We’ve watched enough football to know the basics about how the game is played. There seems to be 11 players on a side. Usually a penalty is called if there are more.

To that end, our All-America teams have always included 11 players on offense and 11 on defense. We also name three specialists.

Oddly enough, the American Football Coaches Association does the same. Seems like that’s a pretty good model to go by.

Except, not everyone who publishes an All-American team has the team’s legitimacy in mind. Not when in this past week, a “team” comes out with 35 first-teamers, a similar number of second- and third-teamers, plus, to my best count, one hundred and eighty-seven “honorable” mention players.

It ceases to become an All-American team when it mentions all of America!

Here’s a hint: There should never be more All-Americans than there are teams in America. There shouldn’t be 21 quarterbacks on an All-American team (oh, and by the way, if you’re naming 21 quarterbacks, surely one should be Capital’s Rocky Pentello).

There is nothing honorable about the mention these players have received. It is false hope, a blatant grab at attention from someone at the bottom of the heap. If you were named to this team, especially if you’re below the second team, I’m sorry — it just isn’t worth the PDF file it’s listed on. They’re just trying to get you to buy their products.

It’s sad. Until last year there were three legitimate All-American teams in Division III. Now there are just two: AFCA and D3football.com.

Millsaps College will get some very large visitors for the summer when the New Orleans Saints set up training camp at the Jackson, Miss.-based school. The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger provides an interesting look at how the College is preparing for its visitors, including field preparation (see photo also from the Clarion-Ledger).

The economic details are interesting, though there isn’t enough to make concrete conclusions here. The article mentions that the school and NFL team will share the $400,000 cost, but it’s not clear what the split is. Rose-Hulman, which hosts the Indianapolis Colts’ training camp, reports $30,000 to $40,000 in concessions and parking revenue from one month. Millsaps will also benefit from national exposure, particularly as NFL correspondents check out top pick Reggie Bush and new quarterback Drew Brees.

Other NFL teams that camp out at Division III schools include:

Baltimore Ravens at McDaniel
Buffalo Bills at St. John Fisher
Green Bay Packers at St. Norbert
Kansas City Chiefs at UW-River Falls
Pittsburgh Steelers at St. Vincent (begins Division III play in 2007)

NFL Films did a great piece on D3football.com All-America quarterback Zamir Amin back in 2001. It’s back on the NFL’s Web site.

I didn’t even know this video clip existed until I saw it this afternoon.

Amin was a two-time All-American at Menlo, born in Afghanistan but moved to the USA as a child. The piece focuses on him and Menlo in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It is well worth the six minutes, 52 seconds to watch (plus whatever time it takes to download).

The graphics have been redone since it was originally aired, since Menlo receiver Nate Jackson is identified as a Denver Bronco.

Also worth revisiting is Mark Simon’s feature story on Amin and Jackson, which ran the week before the attacks.

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