Highschool football players who will graduate this year could get another chance to impress college scouts as the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) is contemplating staging formal try-outs early next year.

With the suspension of the season, both the daCosta and the Manning Cup competitions at the Round of 16 stage, due to the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa on October 28, there were concerns in some quarters that the graduating players could miss out on scholarship opportunities.

President of ISSA Keith Wellington told the Jamaica Observer, however, that there were some discussions about hosting try-outs, “We are considering those things in our current deliberations!” he said.

Currently there are a number of try-outs that are held annually, mostly in January and are attended by US college scouts, all of them hosted by private groups.

Additionally a number of college coaches and scouts have attended late season games in both the daCosta and Manning Cup games, particularly the semi-finals and finals, seeking talent for their programs.

Earlier this week, ISSA announced plans to restart the competitions later this month and also play the Ben Francis and Walker Cup competitions with the ISSA President’s Cup set to be played in January.

— Paul A Reid