McDonald’s Announces All-American Nominees
The McDonald's All-American Game announced their 2016 nominees on Tuesday and players from five New England states were represented on the list.
The state of Connecticut had the biggest contingent with six nominees: Chris Winkel, Amity Regional High School; Dom Christiano, Greens Farms Academy; Mamadou Diarra, Putnam Science Academy; Matthew Moyer, South Kent School; Miye Oni, Suffield Academy; and Mustapha Heron, Sacred Heart High School.
The rest of the region's nominees stem for three prep schools: A.J. Broduer, Ian Sistare and Nick Seretta from Northfield Mount Hermon; Rapolas Ivanauskas and Taurean Thompson from Brewster Academy; Terrell Brown, Nate Duda and Eric DAguanno; and Tyrique Jones from Vermont Academy.
Nominees can be made by any coach or state association. The New England Recruiting Report is in no way associated with the selection process.
The release of the nominees was met by a predictable amount of surprise and criticism within the region as the likes of Omari Spellman, Wenyen Gabriel and Bruce Brown were all left off the list, presumably because fifth year players are not eligible for the McDonald's All-American Game, yet 7 of the 15 nominees from the region were, in fact, 5th year products. Additionally, Connecticut was the only of New England's six states to have players nominated from within their local state association.
The 39th annual McDonald's All-American Game will take place at the United Center in Chicago on March 30th and will include just 24 players from across the country.
Matthew Moyer
Terrell Brown
Rapolas Ivanauskas
Eric DAguanno
Taurean Thompson
Ian Sistare
Omari Spellman
Wenyen Gabriel
Mamadou Diarra
Bruce Brown
Nate Duda
Tyrique Jones
Mustapha Heron
Miye Oni
Nick Seretta