StarBulletin.com

Barkley leads White in Under Armour game


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POSTED: Monday, January 05, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. » While quarterback Matt Barkley showed why Southern California is excited about his arm, the biggest winner at the Under Armour All-America High School Football Game might have been the University of Miami.

Barkley, verbally committed to USC, threw for two early touchdown passes to lead his White Team to a 27-16 victory over the Black Team last night.

“;It really felt good out there,”; he said. “;It was a fun game with a lot of great players.”;

Barkley, from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., hit Marlon Brown of Memphis for a 71-yard score on the game's first possession, then followed with a 35-yard TD pass to Jamal Reid.

Already committed to Miami, Reid will be joined there by safety Ray Ray Armstrong and defensive end Dyron Dye—both from the state championship team at Seminole High School in Sanford, Florida. They were among six players in the game who used the ESPN telecast as a forum to announce where they will play college football. Russell Shepard of Houston, who is going to LSU, threw a 92-yard touchdown pass and ran for a 15-yard TD for the Black Team.

Three players from Hawaii participated in the game—linebacker Manti Te'o and receiver Robby Toma of Punahou and offensive lineman Stan Hasiak of Kapolei.

Hasiak and Te'o played for the winning White Team. Toma, who won the hands competition during a skills day on Friday, was on the Black Team.

Toma and Hasiak are headed for UCLA, and Te'o has whittled his choices to five big-name programs—USC, BYU, Notre Dame, UCLA and Stanford.

Wide receiver Andre Debose, also from Sanford, chose Florida. John Martinez, an offensive guard from Salt Lake City, verbally committed to USC, where he will join Barkley and three others who played last night.

Commitments don't become official until Feb. 4, national signing day.