of quelling any concerns; settling this class down.”

Practice for the two teams begins 10 a.m. Wednesday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. The coaches for each team are former NFL head coaches Ted Marchibroda and Sam Wyche.