The St. Louis Rams’ entry at the NFL High School Player
Development 7-on-7 National Tournament finished eighth out of 22
teams a year ago. This year’s squad heads to the tournament with
the hopes for an even better showing.

“It’s very representative of the entire region,” Matt Biermann,
one of the team’s two coaches along with Kyle Eversgerd, said of
the roster. “I think it’s going to be a really, really good team.
It’s a more diverse group. There are going to be very high-end
players from all over the country. You don’t know until you get
there, but I think we’ll stack up very well.”

The 2010 squad that finished eighth in Tampa was selected from a
group of 150 players who participated in the Rams’ High School
Player Development program, and all 12 of the players came from
four Metro East schools: Belleville East, Belleville West, O’Fallon
and Columbia.

This year’s expanded process included more than 350 athletes who
participated in the programs held throughout the St. Louis area.
The 12-player roster represents 10 high schools.

“It’s been growing, and from those 350 or so kids we selected
the top 12,” Eversgerd said.

Biermann, the founder and director of Elite Football Academy,
and Eversgerd, the Rams’ fan development coordinator, will take a
talented dozen players to Cleveland on Thursday morning for the
three-day event that wraps up Saturday.

One of the area’s top quarterbacks, CBC’s Dalton Demos, leads
the way. He’s a 6-foot-5, 185-pounder who completed 52.2 percent of
his passes for 2,038 yards as a junior.

“He’s hit his stride here in the last couple months,” Biermann
said. “He’s been working his butt off for years. I think he’s
really come into his own. He’s been going to a lot of camps. … He
threw the ball better than anybody. He threw so well multiple days
in a row that it was like, ‘He’s our guy.’”

Demos will distribute the ball to several talented
playmakers.

Brandon Sheperd of Parkway Central is a wide receiver and
defensive back who has scholarship offers from Missouri, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas State and others.

The speedy 6-3 Sheperd had 20 receptions for 440 yards and
scored six touchdowns as a junior. He caught 38 passes for 506
yards and five TDs as a sophomore.

Devin Roberts, who will be a junior at Warrenton, is a DB-WR who
had six interceptions last season.

Biermann said Darius Jackson, a senior QB-WR-DB from Sparta, is
a playmaking athlete who has two or three Division I offers.

Alex Gentry, a senior WR-DB at Pacific, racked up 26 catches for
508 yards and four touchdowns and also had two interceptions for
the Indians last season.

Belleville West senior Deonte McCarvey, who is the lone
returning player from last year’s squad, is a WR-DB who threw for
736 yards and seven touchdowns as the Maroons’ quarterback last
season.

Chase Allen, a senior LB-TE at Belleville East, racked up 89
tackles and two interceptions for the Lancers.

Alton High has a pair of playmakers on the 12-player roster.
Kevin Wade is a senior WR-DB who had 10 catches for 159 yards and
two touchdowns, and Lawrence Moore is a senior WR-DB who had 227
yards rushing and scored five touchdowns.

Althoff senior TE-DB Iernesharmah (Nesh) Quarles had five
catches for 55 yards and recorded three interceptions.

Hazelwood Central junior WR-DB Keith Brent and Belleville East
junior DB-TE James Cotton are two of the younger players on the
Rams squad.

Eversgerd said the team will travel Thursday morning and have
tournament-related activities Thursday afternoon and evening before
beginning pool play Friday. The Rams’ first game will be 8:45 a.m.
Friday against the Falcons.