Northmont grad Rod Moore, a fifth-year senior safety at Michigan, is the highest-rated player from a local high school in the game at a 92 overall.
He missed last season with a knee injury but is a multi-year starter for the Wolverines and helped them win the 2023 national championship
Notre Dame offensive lineman Aamil Wagner (Wayne High School) is right behind him at a 91 overall. He is a senior who started at right tackle for the Fighting Irish last season as they advanced to the National Championship Game, where they lost to Ohio State.
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
Eleven other players have a rating in the 80s: Oklahoma defensive back Kendel Dolby, who is also returning from a lower leg injury, is the third-highest rated local player in the game as the senior from Springfield is an 84. That is the same rating assigned to Miami (Ohio) defensive back Silas Walters.
Cincinnati offensive lineman Gavin Gerhardt (Xenia), Army defensive back Jaydan Mayes (Fairfield) and Ohio State defensive end C.J. Hicks (Alter) are all 83s while Mississippi State defensive back Dwight Lewis III (Fairborn), Cincinnati offensive lineman Taran Tyo (Versailles) and Northwestern defensive back Josh Fussell (Lakota West) are all 82s.
Adrian Norton, a receiver from Stebbins who is now at Marshall after two seasons at Akron, is an 81 while offensive lineman Tegra Tshabola (Lakota West) and quarterback Tavien St. Clair (Bellefontaine) are both 80s.
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Tshabola, St. Clair and Hicks are among eight local players on the Ohio State roster in the game. They are joined by Lakota West safety Malik Hartford (79 rating), Lakota East offensive lineman Austin Siereveld (78), Springfield cornerback Aaron Scott Jr. (78), Wayne center Joshua Padilla (74) and Centerville kicker Jackson Courville (73).
Ohio State has the most locals on the roster in the game followed by Miami University. The RedHawks roster includes seven: Walters, Wayne defensive ends Adam Trick (76) and Javon Hammonds (66), Alter tight end Brian Shane (73), Lakota West linebacker Jackson Kuwatch (70) and tight end Mitch Bolden (64) and Miamisburg linebacker Luke Myers (67).
Being part of the game is optional for players, and those who opt in receive $1,500 plus a deluxe edition copy of the game according to The Athletic.
Some players also receive additional compensation as brand ambassadors, including game box cover athletes such as Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith.
(Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, a former Ohio State linebacker who graduated from Wayne, is also on the cover.)
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
More than 20 players from local high schools are on FBS rosters but not part of the game. Most of them are freshmen who may not have enrolled until summer so they missed the deadline to make the first rosters, though some may have opted out.
Rosters will be updated multiple times with more players being added throughout the season.
Even without everyone available at launch, a player who wanted to start a new team with only local players could do so — although a receiver or defensive back would have to move to running back.
That is the only position not accounted for in the first edition of the game roster, but this hypothetical Miami Valley all-star team could still be pretty competitive.
While St. Clair is the highest-rated of three quarterbacks despite being a true freshman, he would have to beat out Cam Fancher, a senior from Wayne High School who is rated a 76 in the game. Fancher has two-plus seasons of starting experience and is at Central Florida after stops at Marshall and Florida Atlantic.
The QB’s top targets could be Norton and a pair of players from Springfield: Kent State sophomore Da’Shawn Martin and Tulane junior Anthony Brown-Stephens.
Shane and Bolden could team with freshmen Ka’Maurri Smith (Wayne High School) at Cincinnati and Luka Gilbert (Lakota West) at Miami (Fla.) to form a solid tight end group.
Wagner and Gerhardt would headline the offensive line, which could also include Tyo, Tshabola and Siereveld to give the squad five experienced, veteran starters up front with seven players available as reserves.
Defensive back is the deepest position with 13 players, and a starting five of Moore, Dolby, Walters, Fussell and Lewis would be plenty talented and experienced to terrorize opposing passing games.
Hartford, Scott and Oklahoma sophomore Reggie Powers III (Centerville) could also push for playing time, but there would be no shortage of competition.
There are seven linebackers, including Alex Afari, a multi-year starter at Kentucky who prepped at Lakota West, Northmont grad Nigel Glover (Northwestern) and Joseph Jean-Louis, a junior at North Texas from Centerville.
Six players could rotate on the defensive line with Hicks and Trick joined by Trey Verdon of Hamilton (Iowa State) and Hammonds at end and Alter grad Derrick Shephard Jr. (Tulane) and Fairmont’s Dalton Gustwiller (Western Michigan) inside.
Kicker and punter would come down to Courville, Derek Morris or Jackson Kleather.
Morris is a Fenwick grad who is at Massachusetts after spending a season at Cal-Berkeley while Kleather (Tippecanoe) was Bowling Green’s place-kicker until suffering a season-ending injury midway through last season.
Courville was Ball State’s kicker the last two seasons and transferred to Ohio State earlier this year.
All three handled both kicking and punting in high school.
About the Author
