Wright City senior Duan McRoberts recently traveled to Dallas, Texas to play his last high school football game in the AT&T Stadium at the invite-only Blue-Grey All-American Bowl on Dec. 16.

McRoberts is well known throughout the area due to his impressive football career, ending his senior year with 33 touchdowns, 2,374 total yards and breaking four school records.

Now, his name has received national exposure after attending the exclusive bowl to showcase his skills one last time before he heads to college.

“Being able to play and be in the game was really fun. Just knowing that we’re playing in an NFL stadium, that was probably my favorite part,” McRoberts said.

The organization holds three games every year. McRoberts was a part of the first game and was one of 176 players from around the country to be selected to play in the first bowl game.

The Blue-Grey Bowl was a three-day event, with the first two days focusing on
practices to lead up to the big game. The players had breakfast together in the mornings and then attended two three-hour practices in the afternoon.

Players also attended a formal jersey presentation, where they introduced each player and handed them their respective jersey. McRoberts said it was fun being able to walk out and take a picture with his coach while holding his jersey.

McRoberts was picked to be on the East team which was coached by numerous NFL veterans, including Ken Stills, Rodney Beasley, Andre Coles, Gerad Lewis, Reese Donahue, Koen Thorpe and Reggie Young.

The East team did lose to the West team 41-27, but McRoberts was grateful to end his high school career this way.

“Play one more time. Enjoy your time. That’s how I felt throughout the game,” McRoberts said.

McRoberts said it was a little nerve wracking walking into the first practice but as time went on, he started to get more comfortable.

“It’s kind of hard as a player and as the coaches to get the team to work together because yeah, we’re all good football players, but you don’t know who you’re playing with. But, the team was really welcoming and so were the coaches,” McRoberts said.

McRoberts noted that playing with other players all around the country was an interesting, but helpful experience.

“I feel like it helped a lot for everybody to learn more from playing with people from all around,” McRoberts said. “I had a teammate from DC and then another one from Minnesota...so it was really interesting and fun.”

During the game, McRoberts recalled one play that he prided himself in. He remembered making about a 30-yard run up the field to put his team at the two-yard line. Then, in the next play his team scored a touchdown.

McRoberts said his favorite part of the experience was simply just playing in the game. And of course, playing in the AT&T Stadium.

“It was a long game. There were 16 minute quarters and every single person got equal playing time for the most part. So as running backs, two of us would switch on and off every possession,” McRoberts said.

He also noted walking around the stadium and getting the opportunity to look inside the Cowboys locker room was a unique and cool experience.

McRoberts left the event with a new outlook and a couple of lessons learned. He does plan to continue his career at the college level, but has not made a commitment yet.

“I think it was a big learning experience for me, just seeing how good the competition really is out there and seeing what it’s really like,” McRoberts said. “I realized that it gets to a point in high-level competition that it’s not all about talent anymore. It’s more about working hard, putting in the extra effort, always having a good attitude no matter what and always being coachable. That’s what’s really important.”