Blue-Gray Game : McCallum and Pinkett Will Play Today

Navy’s Napoleon McCallum and Notre Dame’s Allen Pinkett are among the top college seniors who will be playing today in the 48th annual Blue Gray All-Star football game.

McCallum, unlike everyone else, will not be showcasing his talent for the pro scouts. He has a five-year commitment to the Navy between him and a shot in the National Football League.

McCallum, who piled up 2,330 all-purpose yards for the Middies this year, is in a South backfield that includes Florida’s talented tandem of tailback Neal Anderson and fullback John L. Williams.

Pinkett, who holds 16 scoring and rushing records at Notre Dame, shares the spotlight in the North backfield with Reuben Mayes of Washington State, who set an NCAA record when he ran for 357 yards against Oregon.

The Blue-Gray rosters, filled for the most part with players whose names are familiar only to the pro scouts and home-state fans, include five Notre Dame standouts and five stars from sixth-ranked Florida.

The game rarely boasts players from highly ranked teams or a traditional powerhouse like Notre Dame because it is played prior to the major bowl games. This year, however, the Blue-Gray benefited from the Irish’s losing record and the NCAA’s bowl ban against Florida.

The kickoff at Cramton Bowl is scheduled for 9 a.m. PST, with Christmas Day temperatures expected to drop below freezing. The game will be televised on CBS.

While the best-known talent is in the Blue and Gray running back positions, the quarterbacks are well known to the scouts and may turn the game into a passing contest.

For the North, the quarterbacks are Mike Norseth of Kansas, who gained 3,214 yards in total offense, and Steve Bradley of Indiana. For the South, the signal-callers are Willie (Satellite) Totten of Mississippi Valley State, whose blitz on the NCAA record book includes a career total offense mark of 13,004 yards, and Ken Karcher of Tulane.

Receivers for the North are led by Oregon’s Lew Barnes, a second-team All-America selection, and Purdue’s Steve Griffin, with Cal State Fullerton’s James Pruitt, Delaware State’s John Taylor and tight ends Sylvester Byrd of Kansas and Greg Baty of Stanford rounding out the pass-catching corps.

For the South, the receivers include Ernest Givens of Louisville, Joe Thomas of Mississippi Valley State, Florida’s Ray McDonald and Kelvin Edwards of Liberty University. The tight ends are Carl Hilton of Houston and Jim Popp of Vanderbilt.

Defensively, the South is led by Florida linebacker Alonzo Johnson and down lineman T. J. Turner, a 282-pound star from Houston.

The North’s defense includes Notre Dame defensive tackle Eric Dorsey and Terry Unrein of Colorado State.