PonyFans.com

For what it is worth, I saw this article today and thought some of you might be interested.

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SHERMAN HERALD-DEMOCRAT
November 30, 2005

Celina's James earnings own glory
Tight end named to All-American Bowl roster.

By Bill Spinks
Herald Democrat

CELINA - Stepping out of the shadow of his famous father has been the goal of Celina tight end Adam James ever since he started playing high school sports.

James' dad, Craig, teamed up with Eric Dickerson to form Southern Methodist's “Pony Express” in the early 1980s, went on to a career in professional football, and is now a college football analyst for ABC.

Soon, Adam James will get his own chance to grab some of the spotlight.

James is one of eight Texas football players who've been named to the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The game features 78 highly-sought invitees who are headed to stardom in college football.

“I really never got recognition for the things I do,” James said. “Usually it's the stuff he does. Now that I've got a little recognition, we're both fired-up.”

The sixth-annual all-star game will take place in San Antonio's Alamodome on Saturday, Jan. 7, and will be televised nationally on NBC. Locally, it will be shown on KTEN Channel 10.

The only other Metroplex stars who've been named to play in the Alamodome are Dallas Woodrow Wilson's Sergio Kindle and Coppell's Emmanuel Moody.

At 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, James has been working hard to get ready to face some of the nation's elite.

“I know when I get to that bowl, there's going to be some great talents there,” he said. “I know a lot of people get cocky when they get that award, but I used it as kind of a momentum burst and started working harder.”

James has 21 catches for 358 yards and three touchdowns so far this season. The numbers are low in large part because of the number of blowouts the Bobcats have won by this season with a more ground-oriented attack.

Through 13 games, Celina has scored an 11-man state-best 693 points and allowed only 51, the best by far among all teams still playing.

Last year, James caught 20 passes for 406 yards and four TDs as a junior.

Adam James may be just as good a baseball player as he is a football player.

Having started for Celina's baseball team since his freshman year, Adam is a three-time all-district selection as a first baseman and was named honorable-mention all-state last spring by the Texas Sports Writers Association.

“He dominates in that sport just like he does in football,” said Celina's James Evans, who has coached Adam in both baseball as head coach and football as wide receivers coach. “He's batted four-hole throughout his career, so he's a major part of our offense.”

Evans added that whatever direction James decides to go, he has a shot at playing baseball at the major-college level.

James will go to San Antonio at the start of the new year for bowl practice. It'll be similar to a number of all-star practices.

“We'll do two-a-days the whole week and try to get some team unity in a week,” he said.

As for his football career, James said he is uncommitted. Right now he is looking at Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma State.

“I haven't had time to take some visits,” he said, “so I don't know where I'm going yet.

“Right now I'm thinking about winning a state championship.”

hasn't had time? Those schools are almost done recruiting with 20+ each. That is a courtesy invitation. Those aren't the type of 3A stats that will draw Division 1A attention.

I think his other stats 6'2'' 200 seem pretty weak for those schools too.

I have to believe he is invited to the Army All American bowl as a courtesy to his father.

It is supposed to be only for the most elite of the recruits and he is essentially crashing the party.

Fish 'n Chips wrote:I think his other stats 6'2'' 200 seem pretty weak for those schools too.

What is his 40 time? He might be recruited as a WR instead of a TE.

The Craig James publicity machine is running at peak efficiency............

I know I am not only in the minority on this issue but probably the lone advocate, but I still think we should offer him as a pure legacy offer. I do not think he would sign with us due to the lack of a baseball team, but even if he did, one of two things occur. First possibility is he turns out to be a good addition to the program and contributes. Second, he is as most think, proven not to be Div 1 material in which case he will realize he needs to concentrate on baseball and he will transfer. Our potential loss is the use of 1 scholarship for either one year if he signs and is non productive or the good use of a scholarship if he is productive. The more likely scenario is that we offer and he goes elsewhere for the opportunity to play baseball also and we get some publicity from Dad for at least offering. I do not see what the harm would be. One scholarship will not make or break this team, especially this year when we have only 2 commits so far and no top rated prospects in the running.

I concur on this issue. Offer him a scholarship, by not offering him it will only burn another bridge. SMU is very good at alienating famous sports alum and this guy is on TV every Saturday during the fall.

Offer him a scholarship, and then ask his father to either endow an athletic scholarship or to contribute the equivalent cost of four years worth of tuition. That way everybody wins.

Great Ideas.
Bring him into the fold.

I disagree. If he's fast enough to play at that size (even if it means another position), by all means offer him. However, if he's slow and small (for his position), we should not offer him a scholarship, even if Dad endows a scholarship or makes some other massive donation. There's still a limit on the number of scholarships a team can have, and if he's not a player (I'm not saying he's not -- I've never seen him), then it would be a shame to cost the Ponies another talented player because of roster limitations.

I've got to disagree with you on this one PonyPride. With the exposure his dad has to a national audience, to get "dad" high on SMU again would help marketing wise (read recruiting) immensely. Worst case, he could be the holder for PATs. I suspect he actually could probably contribute much more than that.

I can assure you that there is more than one scholarship wasted each year. In this case we might possibly know ahead of time that this is one if he is not qualified. I just think there is a tremendous upside to the potential positive exposure that we could get, and if he did accept from us, which I still do not think he would, it could reverse some of the negative legacy exposure we have been experiencing. If we end up missing out on Stafford or someone similar because we are short a scholarship, I will stand corrected.

PK wrote:I've got to disagree with you on this one PonyPride. With the exposure his dad has to a national audience, to get "dad" high on SMU again would help marketing wise (read recruiting) immensely. Worst case, he could be the holder for PATs. I suspect he actually could probably contribute much more than that.

Great, it would be the legacy kicking team of James & Walcott. no thanks.

Maybe if you are UT, USC or Miami and have a 100 of the top players in the country on the team you can truly burn a scholarship on a legacy. I say the only way we offer James is if we really believe he can be a project and contribute in the future.

The flipside though is it would be nice to have someone commit to SMU nationally at the All American Game