America's most talked about high school football program released its schedule on Thursday morning.
And I guess it only makes sense that the high school program that recruits like a college program and spends like a college program schedules like a college program.
The length of each IMG road trip, according to Google Maps:
- to Grayson, Ga.: 524 miles
- to Mission Viejo, Calif.: 2,558 miles
- to Shreveport, La.: 964 miles
- to Oxbridge Academy, West Palm Beach, Fla.: 174 miles
- to Trinity Christian Academy, Deltona, Fla.: 153 miles
- to Long Beach, Calif.: 2,577 miles
- to Chaminade-Madonna Prep, Hollywood, Fla.: 226 miles
All told, that's seven road games totaling 7,176 one-way miles, and 14,352 miles round-trip.
The circumference of the Earth, by the way, is 24,901 miles.
“Johnny Esfeller (IMG’s media relations manager) said we’ll put in more miles than the University of Florida,” head coach Kevin Wright said, via USA Today. “I don’t know if that’s true, but we realized when we set out for a 12-game schedule that travel would be a piece of it. Most high school players don’t have to deal with is this type of travel, but it will prepare them for what they’ll face in college.”
This schedule actually exceeds what most players will face in college. Florida, for instance, leaves its state borders only three times this fall (plus day trips to Jacksonville and Tallahassee) for trips to Knoxville, Nashville and Fayetteville. That's 4,330 round-trip miles, or one weekend's worth of travel at IMG.