Under Armour All-American Game, U.S. Army All-American Game, Blue-Grey All-American Game.
    Which one doesn’t belong?
    Or maybe the more appropriate wording of the question, which one have you never heard of? This was the case for Southeast Bulloch rising junior Jontrell Wells when former head coach Pat Collins handed him an invitation to one of the Blue-Grey regional combines earlier this year.
    “I had never heard of it before, so I was definitely surprised,” Wells said. “My season could have done better too.”
    Wells played both sides of the ball for the Yellow Jackets in 2016, where he averaged 8.6 yards a touch on offense with six total touchdowns and led the team in takeaways on defense (two fumble recoveries, two interceptions). Those numbers were good enough to see him named an All-Region 3-3A selection, but even then a national combine invite was not on Wells’ mind.
    Even more to his befuddlement, it was a combine he didn’t even know existed prior to getting an invitation letter. Even as the reporter writing this article who’s been covering high school and college football for six years now, Blue-Grey was an organization that had even slipped my eye.
    Blue-Grey was started in 1989 and have been holding regional combines every year since, but it wasn’t until five years ago the organization started holding All-American games akin to the ones held by Under Armour and the U.S. Army. Even as Blue-Grey doesn’t have the name-recognition as their competitors now, organization spokesperson Shaun Ceglinsky says they cater to a different kind of recruit.
    “Obviously we don’t get to the four and five-star guys, but that’s not to say we don’t bring in plenty of great high school players,” Ceglinsky said. “Our four games are now on ESPN3 and our name is growing bigger every year.”
    College football fans would be surprised to find some of the names who have come through the Blue-Grey All-American games. Kansas City Chiefs 2017 first round pick and Texas Tech record setter Pat Mahomes was a three-star quarterback who played in the 2014 inaugural game, and Boise State quarterback and All-MWC selection Brett Rypien played in the 2015 game as a three-star player as well.
    Wells is hoping to follow in the footsteps of guys like Mahomes and Rypien to become a notable recruit himself. He got the first step out of the way by showing out at the regional combine in Greensboro, N.C. — a five and a half hour drive from Brooklet which was graciously done and financed by Wells’ mother Martella Rich.
    “We all make sacrifices for our kids and I’m happy to do it for him,” Rich said. “That drive won’t be anything compared to the 14-hour drive we’ll make to go to Arlington this weekend.”
    Wells tested out well enough in Greensboro among 11 other athletes from North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina to be selected for the super combine at the Dallas Cowboys facility at AT&T Stadium. If Wells can find a way to show out in front of the super combine coaches, he too could find his way playing in the Blue-Grey All-American game in January.
    But forget the fact Wells has a chance to play in an All-American game. What other high schooler in the country gets a chance to tour the stadium and facility of the NFL’s most famous franchise? That’s a part of the package Blue-Grey offers kids like Wells who aren’t on the front page of Rivals.com or getting a Bleacher Report commitment video.
    “I’m really excited,” Wells said. “It’s a privilege to be able to go out there and try to prove myself.”
    But all the trips, combine registration fees and recruiting database membership costs aren’t being paid for by Blue-Grey or Southeast Bulloch High School. These costs are coming right out of Rich’s pocket, and a 99 dollar registration fee isn’t pocket change for her family. But Rich hopes the few hundred dollars she invests now will prevent her from making a 60,000 dollar investment in two years when her son graduates high school.
    “I know if he goes out to these combines he’s going to work his hardest, so I have no problem helping him get to all the events,” Rich said. “Like I said, it’s the sacrifices we make.”
    It should be noted Wells’ backfield teammate Chase Walker is also in the Blue-Grey circuit, having competed in the Greenville, S.C. regional combine back in March. Since both Walker and Wells are in the system, they’ll have access to around 750 college coaches from the D-1, D-II and NAIA ranks where they may have never had access playing their high school ball in tiny Brooklet.
    Even as Wells still have two more years left in his SEB career, he — unlike many kids his age — is already preparing for his future. Even if it is in something as cutthroat and risky as college football, Wells is using the resources given to him by the Blue-Grey combine to try and put him along with his mother in a better situation come the summer of 2019.