Apopka duo soaking in the All-America experience in San Antonio

While 80 of the nation’s top high school football players are in town for Sunday’s Under Armour All-America Game at the Citrus Bowl, there are two more teams of highly-recruited senior stars in Texas preparing for Saturday's U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

The talent pool in San Antonio includes Apopka stars Jeremy Gallon and Larvez “Pooh Bear” Mars, along with Tampa Plant quarterback Aaron Murray and both of USA Today’s first team All-American running backs, Bryce Brown of Kansas and Cierre Wood of California.

Gallon has committed to Michigan, Murray to Georgia, Brown to Miami and Wood to Notre Dame.

“It’s been cool to meet all these players, all top kids from all over,” Gallon said Thursday. “It’s definitely a different level of play. Everyone is bigger, faster and stronger. It’s more what college ball will be like.”

The experience has included side trips to the Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park, a Spurs game, a riverboat ride, and functions with 90 “hero soldiers” from the Army, Army Reserve and National Guard.

“I’m proud to be a part of it and be an All-American,” said Mars, who is undecided on college plans. “It’s great. Hard to compare to anything else. It's much bigger than I thought. The players, soldiers. … activities. … everything is great.”

The U.S. Army game will be televised live Saturday at 1 p.m. by NBC from the Alamodome.

"It's been a great experience," Gallon said. "They've kept us pretty busy with practices and schedules. We've done some fun things. Meeting and getting to know our hero solider is great. There are soldiers all over town."

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed