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Athletes With Purpose won four consecutive games in the playback bracket before falling to South Florida Express Elite at the 7-on-7 IMG Madden Football 2012 National Championships on Sunday in Bradenton, Fla.

“It was inspiring,” coach Mike Ledo said. “They got major national recognition. … The young men came out and they won four straight. We finished fifth in the nation.”AWP defeated West Tennessee Express 37-6, Core 6 (from Illinois) 22-20, Pro Impact (Florida) 26-20 and Team 239 (Florida) 35-18. AWP’s tournament run ended with a 21-20 loss to South Florida Express Elite in the quarterfinals of the playback bracket. Ledo listed Michael Fiacable (Bishop Dwenger), David Morrison (Concordia), Jared Murphy (Columbia City), Michael Hicks (Concordia), Tyvel Jemison (Bishop Luers), Charles Gaston (Bishop Luers) and Isaac Griffith (Homestead) as some of the top performers.

Published: July 2, 2012
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The IMG Madden 7-on-7 Football National Championships will host the best prep players from all the country’s hotbeds: Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Fort Wayne, etc.

Yes, Fort Wayne.

AWP Sports Performance will be “representing the 260” as the kids like to say, showing the big-city boys that there’s more than corn and basketball in Indiana. The championships are Saturday and Sunday in Bradenton, Fla.

“It’s a big honor to go down there and compete nationally,” Homestead wide receiver Isaac Griffith said. “Not only to put AWP on the map, but the state of Indiana as well as the city of Fort Wayne.”

Griffith, who recently committed to play football at Indiana University, is part of a diverse AWP team that earned a trip to the national championship after winning a Midwest qualifier. The team represents AWP (Athletes With Purpose) and is sponsored by Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard, whose career started in Fort Wayne.

“It’s a great opportunity to go out and compete against some of the best guys in the nation, guys already committed to great schools like the Big Ten, SEC, places like that,” Concordia quarterback David Morrison said. “I know playing with great players and great competition has helped me develop my skills.”

The AWP team includes some of the area’s top players, including Notre Dame commit Jaylon Smith of Bishop Luers, Kendrick Mullen of Bishop Luers and Jared Murphy of Columbia City. While a lot of attention has been given to Smith, one of the country’s best players, it was Murphy who earned the most valuable player award at their last competition.

AWP founder Michael Ledo leads a coaching staff that uses a platoon system of offensive and defensive players. For those unfamiliar with 7-on-7, the games feature the “skill” positions without offensive and defensive linemen. AWP will take 22 players to Bradenton.

Mullen, for example, is a defensive back who usually faces much taller wide receivers with nearly the same amount of speed.

“It’s really exciting to be on that national stage,” Mullen said. “It has really increased our level of play, to match the other guys they’ve got down there. All our guys know what’s at stake here and what we can do to put our city as well as our state on the map.”

Competition will be fierce in Bradenton. There will be seven Florida teams, five Atlanta teams, three California teams, two Detroit teams, two Knoxville, Tenn., teams and teams from New Orleans and Chicago.

“The talent level is definitely raised from Friday night lights,” Bishop Dwenger linebacker D’Marcus Moon said. “We’re facing people all over the country with a different speed level.”

Chemistry on the AWP team is strong, the players say. Many of these players are competing against each other during the regular season, but they have bonded well during training and time playing on the field.

“We just love competing, first and foremost,” Moon said. “We love the game, each and every one of us, and we’ve got great coaches teaching us and helping us in all aspects, not just football, but mentally and physically.”

Mullen has been part of the AWP 7-on-7 team for three years, and played in the national championship tournament the first year. He’ll try to help ease any nerves before the team starts play on Saturday.

The event also includes the Cam Newton Skills Challenge before team competition.

“If we play our type of football,” Mullen said, “there’s nobody that can really stop us.”

By Reggie Hayes of The News-Sentinel
Friday, June 29, 2012

The football fans throughout the state of Indiana know all about the quality of football in the Fort Wayne-area. But this weekend, 20 of the best high school players in the area made a statement to the rest of the nation. AWP Sports Performance performed well at the IMG Madden 7-on-7 Football National Championships in Bradenton, Fla. and brought home a fifth-place finish while competing against the top squads in the nation. “The competition was good, but none of those guys respected us because we were from Indiana,” Bishop Luers High School linebacker Jaylon Smith said. “We made a name for ourselves. ”The squad was coached by Michael Ledo, while Virgil Tharp (defensive coordinator), Antoine Taylor (quarterbacks coach) and Aaron Lane (receivers coach) assisted.

The team played 10 games over the two-day event, which was held at the renowned IMG Academies and the Fort Wayne team won six of those games. AWP battled Florida Express valiantly in a 21-20 defeat, but that effort made an impression on the victors.

“They were saying that we couldn’t be from Indiana,” Ledo laughed. “Florida Express probably had 12 or 13 players that were going to BCS programs.”Ledo has had teams competing in 7-on-7 events for the past seven seasons and the format and level of competition has become “huge” according to the coach. The AWP kids train year-round with the facility staff and that type of commitment really shows up at competitions such as this one. “Most of the athletes are just freakish, raw athletes,” Ledo said of his squad. “But we develop them and they are able to compete because of that skill development.” The national scouting service 247Sports rated Smith as the second best performer at the competition, just behind Vernon Hargreaves III, a cornerback from Tampa. Smith has already verbally committed to attend Notre Dame, which ironically happens to be on Hargreaves’ short list of suitors. “I didn’t get to talk to (Hargreaves) much,” Smith said. “I talked to him a little bit. But he is visiting Notre Dame later this month and I’m going to be up there and tell him everything about it. ”One player not mentioned by the scouting service that caught Ledo’s eye was his own receiver Jared Murphy. The Columbia City High School athlete has verbally committed to Miami (Ohio) and Ledo understands why. “Jared is one of the most underrated players in the nation,” Ledo said. “People wonder how this kid from Columbia City and looks like Justin Bieber can be so hard to cover. ”Murphy was AWP’s best performer in the regional competition, which the team won, and on Sunday, Ledo said “Jared was our MVP. ”The group of athletes put aside their high school rivalries when they come under the name of AWP Smith explained, and regardless of the finish, he believed that there was a lot accomplished over the weekend. “It was a great experience,” Smith said. “Just getting to bond with my team, this was a lot of fun.”

By Tom Davis of The News-Sentinel
Monday, July 2, 2012