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Under Armor All American Game

January 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on Under Armor All American Game 

Under Armor All American GameUnder Armor All American Game, Florida State commitment Jameis Winston (Hueytown, Ala.) earned the MVP award for the White team as he led a 48-16 rout of the Black squad at the Under Armour All-American Game at Tropicana Field.

Winston threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Miami Northwestern receiver Amari Cooper, an Alabama commit, to get things going and the White squad, named Team Blur, never let up.

With his mother sitting beside him, and his step-mother sitting on the other side of her, Landon Collins, the No. 1 safety in the country out of Geismar (La.) Dutchtown High, selected Alabama over LSU, much to the dismay of mom.

She lowered her head in her hands and was obviously upset, shaking her head in disbelief.

Then she told the ESPN audience, “I feel LSU is a better place for him to be. LSU Tigers, No.1. Go Tigers.”

Then his stepmother, with whom Collins apparently lives just down the road from Tiger Stadium, stood up and gave him a hug.

Desention in the family? Well, there is surely more to come from this story.

Strange bedfellows?

Winston was hanging out on the sidelines with interesting company during the Collins announcement, chatting it up with Alabama commitments LB Reggie Ragland (Madison, Ala.), WR Amari Cooper (Miami Northwestern) while other Alabama pledges Eddie Williams (Panama City Arnold), OT Brandon Greene (Cedar Grove, Ga.), DT Dakota Ball (Lindale, Ga.) were nearby.

There are some who think it won’t be long before Winston decommits the Seminoles, and Alabama could be a likely destination considering he grew up in Hueytown.

The charmismatic QB, however, who said earlier this week he will be rooting for Alabama in the BCS title game, contended all week that he’s all set with the ‘Noles and looking forward to it.

Ragland started saying before Collins’ announcement that he knew the Alabama hat was coming out. After his prediction, he started dancing around, happy that the Tide was gaining a seventh Under Armour All-American selection. The other pledge, Chris Black of Jacksonville First Coast, has an injured shoulder and did not participate.

Merry belated Christmas
Safety Brian Poole, a Florida commit, got a late Christmas present from Black team quarterback Connor Brewer (Scottsdale, Ariz., Texas commit) with an errant pass on a broken route. Poole picked of the pass, that actually looked as if it were meant for him, and then raced past two White squad defenders and took it 93 yards for an Under Armour All-American Game record 93-yard touchdown. The previous mark for longest scoring play was held by Poole’s future teammate and current Gator Andre Debose, the Sanford Seminole product who had a 92-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Russell Sheppard in the 2009 game.

“Once the ball hit my hands, I already knew I was taking it to the house,” Poole said after the game.

What about Coop?

Not to be outdone, Cooper was at it again in the fourth quarter. Already the owner of one long touchdown pass, Cooper fielded a punt at the beginning of the fourth quarter and took it 93 yards to paydirt, tying Poole for the longest scoring play in game history.

So Cooper could certainly have pleaded his case for the white team MVP.

Hey, weren’t you just …. ?

The Black squad MVP was QB Tanner Mangum of Eagle, Idaho, who actually started the game as a member of the White team.

The BYU commitment switched teams in the second half after three quarterbacks for the Black squad suffered first-half injuries — Miami commit Preston Dewey (Austin, Texas), Clemson commit Chad Kelly (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Texas commit Connor Brewer Scottsdale, Ariz.). Kelly would return later in the game.

Mangum’s combined stats were 7-of-15 passing for 83 yards and three interceptions.

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