All-Star standard

EAST LANSING — Spending a week on a college campus.

Hanging out with other former high school football players in a college dorm.

Practicing football.

Practicing more football.

That sums up Kyle Hinkle’s experiences since Saturday but the best is yet to come.

The recent Cadillac High School graduate is a member of the West Team for the 26th annual Michigan High School East-West All-Star Football Game, to be held Saturday at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

The game is run each summer by the Michigan High School Football Coaches Associaton.

The big event itself takes place at 2 p.m. Saturday, but Hinkle and 87 other recent high school grads have been at it since last weekend getting ready.

“We came down Saturday and had one practice that day, one Sunday and since then, it’s been three-a-days,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle is a defensive back on the West team, one of six. Being a DB for this type of game does have its advantages, he said.

“The playbook is like 25 or 26 pages long for the offense and the defense’s is like six,” he said.

“The defensive back’s page is the last one, so it’s not too bad.”

Players practice in the morning, afternoon and evening. In between they nap in Holden Hall — where they are staying — and eat. One day, they spent time with children at a hospital in the Lansing area.

The West team is coached by Dexter High School’s Tom Barbieri with Holland West Ottawa’s Jim Cserta his First Assistant.

Also assisting are Kingsley’s Tim Wooer, Clare’s Kelly Luplow, Dexter’s Ken Koenig and West Ottawa’s Rory Zenugas.

“Practice is repetition basically. Do it until you get it down,” Hinkle said.

“We scrimmage a couple times a day and go full bore with a little bit of restraint.”

Each player sees about half the game in playing time, but Hinkle said two of the six defensive backs are banged up, so he may see a little bit more time on the field.

Regardless of how much time he spends on the field, Hinkle is excited to be playing one final “high school game” before becoming a member of the Hope College football team in the fall.

“It’s an honor to be here,” he said. “I think I am like only the fourth person ever from Cadillac to get to play in the game.

“It’s defenitely an honor and I am definitely looking forward to playing in the game.”

Hinkle is down to his final weeks of “freedom.”

He reports to Hope College on Aug. 12 for fall football practice with the Flying Dutchmen.

He’s headed to the Holland campus as a quarterback but said the coaches told he could be in a couple different spots.

“It still hasn’t really hit me that I wil be living away from home and be responsible for myself,” he said. “It’s definitely exciting, though. Playing in college is something I have always wanted to do.”