RANCHO BERNARDO -- There is something vaguely indestructible about Jacob Driver, the middle linebacker and on-field leader who was such a key component of the La Costa Canyon High football team that won the CIF Division I title last fall.

Even Driver, though, will grudgingly admit that there is a risk every time a player steps on the football field.

"The possibility of an injury is in the back of my head, it's not in the front of my head," said Driver, who is 6-foot-2, 215 pounds and headed to San Diego State. "I'm not really thinking about it. So it's there, but it's not a big deal to me."

The big deal is that Driver will be on the field again Friday night, playing for the North team in the Alex Spanos All-Star Football Classic. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Patrick Henry High.

The North team, coached by Damon Baldwin of Ramona, is largely composed of players from the North County Conference. It will take on the South, which won the game in 2006 and 2007, but lost 14-7 a year ago.

Unlike Driver, Northern Arizona University recruiting coordinator Craig Knoth gives a lot of thought to the possibility of an incoming freshman being injured in one of these summer all-star games. It's front and center in his mind.

"Our general policy as a staff is if it is someone who would project to play as a true freshman, we strongly encourage them not to (play)," Knoth said. "If it is a player who is redshirting or won't play much, we're not going to encourage them either way. If they want to, they can."

Knoth said that twice in the last four years at Northern Arizona, incoming freshmen were hurt in summer all-star games. He said one of those players suffered a second knee injury that ended his career.

"Once you get burned," he said, "you tend to shy away from that kind of deal."

Andy Early played running back on an Orange Glen team that won two games his senior season. An excellent all-around athlete, he will walk on at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and redshirt as a freshman. Prospects of college playing time and imminent injury are jockeying for position far in the back of Early's mind.

"I won't be on scholarship or anything right off the bat, so it's more of an experience for me," Early said. "I'll be competing against a high level of competition, I guess. I'm encouraged. It definitely isn't a negative.

"I'm excited. It's a different offense. And really, a better, cumulative group of guys. It's not like I'm trying to stand out or anything. I'm just doing my part."

David Stout attended little Calvin Christian, which did not even offer varsity football his first two years of high school. As a senior, he drew no recruiting interest despite throwing for 2,055 yards and 21 touchdowns.

But with the help of family and friends, he put together a highlight tape, then he and his father, Bill, the Calvin Christian athletic director, hopped on a plane last November and visited a handful of schools in the Midwest. One of them, Western Michigan, extended Stout, who at 6-6 makes a pretty good impression in person, an invitation to walk on to the team this fall.

"The main thing they (Western Michigan) emphasized to me was to be in shape," Stout said. "They wanted me to be working out and ready to run because their practices are a lot more intense than high school practices. I was just told, 'Do what you can, get in shape, and be ready to come out here and work hard.'"

Carlsbad's Chase Wick, who is headed to Northern Arizona, said his position coach was pleased to hear that the North team will practice for two weeks, instead of one.

"He said the two weeks would be helpful getting me in condition for the season," Wick said. "Because you can't really work out and work the same muscles you do when you're actually playing."

Knoth said that only about a quarter to half of the incoming freshmen at Northern Arizona are considered valuable enough to keep out of a summer all-star game. He said that he played in one of them in Missouri after his senior year in high school.

"If it is a July (game), my own personal experience was that it was good to have that week of training, of preparation," he said. "I think that was a little bit of an advantage, competing against other college players.

"And being in that kind of environment gives kids a taste of what college was going to be like. Some of those kids might have been a big fish playing in a small pond. They see that this is going to be very different."

Contact staff writer Tom Sheridan at 760-745-6611, ext. 2649.