2014 USA Football Bowl Festival this week

In November, Dennis Wilson, president of USA Football Network, Inc. and Metropolitan New York Football Writers Association, announced that Hoover Metropolitan Stadium will be the site of the  2014 USA Football Bowl Festival. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the bowl, and Wilson said he hopes to make Hoover the festival's permanent home.

"I hope we keep it here forever," Wilson said. "I have not met a person here I didn't like. We want to continue to do things for this community."

The event will begin on Sunday, Jan. 19 with a traditional USA College Football Awards Banquet where college division national awards are presented. On Monday, Jan. 20, the senior all-star game will kickoff at 1 p.m. at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. On Tuesday, Jan. 21, NFL, CFL and AFL coaches and scouts will conduct a USA Professional Football Leagues Testing Combine.

Wilson said he hopes the festival will attract interest from younger football players.

"We'd love to bring a high school all-star game here at some point," Wilson said.

Each team has a roster of 66 players, and Wilson said the SEC will be well represented with students already selected from schools such as Mississippi State, Auburn and Arkansas. The five-day event will make Alabama the home of two of the three primary college football all-star events that are recognized by national media.

"If we can help a child get a career in sports we've done our job," Wilson said.

For more information on the festival, visit usafootballbowl.com.

To see current rosters for the bowl, click here.