[RunItUpTheGut]

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They take players from schools like that when they cannot fill the roster with good talent because of players playing basketball and such.
The reason they dont wont to open it to the entire state is because there trying to get kids from rural areas exposure to recruitment.
If you opened it to the entire state, half of KY's team would be from Lex and Lville and those kids get exposure all year long. Same goes for Tenn and the Nashville, Memphis area.
There are some kids from the Knoxville area but i believe that equals out the kids Ky is getting from Northern Ky like Highlands and such.

The main reason is to try to get these kids scholarships and if it were not for this game, a lot of kids who are playing college football now wouldnt be.
Last year alone I believe 12-13 players were offered scholoarships from Cumberlands alone, as well as other NAIA schools. Carson Newman and some other really good colleges and recruiters show up for this game.