English to Play in East-West Shrine Game

Jan. 19, 2017

University of South Carolina senior defensive end Darius English will participate in the 92nd East-West Shrine Game, set for Saturday, January 21, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

English, a 6-6, 245-pounder from Powder Springs, Ga., tied for fourth in the SEC in 2016 with 9.0 sacks, which tied for fifth on the school’s single-season list. He recorded 60 tackles overall in 2016, including a team-leading 13.0 tackles for loss, which tied for 10th in the conference. The fifth-year senior was named second-team All-SEC by the Associated Press and third-team All-SEC by Phil Steele. English logged 15.0 career sacks, tying for ninth on the Gamecocks’ all-time list.

English will play for the West team, coached by George Edwards of the Minnesota Vikings, and will wear number 91. The East squad is coached by Brentson Buckner of the Arizona Cardinals.

The East-West Shrine Game will be televised on NFL Network at 3 pm ET on Saturday, January 21.

The players are selected based on their potential to make an NFL roster. A consensus of the 32 NFL teams is taken into consideration to field two teams of players who meet this criterion. The general divide used to assign East and West teams is the Mississippi River; however, exceptions are made to ensure that the best 100 players are selected for the game, regardless of location.

Created by the Shriners in 1925, the East-West Shrine Game was the nation’s first college all-star football game. The game is driven by the desire to support Shriners Hospitals for Children in its mission to help children in need of expert medical care. More than 1 million children have benefited from Shriners Hospitals’ unique way of providing hope and healing, regardless of the families’ ability to pay for services.