Shaw (6) Photo by Suzannah Solomon Wilson

Shaw to play in all-star game

Contributed

Reeltown senior and South Carolina commitment Eric Shaw is among the the 26 players already committed to Division I-A schools that have been selected to the 40-player Alabama All-Star Team that will face Mississippi in the 33rd annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Game Dec. 14 at Hattiesburg on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

The roster, comprised of current high school seniors, was announced Tuesday by Jamie Lee, Director of the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association.  The annual contest is an event of the AHSADCA and the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

The game was played in Mississippi for the first time in the series in 2015. The hosts are 2-0 at home and Alabama is 22-8 in its home games. The series was played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile from 1988 to 2010; a second game in 2010 was held at Troy University’s Veterans Memorial Stadium and Cramton Bowl has hosted the All-Star Game six times, 2011-2014, 2016 and last year. Alabama is 22-10 overall.

“We hope the 40-man Alabama roster selected for this year’s game hosted by the AHSADCA will bring the Alabama-Mississippi Game Championship Trophy back (to Alabama),” Lee said.

Spain Park High School Coach Shawn Raney, is serving as the head coach for Alabama. The All-Star squad has 14 players that are currently committed to SEC with the Crimson Tide receiving verbal commitments from six. Auburn has three commitments, Ole Miss has two. LSU, Kentucky and South Carolina have one each. Two players on the team are headed out-of-state to the Atlantic Coast Conference (defending National Champion Clemson and Georgia Tech); two have announced plans to attend Big 10 schools Nebraska and Purdue, and one player is heading to the Big 12 (Kansas). UAB has three commitments, Troy University has two, Tulane and Middle Tennessee have one each. Of the 14 players still uncommitted, the majority are still embroiled in national recruiting battles.

The roster, comprised of current high school seniors, was selected through a rigorous process that began last winter, Lee said. “The selection committee has worked extremely hard to trim down the strong list of nominations to the 40 selected. It is a difficult task for sure, and we thank the committee for its dedication.

Among the Alabama commitments is running back RoyDell Williams of Hueytown, who rushed for 2,757 yards and 32 touchdowns as a junior. The husky 5-foot-10, 208-pound speedster had 409 yards and five touchdowns on 15 carries in one game last year. Linebacker Jackson Bratton of Muscle Shoals, another Alabama commit, recorded the 400th tackle of his prep career last week. Other Crimson Tide commitments include quarterback/athlete Kristian Story of Lanett; defensive back Malachi Moore of Hewitt-Trussville; 6-7, 340-pound defensive lineman Jayson Jones of Calera; 6-3, 2145-pound linebacker Demouy Kennedy of Theodore.

Auburn commitments selected are 6-5, 210-pound linebacker Cameron Riley of Hillcrest-Evergreen; offensive lineman Javian Cohen of Central-Phenix City; and defensive lineman Daniel Allen of St. Paul’s Episcopal.

Quarterback Logan Smothers of Muscle Shoals and Robbie Ashford of Hoover committed to Nebraska and Ole Miss, respectively. Smothers has led the Trojans to a 6-0 record this season and eclipsed 6,200 passing yards in last week’s 29-10 win over Florence. He is 522-of-795 passing for 6,240 yards and 50 touchdowns for his career and has rushed 400 times for 2,420 yards and 28 TDs.

Central-Phenix City wide receiver Eddie Williams plans to Clemson, Spanish Fort receiver Kris Abrams plans to attend Ole Miss and Jamichael Thompson of Clay-Chalkville plans to join the Middle Tennessee receiving corps. Hewitt-Trussville’s 6-5, 295-pound defensive lineman Eric Taylor has committed to LSU.

Briarwood Christian offensive lineman Trent Howard, 6-4, 285, has committed to Georgia Tech. Howard is the son of former Jess Lanier High School and University Alabama offensive lineman standout Johnny Howard. His dad also represented the AHSAA in the very first Alabama-Mississippi Game played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in 1988 and won in three overtimes 24-21 by Alabama.

The complete roster can be found at the following link: http://www.ahsaa.com/2019-AL-MS-Roster.