Only girl at football showcase could be teamed with 60-year-old

Her high school eligibility exhausted, Meya Bizer's football career is supposed to be done. The place-kicker earned exactly one year on the Woodlands (Texas) High varsity team, spending most of that season on the bench behind Ben Pruitt, one of the top high school kicking prospects in the country.

Yet, while all those factors are decidedly against her being able to kick at the next level, Bizer refuses to give up on kicking in college, and her latest act made her a female pioneer. On Saturday, Bizer attended the Greater Houston Senior Football Showcase, an event designed to put overlooked senior prospects in front of college recruiters, including those representing schools in smaller divisions.

As reported in the Houston Chronicle, Bizer, pictured at right, was the only female participant among some 500 students who showed up at the event, some of whom made their feeling that she was in the wrong place quite evident.

"It's a little intimidating when you see 500 guys lined up and I get out of the car and they're like 'Is she at the wrong place,'" Bizer told the Chronicle. "I was so nervous that I was shaking, but when you get out here and start warming up, it's like regular practice."

While those on hand seemed to agree that Bizer wasn't the top kicking prospect at the event, she did impress enough to earn a longer look from at least one collegiate program, with Belhaven (Miss.) University recruiting coordinator R.J. Barrett holding a private workout with the kicker later on Saturday.

If possible, Belhaven's interest may make Bizer's incorporation into the football world even more unique. The Mississippi program, which plays in the NAIA, has already recruited one placekicker for the 2011 season -- 60-year-old collegiate kicker Allen Moore, who was profiled by Prep Rally in September -- and is reportedly working with NAIA officials on getting Moore's transfer from Holmes (Miss.) Community College approved.

Assuming Moore's move goes through -- and unlike the age-limit restriction on NCAA competitors, there's no reason to believe the retiree won't be allowed to compete -- Bizer could be competing with a man more than 40 years her senior for a spot on the field next fall, a scenario which Barrett was quick to embrace.

"If you want to find out the character of your team, then allow it," Barrett told the Chronicle. "Football is learning about life because you're learning how to deal with other people, other races, other personalities, other backgrounds and it's bringing people together."

For her part, Bizer made it clear that she would eagerly consider any opportunity at Belhaven or elsewhere.

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