Despite East loss, former Richmond, Scotland football players learn from All-Star experience

GREENSBORO — The players’ jerseys may have said “East,” but their helmets still displayed the colors and logo of the respective schools they were representing.

Two former Richmond and two former Scotland football players had the chance to compete against and alongside some of the best high school football players in the state Wednesday night at the annual East-West All-Star game at Grimsley’s Jamieson Stadium in Greensboro.

Tremel Jones, Trey Chavis, Ethan Best and Kaleel Brown-Palmer were all part of the East team in its 7-0 defeat to the West.

“It’s not about whether we win or lose,” Best said. “I feel like this experience made me a better man. I learned a lot and all the coaches are great role models.”

The two teams combined for just over 300 total yards of offense as both defenses controlled the game. Jones led the East with five catches for 63 yards, finishing with 83 all-purpose yards, and Chavis finished with one catch for one yard.

“They didn’t want me limited on the field,” Jones said. “So if we can move me in different ways, different positions or even on special teams, if they could get the ball in my hands, they knew they’d have a clutch play.”

Best played almost every snap on the offensive line for the East, but Brown-Palmer did not dress after dealing with a health ailment that came up in the days of practice leading up to the game.

“It was tough for me not being able to play and watching on the sidelines, but I was gladly cheering on my teammates and hyping them up,” Brown-Palmer said.

The difference in the game ended up being the West team’s ability to connect on a few more deep passes than the East team. The West had several 30-plus-yard pass completions, including the 38-yard pass that set up Eastern Guilford’s Hezekia Newby’s 1-yard touchdown run for the game’s only score.

“It’s a lot of competition when it’s the best from each school,” Jones said. “Learning from this, I know I’m not the only one that’s (working) every day. So, I have to make sure that I stay on top and work even more harder than I did in high school.”

Jones is used to running away from opposing defenders with his speed, while Chavis is used to weaving in and out of the middle of opposing secondaries. The All-Star game gave all the players a taste of what they are likely to see at the collegiate level where everyone they play with and against is likely to be just as fast and talented as they are.

“At Scotland you’re always like the main guy, but here everybody’s really good, especially on defense,” Chavis said. “It’s like you’re just trying to fit in with your roles here.”

Jones and Chavis spent almost every offensive play lined up in opposite slot receiver positions out wide, but in some three-receiver sets, they would line up on the same side together.

“The game was a lot more fast-paced,” Jones said. “There wasn’t a lot of time to throw the ball, so I know that’s a big factor of why we didn’t score. You had to really know how to create holes in the zones.”

But, as evidenced by the low-scoring affair, Richmond assistant coach Greg Williams, who was a part of the East team’s coaching staff, said it’s hard to implement a completely new system and set of plays in just a few days when players have come from all over the state, all running various different schemes and systems.

Williams described it as “All-Star football at its best.”

“It’s a fun and tough process all at the same time,” Best said. “We have a group of guys from all different walks of life and it was fun bonding with them. But it was also tough because not everyone plays the same scheme so there’s a learning process for all of us that’s different for everybody.”

In the leadup to the game, the players practiced twice per day, except on days where the weather interfered. Williams said they used that time to get in the gym.

Off the field, the players were able to spend time socializing with one another in their hotel rooms and participated in activities like attending the East-West All-Star basketball game at Greensboro Coliseum on Monday night.

“We were all staying in the hotel and it was nights where we were playing 2K and Madden and just sharing stories about all the schools we came from,” Jones said.

Willliams said they also had the All-Star banquet, attended a Carolina Cobras arena football game and volunteered at a kids camp.

“There was a lot of camaraderie time for the coaches, time for the players to just get together and enjoy things,” Williams said. “We just want them to come out and hope they had a good time, enjoyed themselves, grew up a little bit and learned what it’s like for other players and coaches, just so they can go ahead and be successful in whatever they’re going to do (next).”

Players who have stood on opposite sidelines in the past, lined up alongside one another on the same side of the ball. Past rivals became teammates, but that still didn’t stop some good-natured trash talking between the players throughout the week.

“There was a lot of trash talking, like ‘oh we should have beat you or we beat you,’” Chavis said. “But here, now he’s my teammate, we got along together. Like with Tremel, he was doing his thing at Richmond and I was doing my thing at Scotland, but now we were on the same team.”

Best said he enjoyed having those top players that he’s faced on his team for once, rather than having to go against them.

“The kids that play against one another during the regular season tend to migrate towards one another because there is that connection,” Williams said. “I think that makes it fun. It was great for me to have the guys from Richmond with us and I enjoyed the kids from Scotland.”