Dinner with Jerry Rice and son highlights All-American game
There was the Waubonsie Valley kicker, messing with Jerry Rice about his appearance on "Dancing with the Stars."
Those are the circles Mitch Ewald is running in these days. Last weekend the Indiana recruit played in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl outside Myrtle Beach, S.C. Next weekend the Waubonsie senior is heading to Las Vegas for a kicking camp.
Ewald's teammates at the Jan. 2 All-American game included players committed to Ohio State, Texas and Notre Dame, as well as a wide receiver from California named Jerry Rice Jr., whose father has three Super Bowl rings and questionable dance moves.
"We gave (Rice Sr.) a lot of crap for that," Ewald said with a laugh over his cell phone. "We were joking with him a lot about that, but he's a real nice guy. He went to dinner with us a couple nights and spent time with us. He's just a real down-to-earth guy."
A few weeks ago Ewald checked his voice mail after a training session. Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy had left a message saying the game's organizers were interested in the kicker. As Ewald later said: "It kind of happened real fast and it just kind of came out of nowhere."
Ewald's invitation came in part from his presence on online recruiting sites and rankings.
College football and its affiliated industries are a fairly ridiculous business, and that's what makes it so compelling. The biggest NBA story is where LeBron James will play -- in 2010. And the NHL needed to borrow the juice of Wrigley Field to finally make a national imprint.
With its endless coaching changes, Feb. 4 signing day and Florida fans in jean shorts, college football has no such problems generating headlines.
Last week Utah's attorney general began investigating the Bowl Championship Series for potentially violating federal antitrust laws. Around the same time, reports started circulating about Reeve Koehler, a 6-foot-4-inch, 280-pound eighth-grader who already has an offer from Hawaii, his home-state program.
The Koehler stories originated out of San Antonio, where several All-American games of various levels took place. It would be easy to criticize how blurred the line between amateurs and professionals has become, and the commercialization of it all. But first you have to ask an actual player about the experience.
"These All-American games, (it) just comes down to kids having fun," Ewald said. "(It's) kind of getting away from -- I don't want to say easy competition maybe in high school -- but you're really going out, you're playing with the best of the best throughout the country and you're getting a much better look at what it's gonna be like at the next level."
Ewald's parents traveled to South Carolina from their vacation home in Arizona and watched his West team lose 29-3. Special teams were live but apparently not a focus.
"To be honest with you, we were out there for (five) days before the game just practicing. We didn't do one bit of special teams until about the third day, second practice," Ewald said. "It was definitely the last thing on their mind. (I) doubt they even knew they had a kicker for the West team besides the fact that I was out there on the other field kicking balls in the white jersey."
It won't be like that next season at Indiana, where the Hoosiers will need to replace redshirt senior Austin Starr, who last season kicked all 17 of their field goals and handled 53 of 54 kickoffs. Ewald will have to prove he belongs all over again.
"I'm thankful that I got to go (to the All-American game) just because I met a bunch of friends, (building) relationships that hopefully will last. We'll see," Ewald said. "(But), yeah, it was a good time going out there and just spending time with some of the best players around the country."
Contact Patrick Mooney at pmooney@scn1.com or 630-416-5107.
