Gateway High School running back and Miami (Ohio) recruit Orne Bey has a compelling reason for wanting to play in Friday's Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association's East-West All-Star Game at Altoona's Mansion Park Stadium.

"I went to the spring game," he said of a trip he made to Oxford, Ohio, two months ago. "[The Miami players] had a spring game, and I just wanted to put on the pads one more time before I go to college. I'm looking at this as my spring game."

Gateway teammates Tyler Coles (defensive tackle, Waynesburg University) and Omarr Finn (offensive lineman, Prairie View A&M) also have been selected to the West team. Other PG East area athletes scheduled to play on the West team include two from Penn Hills, defensive back Brandon Ifill (Pitt) and defensive end Myles Davis (Syracuse), along with Woodland Hills tight end Mike Lee (Purdue) and Central Catholic place-kicker Matt MacZura (Georgetown).

Bey, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back and member of the Post-Gazette's Fabulous 22, rushed 84 times for 769 yards and scored 12 touchdowns for the WPIAL runner-up Gateway Gators (12-1). He rushed for 136 yards and scored two touchdowns in a season-opening 19-7 win against Penn Hills, then surpassed the 100-yard mark in a 35-14 victory against McKeesport. He had just three receptions in 2009, but two of them went for touchdowns. One was a 58-yard scoring reception in a 76-0 blowout of Connellsville, and the other went for 67 yards in a 49-0 pasting of Plum.

Bey, who said he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, doesn't lack for confidence.

"To be honest, I want to be the [most valuable player]," he said. "I'd like to run for more than 100 yards, score two or three touchdowns and for us to win the game. If I can do that, I should be the MVP."

Bey, who will major in sports medicine with an eye toward being a chiropractor or trainer, will go from the accolades of an all-star game to the rigors of Division I football involved in reviving a Miami program that won just one game in 12 decisions last year and finished 1-7 in the Mid-American Conference.

He's not backing down from the challenge.

"We'll have a young and developing team," he said. "I felt this is where I should be. With the recruiting class we brought in, we should help turn things around. The coaches said that if I go there with that mind-set and be ready to play, I should be able to play."

Bey is looking for the first assignment after fall drills when the RedHawks visit Gainesville, Fla., for their first game on Sept. 4 against the Florida Gators, who finished 13-1 last season and ranked third in both the Associated Press writers' poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

"I can't wait for that game," he said. "It's the biggest stage, and you want to be on it. I just want to be ready to make it happen. Florida is one of the best teams out there, and it will be a good place to set the bar. I'll be able to judge myself based on what I do against them."

For the moment, though, the Swamp and the Gators are in the background for Bey. He's looking forward to playing one final time with Gateway teammates Coles and Finn.

"It looks like Omarr will be blocking one more time for me," Bey said of 6-foot-3, 270-pound offensive lineman Finn.

Coles (5-8, 285) likely will see action on the defensive line.

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