Man, has this game come together quickly. It is basically filling the void left by the demise of the Villages All-Star Classic in Florida and will be played on Saturday, Devember 24th at 11:00 AM.

The website will not even be up until next Tuesday, and I can only tell you one player who is CONFIRMED and in the game:

WYATT GAYER!!!!

Then I'll add another...

JAY McCAREINS

OK... I just read that the game is off. The organizers were unable to get enough players to commit to the game and apparently the players were being asked to pay part (or all) of their expenses.

Here's the link: http://www.insidetheleague.com/itl/index.php

Wow...OK. It seemed to come on WAY TOO FAST for it to work, so I am not surprised.

OK... I just went back to the InsideTheLeague.com website and apparently they were a bit too hasty with their prediction of the demise of the Magnolia Classic. They have another story today, a summary of a call they received from game organizer Darry Alton, and the game is ahead of schedule according to Alton.

Do we have anyone anywhere Jackson, Mississippi, that might be able to attend this game?

WOW!!!

Somebody is going to be eating an awful lot of crow over this one.

I will be there for a couple of the days of practices stumping for Wyatt, but will not be attending the game. I can give some practice updates to Steve if someone will post them.

That will be great Brian...I will post anything you can tell us! thanks, man.

That would be wonderful. If you take a digital camera and send us some pics, we'd be happy to post those too. Just don't let any of that take away from your "Wyatt-Stumping"... we're counting on you to give him that extra little push that he needs to get drafted.

Spoke to Darry Alton briefly. Things are a full go and has about 80 committed players. He's pretty upset about the ITL article, with good reason. The roster is also being finalized today and has already been faxed to the NFL for distribution.

Wow, have there been a lot of reversals regarding the game. I am THRILLED that is will happen.

Two more - Bill Sampy - WR - La-Lafayette and Ryan Gibbons - OL - Northeastern

I think Darry said that the rosters would be posted today. He was supposed to have a website up and running for the game.


Also, I read that CDS's own Keon Raymond (MTSU) will be there.

Also... Jon Scifres (K - Missouri St).

Here's the website for the Magnolia Gridiron Classic (I think...)

http://www.magnoliagridironclassic.com

As of this posting, the site is not yet operational. However, I checked into the ownership of the site and it appears to be the future site of the game. Keep checking now and then, as the rosters and info are supposed to be posted sometime this week.

Alright... I was right about the website (although it wasn't that hard to figure out).

http://www.magnoliagridironclassic.com is up and running, without rosters yet though.

Bruce Eugene from Grambling is supposed to be in.

Here are the rosters, hot off the presses!

2005 Magnolia Bowl 1-A Roster
Head Coach: Joker Phillips of University of Kentucky

#15 QB Steven Jyles Louisiana-Monroe
# 9 QB Dustin Almond Southern Miss
#11 QB Matt Bohnet Eastern Michigan
#30 RB Chris Taylor Indiana
#22 RB Anthony Sherrell Eastern Michigan
#19 RB J.R. Lemon Stanford
#1 RB/FS De De Dorsey Lindenwood
#47 FB Brandon Kennedy Arkansas
#44 HB Joey Trappey Louisiana-Monroe
#88 TE Boone Stutz Texas A&M
#70 LT Ishmael Lockhart Missouri
#79 LT Terrance Pennington New Mexico
#71 LG Jeff Jenerou Central Michigan
#74 LG Adam Hines Indiana
#50 C Chris McNeil Mississippi State
#76 RG Aldo Dela Garza Texas A&M
#78 RG Zarah Yisrael Troy
#75 RT Bobby Harris Ole’ Miss
#80 WR Bill Sampy Louisiana-Lafayette
#81 WR Scott Mitchell Kentucky
#7 WR Jason Carter Texas A&M
#10 WR Paul Dombroski New Mexico State
#85 WR Cleannord Saintil Middle Tennessee State
#5 K/P Justin Brantley
#94 DE Travis Parker Georgia Tech
#45 DE Mike Mendenhall Temple
#90 DE Marcus Parker New Mexico
#72 DT Michael Bozeman Ole’ Miss
#96 DT Ernest Respress Alabama-Birmingham
#55 DT/LS Brandon Villarreal Purdue
#95 DT Marcus Lewis Urbana
#27 OLB Bernard Davis Troy
#29 OLB Clarence McDougal Mississippi State
#56 MLB Mike Mohoric New Mexico
#31 MLB Archie McDaniel Texas A&M
#4 CB Keon Raymond Middle Tennessee State
#18 CB Willie Andrews Baylor
#8 CB Johnny Faulk Troy
#23 CB/FS Shelton Williams Louisiana-Monroe
#6 FS Josh Taylor Ball State University
#2 SS Tra Boger Tulane
#21 SS Dominique Cosper Alabama-Birmingham

.............................................................................................
2005 Magnolia Bowl 1-AA Roster
Head Coach: Coach Stoker from Northwestern State

#18 QB Blayne Baggett Indiana State
#14 QB Travis Lulay Montana State
#5 QB Chris Bramell St. Francis (Indiana)
#21 RB Keldrick Williams Alabama State
#17 RB Sean Treasure Minnesota State
#33 RB Terrence Freeney Northern Iowa
#42 FB Kasey Young Western New Mexico
#44 TE Jonathan Williams New Hampshire
#84 HB Zack Alcorn Black Hills State
#71 LT Woodly Telfort Northwestern State
#66 LT Jonathan Banks Grambling
#64 LG Patrick Covington Furman
#55 C Corey Stewart Furman
#69 C Raymond McNeil Fort Valley State
#77 RT Richard Burch Mississippi Valley State
#70 RT Ryan Gibbons Northeastern
#67 RG Rod Olds Jacksonville State
#62 RG Gerell Golightly Hampton
#80 WR Felton Huggins S.E. Louisiana
#3 WR Toby Ziegler Northwestern State
#8 WR Kelvin dickens Morgan State
#6 WR Hank Edwards Texas Southern
#86 WR Markee White Texas State
#29 K/P Jon Scifres Missouri State
#97 DE Jason Hunter Appalachian State
#91 DE Moe Thompson Grambling
#85 DE Sean Conover Bucknell
#58 DE John Hermann Northern Iowa
#96 DT Jesse Hayes Howard
#98 DT Travis Upshaw Texas State
#92 DT Johnny Williams Tuskegee
#56 DT Derrick Mincey South East Louisiana
#4 OLB Sterling Green Bowie State
#40 OLB Ladrelle Bryant Indiana State
#32 MLB Marvin Byrdsong Northwestern State
#25 MLB Wyatt Gayer Anderson
#54 SLB Wesley Holmes Tennessee State
#59 SLB Fredrick Brock Texas Southern
#19 SS Jamar Landrom Tennessee State
#12 SS Darrell Bennett Stephen F. Austin
#2 FS Antoine Bethea Howard
#1 FS Darren Williams Jacksonville State
#16 CB Jay McCareins Princeton
#22 CB Stephen Cason William & Mary
#28 CB Bernard Opoko Jacksonville
#9 CB E.J. Underwood Pikeville College

I love DeDe Dorsey, cant wait to see him. Im a big fan of Villareal too.

We gotta make sure we get film of this game.

Moe Thompson?!?!?

What does this mean. Is he coming out then?????

Yeah, Moe's forfeiting his final year of eligibility... I think I had posted a story indicating that he'd come out sometime last week.

Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to seeing him in action. He's been practicing with Grambling all season, so hopefully he's in decent football shape. (Although I would have loved to see Jason Hatcher get an invite. I want to see him against a 1-A offensive tackle.)

If anyone finds a TV listing for this game (reports were that it would be televised regionally), please post it here.

with that list of players do you think scott mitchell will get any playing time to really show off his skills?

Considering his college coaches are running the team, I'd say yes.

Supposedly the game WILL be broadcast via Comcast which means if you have Direct TV you have it!! Game time is 11AM Eastern tomorrow. Everybody tune in and let's get some good comments, post-game, right here!

Holy Cow that's great news Steve! I'm gonna check DirecTV's channel listing right now.

Dave, I did that yesterday and didn't see it. Supposedly it's a late addition. I hope it isn't just regional Comcast coverage.

Ok, how about the Program Guide on the TV itself? I'm at work now so I can't try it but I think they update the Program Guide frequently if there's a change.

The two Comcast channels on my Direct-TV (629 & 656) do not list it. I'm trying to find out more...Comcast has four offices: Chicago, Philly, Mid-Atlantic and West. Chicago says they don't have it. I tried the other three phone numbers but couldn't get a live human to ask.

oops...that's 11:00 AM CENTRAL TIME!! Not, Eastern...I'm going to go look at the listings again now.

I have Comcast Digital Cable, so I'll check too. As long as somebody can tape the game, we'll be OK. (I can't check right now though... my little guy is watching Elmo and we're hoping he'll nod off soon - he's a terror without his nap.)

Hey Dave... TP making you work today? We're off.

Yeah man I'm working today! This place is a ghost town though. Tumbleweed Central.

I'm guessing this game will be on one of the FSN channels?

I do not have Comcast, but do have regional Fox Sports at home. If anyone finds it, please let me know thru PM. If I can't get it, i'm happy to pay for the shipping to get a copy.

According to Brian Redden, Wyatt had 8 tackles and forced a fumble near the end of the game. Waiting to hear back from Wyatt myself.

I checked my Comcast listings, and even taped the two channels that Comcast puts sports on just in case, but the game wasn't televised for me.

I couldn't find the game on DirecTV either.

Now I can't find a box score either... I've found some articles about the game, but nothing much of interest.

Did anyone tape this game?

I know the IA squad won 17-9. I know our boy Wyatt forced the fumble that gave the IAA squad a shot to tie it at the IA 30-yard with 30 seconds left, but they couldn't punch it in.

I just talked to Wyatt and he says he played about 60% of the game, handled all the snapping and had 7 or 8 tackles, a TFL and that dramatic huge hit on a 270-pound FB at the end of the game for the FF.

Oh...and he played exclusively at MLB in this one after being at OLB & a little DE at the East Coast Bowl. It doesn't matter where you put him, he is going to produce big plays.

Steve, do you know where we can find stats from this game? I'm curious to see how some NAIA guys fared among some others.

I spoke with Darry this afternoon. He will have information for me on Wednesday with stats, etc. I will pass it along then.

Ok cool, thanks man.

Offensive stats are up:

http://www.magnoliagridironclassic.com/off_stats.php

Defensive are supposed to be up later today also.

Looks like HB Keldrick Williams of Alabama State was the offensive star of the game. Do we even have him as a PP?? Whose conference is that anyway?

An agent who was there said this WR Bill Sampy from LA-Lafayette was VERY impressive also.

Bill? You got that covered man?

Defensive stats are up, I'm not sure they are complete yet though. They list only 91 TOTAL tackles (solos + assists) for BOTH clubs...sounds low to me. Chisley supposedly had 2.5 sacks too, for example. They did not record FFs...weird...

http://www.magnoliagridironclassic.com/def_stats.php

The site has Wyatt Gayer down for just one solo and two assisted tackles. Is that right?

Something is obviously whacked. I mean, that IAA club had 22 solos and 19 assists?? What, did the IA club run only 22 plays? Did they score on every other play but manage just 17 points?

I think maybe this is the first half and they are reviewing the second half today?? Actually, I don't know what's going on.

Hmm, I'm wondering if Chris Brammel from St. Francis (NAIA) even played. He's not listed under offensive stats.

Bummer, he didn't play. Apparently he hurt his elbow in the NAIA championship game. He was able to do the NFL testing at the Magnolia but couldn't play in the actual game.

http://www.naiafootball.net/article.php?articleID=1174