It may be basketball time, but tonight in Cookeville, 88 football players from East and West Tennessee will be taking to the field for the 9th Annual East vs. West All-Stars Classic at Tucker Stadium on the campus of Tennessee Tech University.
And Carter County will be well represented.
On hand from Carter County will be Elizabethton High School’s Jeremiah Turner and EHS football head coach Shawn Witten. From Hampton, Coby Jones will be on the sidelines, but will not get to play due to an injury.
Turner will be wearing the No. 27 tonight. The EHS senior, who played as an outside linebacker and running back for Elizabethton this season, will be stepping into the strong safety position during tonight’s games.
Turner, Jones and Witten have been in Cookeville since Wednesday and have seen plenty of practice time. And so far, for Turner, it has been a great experience, he said.
“It has been great working with the top guys in the state, and it is an honor to have been selected to compete with them,” Turner said. “It is also good to have Coach Witten down here with me. Hopefully, I can learn something from my time down here.”
Turner hopes to use his experience as running back to help him defensively.
“Playing as a running back definitely helps me on defense,” he said. “When I’m on defense, I can pick out what they are going to run, and where they are going to go with the ball.”
After coaching as an assistant during last year’s game, Witten will be stepping into the head coaching role this time around and is honored to be a part of the game.
“You know, we have 44 players from this side of Nashville that make up our roster,” said Witten. “It is an honor and a privilege to be apart of it.”
According to Witten, the East vs. West game is a great opportunity for many players to get to the touch the football gridiron one more time, while allowing players who plan to continue playing ball at a higher level to get some top-level experience.
“It is great that a lot of kids get to have a chance to play one more game of high school football,” Witten added. “You know, we have a lot of kids that are looking to play some college ball, and we have some that have already committed to play college ball. It is a great to coach a lot of great young men who have had some great high school careers. It is a huge reward for these young men.”
Participating in the East/West game is somewhat like playing college ball, Witten, who played for Virginia Tech during his college years, said.
“They play by college rules, and it is officiated by a college officiating crew,” Witten said. “The whole week is like a college atmosphere. Each player will be rooming with somebody. They have two-a-day practices. It is pretty cool. They get some very valuable experience.”
Jones, who is happy to be in Cookeville and to be a part of the atmosphere, can attest to the college like environment.
“We have a strongly enforced itinerary just like at the collegiate level,” Jones said. “The coaching is a lot like something you would see at the next level. And it is great to get see what it is like.”
With all the best players from the East on the same team, it is a highly competitive climate, Jones said.
“You have the strong willed and the determined all in one place,” he said. “It is pretty cool, because you have all of these 6A schools and these little schools, and they tie right in with each other.”
Playing on the East squad will be six college commits. Sevier County’s Deuce Wallace, who has committed to Vanderbilt, will be stepping into the QB slot. Also filling in the ranks will be outside linebacker Devin Harper of Karn, who is a Oklahoma State commit. Notre Dame commit, Ryan Parker, who played for Baylor, will be joining Harper in the linebacker position.
West will have four college commits on their line up, which includes Texas A&M signee Tyrel Dodson from Centennial.
Last year, the West All-Stars won the contest 28-16 and hold a 5-3 advantage over East in the series.
The action will start at 7 p.m. CST and 8 p.m. EST, and will be broadcasted live on WAPK MyTV Tri-Cities. The game can also be streamed live on rivalrythursday.com .