The Offense-Defense All-American Bowl is an annual

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

typically held in early January, created to spotlight the nation's top high-school seniors. The game was originally hosted in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, but the 2009 edition was moved to the Myrtle Beach area of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. The inaugural game was played on January 4, 2007, at

Lockhart Stadium Lockhart Stadium was a stadium used mostly for soccer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. It was used in a variety of sports, particularly soccer and American football. Originally designed in 1959 for high school sports, the stadium' ...

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

. The next year the game moved to the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. The demolition of the Orange Bowl started in March 2008 so the 2009 edition was moved to Brooks Stadium, the campus stadium of

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in 2010 census. It is the county seat of Horry County and is part of the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. It is the home ...

. The game is in an East versus West format, with each team made up of 40 of the best high school seniors from across the nation as determined by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

. A national player of the year award is also presented the night prior to the game. The game was originally broadcast nationally to a prime-time audience thanks to broadcast partner

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...

. The 2009 edition was increased to 88 total players, as selected from the Offense-Defense Top 100 list, a national recruit ranking system published by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. Participants included 15 players ranked in the top-100 list. The other big high school all-star games are the U.S. Army All-American Bowl played in San Antonio, Texas and the

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the U.S. state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game was first played on Januar ...

played in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. Because all of these games host their events during the same week, they are in competition for players. A number of marquee players have participated in the O-D competition, including

Cam Newton Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He has played for 11 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Super Cam", he is the NF ...

Dez Bryant Desmond Demond Bryant (born November 4, 1988) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Oklahoma State, where he earned All-American honors in 2008. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fir ...

Aaron Corp Aaron Corp (born March 6, 1989) is a former American football quarterback and current high school football coach. He was signed as undrafted free agent by the Buffalo Bills in 2012 and was briefly with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college foot ...

Kodi Burns Kodi Burns (born December 24, 1988) is an American football coach who is the wide receivers coach for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the wide receivers coach at the University of Tennessee and A ...

Jarrett Lee Calen Jarrett Lee (born June 2, 1989) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He played college football at LSU. High school career Lee started his high school foo ...

, et al.

Game results

References

External links

*
Athlon Sports feature
{{HS All-Star Games All-star games High school football games in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 2007