Bulldog Running Back Ty Laney and Wide Receiver Will Johnson are on the Tampa Roster

By Brandon Stephens

(Tampa, FL) – – More than three decades of football history have been made at the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl, which began in 1989.  This year Murphy Senior Running Back Ty Laney and Senior Wide Receiver/Tight End Will Johnson are on the roster for the South team featured in the third game in Tampa, Florida.  The game will be played on Monday, January 30^th at 1PM at Raymond James Stadium, which is home to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which seats over 60-thousand fans.  The game will present a North and South team which has 126 players (66 North and 60 South) from states ranging from Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, and obviously North Carolina.  There are 19 Carolina players in this game (14 North and 5 south).  Look for number 34 Will Johnson and 37 Ty Laney.  This game will be featured on ESPN 3 on Monday afternoon.  To watch follow this link to ESPN (ESPN3 Link).

Ty and Will are accomplished leaders at Murphy High School.  Ty has over 2000 yards rushing and several dozen tackles as a linebacker.  Monday’s game we will likely see Laney dressed in a linebacker spot.  Will Johnson will be dressed but will probably not play as he is still working through a knee injury he sustained on September 16^th in the Fannin County (GA) game.  At the time of his injury, Johnson received an invite to the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl.  Ty and Will were two of nearly 400 high school players that were selected from a larger pool of 6,750 prospects for this bowl game.  The Blue-Grey All-American Bowl selection committee is comprised of former NFL players turned coaches.  The committee also reports there are more than 500 college coaches who have registered to attend the game for recruiting purposes.  This game is very important to many college and professional receuiters.  Ten years ago it was the playing platform for then Whitehouse, Texas high school quarterback prospect, Patrick Mahomes.  Mahomes committed to Texas Tech shortly after the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl in 2013.  Fast forward to today (Sunday, January 29th) he will be playing against Cincinnati for opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.

The Blue-Grey All-American Bowl for 2022-2023 has three games.  Earlier games were played in mid—December in Dallas Texas at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.  Monday’s game is the final game.  The Blue-Grey All-American Bowl was founded by Gus and Erik Bell in 1989 to promote high school football players who have skills and talent to play in college (to learn more about the game follow this link (BLUE-GREY ALL-AMERICAN BOWL).  Their intention to creating the bowl is to give more attention to great players whether they have opportunity to play Division I to NAIA or Junior College.  Practice is being held on Sunday (January 29, 2023) at Tampa Jefferson High School.  Team FYN Sports will catch up with Ty and Will for their take on practice and getting ready for the game.