Staff Report
MaxPreps.com
BEAVERTON, Ore. --- The first Nike 7ON National Tournament wrapped up last week on the Nike World Headquarters campus with the squad from Plant High School in Tampa, Fla., emerging as champions.
Team Super Speed, as the Plant Team was called during the tournament, held off a talented Team Merciless squad, comprised of players from Henry County (Ga.) in the final, winning 30-14.
Victorious quarterback Aaron Murray, a future Georgia Bulldog, was named tournament Most Valuable Player. During the semifinal contest against Team Field Generals and their own star quarterback – Mater Dei’s (Calif.) Matt Barkley – Murray rattled off an incredible streak of 20 consecutive completed passes.
Murray had a lot of help from his favorite target, tight end Orson Charles. The 6-foot-4 Charles, a highly coveted recruit, was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Murray-Charles connection, along with a stout defense, was main reason Team Super Speed brought home the title, and will be an important ingredient to a potential 4A state title run for Plant.
Plant head coach Robert Weiner thought the event was a valuable experience for his team.
“It is a privilege for us to be considered in this group,” Weiner said. “Nike is first class and this whole event is first class.”
The event appeared to be a success for each team involved, as Nike paid for travel expenses and hotel accommodations for each of the eight teams invited. They also provided the players with a full wardrobe of Nike athletic gear that included shirts, shoes, sneakers, and gloves.
“It was the experience of a lifetime,” Byrnes (S.C.) junior running back Marcus Lattimore, who played with his Rebel teammates on Zoom Blade, said. “It was great.”
For many of the players, it was their first time visiting Oregon and Nike headquarters.
“It was so big,” Lattimore said. “It looked like a campus. Everyone had a building. Michael Jordan had a building. Mia Hamm had a building. Bo Jackson had a building.”
The highlight of the weekend arguably came away from the field of play, when Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James made a surprise visit to the tournament.
James, who was visiting the Nike campus on unrelated business, decided to pay a visit to the 7-on-7 tournament and spent time chatting up and taking pictures with the players.
“I was about to do an interview, and then I saw everybody running over,” Lattimore said. “Then I saw this big tall tree. He had to be 6-9, 6-10. I guess he was just going to his office because he didn’t have any security with him.”
Seeing competition between teams from different parts of the country was one of the intriguing dynamics of the event. Regional variation in style, technique, and strategy were evident in many of the matchups.
For Long Beach Poly (Calif.) head coach Raul Lara, the event was an audition for his players to prove themselves against top talent from other parts of the country.
“It’s a great opportunity to see who in our program is ready to step up against some of the best high school players in the nation,” Lara said.
Planning for next year’s event is already in the works. Byrnes, a team primarily composed of junior talent, has already been invited back in the summer of 2009.
“We got invited back,” Lattimore said. “And we’re going back.”
Participating Teams
Byrnes (S.C.)
East St. Louis (Ill.)
Eisenhower (Texas)
Gateway (Pa.)
Henry County (Ga.)
Long Beach Poly (Calif.)
Mater Dei (Calif.)
Plant (Fla.)
All Tournament Team
Offense
QB Matt Barkley – Field Generals (Santa Ana, Calif.)
RB Quan Jones – Team Merciless (Atlanta, Ga.)
WR Greg Timmons – Strike Force (Houston, Texas)
WR Orson Charles – Super Speed (Tampa, Fla.)
WR Corey Brown – Super Bad (Monroeville, Pa.)
WR Markeith Ambles – Team Merciless (Atlanta, Ga.)
WR Nathan Marvel – Super Speed (Tampa, Fla.)
Defense
LB Dorian Bell – Super Bad (Monroeville, Pa.)
LB Mike Mirabella – Super Speed (Tampa, Fla.)
DB Terry Hawthorne – Vapor Jets (East St. Louis, Ill.)
DB Darius Williams-Fox – Speed TDs (Long Beach, Calif.)
DB Javonte Martin – Super Speed (Tampa, Fla.)
DB Justin Bright – Zoom Blade (Duncan, S.C.)
DB Jamal Patterson – Team Merciless (Atlanta, Ga.)
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