IMG Academy adds football national champs to 2018 schedule

IMG Academy’s football team isn’t just traveling back to California for the 2018 season.

The Ascenders’ national team will face last season’s national champion, Mater Dei of Santa Ana, next fall.

Mater Dei went 15-0 last season en route to capturing the top spot in the final USA Today Super 25 national rankings.

IMG was ranked second after an 8-0 season.

The game, which will be the first meeting between the programs, is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21. The one-year contract was signed Wednesday, an IMG spokesperson confirmed to the Bradenton Herald.

Both programs lost key pieces to their unbeaten teams from the 2017 season, but also gained top recruits through offseason transfers.

Two of Mater Dei’s top offensive weapons in 2017, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and quarterback J.T. Daniels, were seniors and signed with USC in February.

Mater Dei, which blasted De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 52-21 in California’s Open Division bowl game last December, picked up quarterback Bryce Young from Los Angeles Cathedral via transfer, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Young, a sophomore, has 21 scholarship offers, including Alabama, Oklahoma, Oregon and Georgia, according to 247Sports.

Meanwhile, IMG Academy picked up 4-star wide receiver Shamar Nash, a Missouri commit, among others via offseason transfers.

The rest of IMG Academy’s football schedule for either of its two varsity teams has not been finalized.

This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 3:03 PM with the headline "IMG Academy adds football national champs to 2018 schedule."