Tajh Boyd, 6-foot-1, 210-pound quarterback from Phoebus High in Hampton, Va., did not emerge as the number one quarterback on the East team throughout the week of practice, but when the whistle blew it only took a few plays to see that he has elite quarterbacking skills.
He completed 7-of-9 passes for a remarkable 187 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the East on to a 30-17 victory.
“It is a blessing and I got to thank God, my parents, my coaches, and my little brother and everybody,” Boyd said with a huge grin. “It is just a great feeling right now.”
“The line protected well. Bryce caught the ball and I am just glad that we came out with a ‘W’”.
Boyd’s first touchdown pass threw the doors wide open for an East scoring blitz and they did not look back from there.
“I felt like the game was not really moving in a good direction and I needed to change something,” Boyd said. “I have some great receivers out there and they just made some plays.”
“We ended up lining Bryce out in the slot and we felt that he is one of the fastest running backs in the country and a linebacker could not really cover him.”
Two of Boyd’s three touchdown passes went to the nation’s number two player in the country, Bryce Brown, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound running back from East High in Kan.
Boyd was touted by the other players in the game as the best player on the squad and he did not disappoint. He racked up 49 yards on six carries and then added an additional 101 yards and two scores on two receptions.
“It just feels good,” Brown said of winning the game and the Co-MVP award. “I can’t take the credit for it because I got to thank God for giving me the opportunity to allow me to wake up every morning. Like I said yesterday, every day is not guaranteed.”
“Coming out here I really wanted to represent my people and my family, but more importantly the state of Kansas. People are always talking Kansas this and Kansas that and saying we do not have any players, but the one thing I will say is that we have the best players. We may not have the most of the best players, but we got the best players in the whole country.”
Brown is going to have to buy an extra suitcase to carry all of his awards home, because he was also recognized as the Maxwell high school Player of the Year on Friday.
I felt like I did a good job of representing out here and it is just a great honor to except this honor [AA Bowl MVP] and win the player of the year,” Brown beamed. “I am just going to go back and work hard and allow God to work his blessings.”