Rascati, Davis playing in Texas All-Star game
Game to be held on Feb. 2 in El Paso, Texas
By Whitney Proffitt, staff writer
Posted on January 18, 2007

The football season has yet to come to a close for two of JMU’s top players. Senior quarterback Justin Rascati and fellow senior offensive tackle Corey Davis will join forces one last time to take on the state of Texas.

The duo has been invited to participate in the Texas vs. the Nation Game, a postseason all-star game established in 2006. The game, held Feb. 2 at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, will be broadcast on CSTV at 8 p.m.   

All college seniors rated in the top 15 at their position by the NFL are eligible to play in the game.

The Texas team will consist of college seniors who played football, either in college or in high school, in the state of Texas. Players from all other parts of the United States, such as Rascati and Davis, will play for the Nation team.

“There’s a lot of talent in this game,” Rascati said. “I was bummed when the Vegas game got canceled, but now I’m really excited about this opportunity to play and the chance to play in front of NFL scouts.”

More than 80 NFL prospects from around the country were selected to play in the game based on their collegiate performance, NFL draft eligibility and recommendations from their coaches.

Buddy Ryan — former coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals — will coach the Nation while Texas-El Paso coach Mike Price will lead the Texas team.

Both Rascati and Davis were previously invited to play in the Las Vegas All-American Classic — another postseason all-star game for top-rated college seniors. However, on Jan. 5, game director Darry Alton announced its cancellation due to drop in sponsorship monies.

In a press release, Alton said, “We are embarrassed at such a late notice, but it is due to working so hard and trying to make the game happen. We are most disappointed in leaving the committed players without a game to showcase their talents, but it makes no sense business-wise to proceed with this years game.”

Early last week the director of the Texas vs. the Nation Game contacted Rascati; he accepted the invitation on Tuesday.

Rascati will spend the weeks prior to the game in Atlanta, where he is training with a quarterback coach at Competitive Edge Sports. He will continue training there until early March.

The Gainesville, Fla., native will find out soon if he’s getting an invite to the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis held in February.

“I hope I get that opportunity,” Rascati said. “But I heard that last year there were 40 players who didn’t get invited, but still got drafted.”

Rascati finished with career totals of 487 completions in 728 attempts, 5,912 yards, 51 touchdowns, 1,119 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns.

This season he was a first-team choice for the Virginia Sports Information Directors Association All-State Division I Football team and a second-team choice to the All-Atlantic 10 Football Conference team after completing 153 of 231 passes for 2,045 yards and 20 touchdowns and running 114 times for 518 yards and five scores.

Davis, too, was named first-team for the Virginia Sports Information Directors Association All-State Division I Football team as well as first-team Walter Camp, second-team Sports Network Division I Football Championship Subdivision All-America team and third-team Associated Press Division I-AA All-America team.

Rascati and Davis received multiple postseason awards at the JMU awards banquet. Both garnered a Captain Award at the team’s annual award’s banquet. Rascati also picked up the Gary Clark Most Valuable Offensive Player Award, a team Academic Achievement Award, and the Bob Yetzer Award, which goes to the Duke who best exemplifies determination, dedication and leadership.