The Offense-Defense All-American Bowl is an annual

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases 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 division, bu ...

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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

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

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

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

Lockhart Stadium Lockhart Stadium was a stadium 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's long-standing soccer co ...

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 most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

. 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. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. The demolition of the Orange Bowl started in March 2008 so the 2009 edition was moved to

Brooks Stadium Brooks Stadium is a 21,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in Conway, South Carolina. It is home to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team at Coastal Carolina University. The facility opened in 2003 and is named in honor of Coby Garrett Bro ...

, the campus stadium of Coastal Carolina University in

Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in and the county seat of Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in the 2010 census, making it the 18th-most populous city in the state. The city is part of ...

. 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. 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 Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

. 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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''. 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 United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game wa ...

played in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. 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 former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers. He is the NFL le ...

, Dez Bryant, Aaron Corp, Kodi Burns, Jarrett Lee, 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