[PeterParker]

I was reading over on ESPN about the guy Ball from UNH who tied Jerry Rice's D1AA (D1CS) TD reception record and the following excerpt stood out to me:

Growing up in small-town Vermont, where eight-man football was the standard, Ball also played basketball in high school and competed in track and field -- high jump, long jump, triple jump -- to get his competitive fix. Even after spending a postgraduate year at Worcester Academy in Massachusetts, McDonnell wasn't quite ready to offer him a scholarship.

Now, Ball and Santos have the Wildcats ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA.

"I'm still trying to figure out how they ended up at UNH," McDonnell said, laughing. "One guy I didn't want and one guy, I told him he wasn't good enough."

McDonnell knows now how wrong he is, and much of Orange, Vt., made the 50-minute drive on Saturday to a virtual home game near the Vermont border to remind him.

I wonder how many really talented position players are out there who are playing in areas with 8 man football that fly under the radar like this guy who would absolutely jump at the chance to play D1CS football on a scholarship (even LU). I knew that there were a lot of places out in the midwest that played the 8 man variety, but I was not aware of that many playing in the Northeast. Seems like a few ringers could be picked up in this seemingly undervalued market.

[PAmedic]

none anywhere around here, thats for sure. (8-man teams I mean)