Boyle to play in All-American Bowl

Ryan Boyle and his family will be headed to sunny San Antonio next week, and escaping the Iowa winter is only one reason why.

Earlier this month, Boyle was selected to play quarterback in the 2011 Eastbay Youth All-American Bowl, an all-star game featuring the nation’s best youth football players. The game will be played Jan. 9 at the Alamodome.

“I’ve never been in Texas before, so to go to that state and be in the Alamodome with its reputation, that will be pretty cool,” Boyle said.

Boyle participated in a number of football camps over the past two years, one of which was Football University. FBU has camps at 17 different locations in the U.S., including one in Chicago where Boyle took part.

From there, Boyle was chosen to advance to FBU’s Top Gun Camp in James City, Va., which invites some of the best of the best in youth football. From there, players’ ultimate goal is to be selected to play in the All-American Bowl.

“After Top Gun, they started contacting us and saying ‘Hey, how’s the season going? Can you send us more information?’” said Ken Boyle, Ryan’s dad.

The selection committee, which consists of FBU’s regional directors and scouts, requested that Ryan send in a highlight tape. Ken said that Ryan’s sister, Camilla, who is a photographer and a junior at Newton Senior High School, put together the highlight video.

“We sent the tape in, and the next thing we knew they were like ‘We’d like to offer him to play quarterback for Team USA,” Ken said.

Once Ryan gets to San Antonio, he’ll have a busy week of preparation as well as a chance to meet a number of current and former NFL players. Boyle and his family will fly down on Jan. 4, after which there will be two-a-day practices until the game that Sunday.

But the game preparation is only part of the experience. Ryan will get to take part in a skills competition, break-out sessions with Hall of Famers, as well as current and former NFL stars and celebrities such as legendary high school football coach Herman Boone, famously known from the film Remember the Titans.

“I think the extra stuff will just make it all the better,” Boyle said. “At the skills competition we’ll get to show what we’re made of, and we get to meet some amazing athletes.”

Another perk players have is VIP access to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a collegiate all-star game played the day before the youth game. They will also be honored during that game.

The youth game will be streamed live online at allamericangames.tv and footballuniversity.org.

As is the challenge in any all-star game, Boyle and his teammates will quickly have to become acclimated to playing with new players in a short time. To do so, many of them have taken advantage of the internet.

“They’ve been contacting each other on Facebook,” said Ryan’s mother, Marian. “They’re watching each other’s films on Youtube to check each other out.”

“It’ll be great.,” Ryan said about the chance to play with athletes from across the country. “There’s kids from all over the nation coming here to play against each other. So you got receivers and running backs from Kentucky, Texas, etc.”

This past fall, Boyle led three different youth teams to a combined 24-3 record. He played for the Berg Middle School Cardinals, the Des Moines Catholic Football League Chargers, and the Iowa Raiders, a select traveling team.

The Dowling Catholic and Newton seasons overlapped, meaning Boyle was usually practicing twice a day once the Cardinals started on Sept. 20.

“I’d be going from one practice that ended at 5:30 and go into another practice that ended at 9,” he said.

After those two seasons ended, the Iowa Raiders’ began shortly after and finished just before Thanksgiving.

While he’s only in eighth grade, Boyle has already been playing football for quite some time. He began playing at the Newton YMCA in third grade, and began tackle football in fifth grade.

Boyle said that in his sixth-grade season, a predicament helped him in the long run.

“My sixth grade year I was too heavy to play quarterback,” he said. “The limit was 115 pounds and I was over 120. So I went to Des Moines to play. It was better competition. I just stuck with it and that has me where I am now.”

Fast forward two years, and Ryan received his All-American Bowl jersey at halftime of Berg Middle School’s 8th grade boys basketball game against Knoxville on Dec. 13.

“It’s a nice acknowledgment,” Marian said. “He’s put a lot of work into playing six years of football.”

The 6-foot-1, 165-pound Boyle is a multi-sport athlete, also participating in basketball and baseball. He’s done it while maintaining excellent grades in the classroom, as he is on Berg’s A Honor Roll. He said he’d like to continue all three sports in high school.

As for his reaction to being selected, Boyle acknowledged that it will be something he’ll remember for a long time.

“I thought that was really cool,” he said. “It’s the chance of a lifetime.”