Senior showcase bowl abruptly canceled leaving frustrated players
The USA College Football Bowl was abruptly canceled Monday leaving players and fans confused and upset with bowl organizers.
The USA College Football Bowl, which features players from the FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA and some FBS entrants, was supposed to be a weekend-long event at Savannah State in Georgia that culminated with a game on Monday. The game was supposed to kickoff with scouts and agents in attendance at 2:15 p.m.
However, when Monday afternoon came around, there were no scouts and no agents, but a lot of angry people.
Dennis Wilson, President of American Football Networks, Inc., issued a statement late Monday evening explaining what happened and noted that financial arrangements would be made for the athletes and parents.
This year, one of the four NFL certified college football All-Star games was unable to take place. The USA College Football Bowl is about giving athletes the career opportunities this event has to offer, and has for over 20 years. In the span of the 20 successful years, this will be the first USA College Football Bowl cancellation.
Prior to today’s scheduled game, we experienced a series of unfortunate events and injuries that led to unforeseen departures. As a result, this caused each of the teams to be low in numbers on certain position groupings. It was a collaborative decision between the organizers behind the USA College Football Bowl and the football players that for safety reasons, the game should be cancelled.
USA College Sports would like to confirm that the financial logistics behind today’s game will be sorted out promptly for the sake of the athletes and parents. We would like to thank the city of Savannah, the Savannah Sports Council, and of course Savannah State University for allowing USA College Sports to use their field. Additionally, we would like to extend our most sincere apology to the athletes that did want to play in today’s game, and the coaches that volunteered their time.
Moving forward, USA College Sports plans to revamp and expand management within American Football Networks in order to maintain the quality and prestige this game has had in the past for the following years to come—So stay tuned! Lastly, we would like to thank the town of Tybee, and everyone there who was involved. We appreciate your time and endless courtesy.
However, players and parents said the problems with the bowl started from the time athletes arrived earlier in the weekend.
"A lot of top end athletes were out here to get themselves in front of a lot of big time scouts and agents that he told us were going to be here,” Montana Tech defensive back Xavier Marsden told WTVM.com. “We all get here and it was just like another pick-up game pretty much, there were players that quit the first day.”
The USA College Football Bowl website noted 126 players were invited to the game and several told WTVM.com they paid an $800 registration fee to be able to perform in front of NFL scouts and agents, an opportunity many of these players wouldn’t have otherwise had.
The game, which has been in existence since 1996, advertises itself as the third-oldest senior showcase behind the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl. To this point, no issues with the game being played or the events surrounding the game had ever surfaced.
"You could tell there was a lot of dysfunction and disorganization,” Xavier Marsden's father, Paul, told WTVM.com. “People not knowing what's going on and kids not having any direction about what was happening. Just a big disappointment. I feel sorry for all the kids out here, they worked hard to be here graduating from college. Very ashamed of this organization and what they have done and how they handled this here.”
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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