Prairie Grove’s Jared Murphy Headlines Cast Of Local All-stars

PRAIRIE GROVE — Jared Murphy is 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds of muscle, yet along with the physical ability, he’s all heart.

On Friday, Murphy, stalwart anchor of the Prairie Grove defensive interior for the past two seasons, will play in the 2013 Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star football game to be held on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas at Conway. The honor caps off a stellar career in the trenches while making plays for the Prairie Grove Tigers.

Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier said Murphy held the attention of opponents.

“Jared definitely drew doubleteams. He’d get high-lowed a lot but he’s never complained about how he’s been handled. He’s always positive, trying to do his best.”

“With the type of player and person he is I’ve talked with him about a wider variety of topics than anybody since my sons,” Abshier said. “He’s unique in that he feels what problems the team might have and wants that fixed whether it’s tactical or social.”

Murphy has come to Abshier relating issues with liabilities in defensive coverages and players who aren’t getting along.

“It’s a great help for your team,”

sure why Aaron Kincaid decided not to participate in the All-Star game, yet lauded Kincaid’s senior season, which began with signing a national letter of intent to play college baseball for the University of Arkansas in November.

“He became more of an all-around player. This year he hit better than he ever had. I know that was some- thing the U of A wanted him to work on and he did,” Cameron said. “He’s going to U of A as a short stop. He actually became a better hitter this year. He was one of the many players that helped us to get to where we got with just his glove at short stop. He pitched in some big games and grew up a lot since he was a freshman.”

Prairie Grove advanced to the state semifinals in baseball, football and volleyball with the girls basketball team making the finals and losing, 33-32, to Malvern.

According to McDonald, due to prior commitments, Moyer is not going to be able to play in the All-Star volleyball game.

“We’ve got a big selection of kids in the All-Star game. The senior kids, it’s attributed to them. They worked very hard on and off the field and it shows when you have that many kids making All-Star,” McDonald said. Out of our three big female sports, two of them went to the semifinals. It was a good year for Prairie Grove in sports. We’re losing a big group of seniors all the way around but our coaching staff is already working on getting the underclassmen up and ready to filling those positions. We’ll fill in the holes. I know my girls are really stepping up and I’m really proud of them.”