Only time will tell if the demise of the Native American All-Star Football Game will affect recruiting at Haskell Indian Nations University.

“I don’t know yet,” HINU football coach Eric Brock said. “I hope it won’t.”

The annual all-star contest, matching graduated high school seniors of Native American heritage in an East-West format, was staged the last four summers at Haskell Stadium.

However, now under new management, the contest has been renamed the Jim Thorpe Indian All-Star Football Classic and will be played July 1 at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla. Also, instead of an East-West split, the game will match Team Oklahoma against the National All-Stars.

“The main problem we had year in and year out in Kansas,” according to a post on the Thorpe Classic Web site, “was the lack of fan support. It wasn’t an issue of money or logistics. In fact, it was almost the perfect spot.”

NDNSports.com, which has helped sponsor the contest, reported: “The original intention of the game was to grow into something bigger and better each year. This year is another stepping stone for the game to grow bigger than what we have been doing in Kansas. Kansas is the home of Haskell and a few tribes, but Oklahoma is Indian Country.”

Many current HINU football players participated in the all-star game which, on the surface, makes it appear the contest was a powerful recruiting tool.

Brock noted, however, that most of those players already had committed to Haskell. In fact, he said “about 15 or 20 players” in next week’s Thorpe Classic either have told Brock they would be reporting to Lawrence for preseason drills in August or had signed letters of intent.

“In the past, a lot of the players were placed by us anyway,” Brock said, “and playing in the game kind of put an exclamation point on their commitment.”

In effect, the defunct Native American All-Star Football Game gave many future Fightin’ Indians an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the campus and their future teammates.

“It was also a time for parents and family to come up and check out Haskell,” Brock said.

Two of the four all-star game MVP selections wound up at Haskell – running back Marcus Benally (2002) and quarterback Kaleb Harris (2004).

Still, Brock concedes that a handful of participants were swayed to attend Haskell after playing in the all-star contest. One was Randy Cozad, who won the Indians’ place-kicking job as a freshman last year.

“He hadn’t really committed,” Brock said of Cozad, who hails from Anadarko, Okla., “but playing in that game kind of made up his mind.”

Cozad booted the decisive field goal in HINU’s 24-21 double-overtime victory over Peru State last season.

All in all, though, Brock feels that shifting the game to Lawton, Okla., will not be a serious blow to his recruiting.

“I wish the game was here : don’t get me wrong,” the Indians’ coach said. “I hope we can get it back.”