Q&A with North's Sean Kurtz, part 1

The Canyon linebacker (see stats) shares his thoughts on the July 11 O.C. All-Star Game.

What are your thoughts of the North after the first week of practice?

The North is looking really good right now. I don't see how anyone can stop our speed on our defense, it looks amazing. We've had pretty good teams at Canyon the past couple of years but I've never seen talent like this.

What do you think about the North’s offense?

It is definitely spread out. There's a lot of stuff we can do. The coaches are doing a great job of spreading the ball around. We have so many talented kids, like Ryan Saumur (Cypress) and Josh Swaney (Troy). I had never seen Troy play and when he came out here I was like who is this 6-foot-5 kid playing wide receiver. We have great running backs in (Ray) Holley (El Modena) and (Wes) Fletcher (Valencia) who is a train.

How is the camaraderie within the team?

It has changed. The first day we were real quiet. We were just introducing ourselves. Now, we’re pretty talkative.

When the rosters were announced, the majority of the football community labeled the North the favorites, how did you guys guard against being overconfident?

You can't go by what people are going to think. It's football. Anything can happen. Games are won by pure heart. People thought Oklahoma was going to beat Boise State by 21 points (2001 Fiesta Bowl), but that didn’t happened. We're both two good teams. They have a ton of talent on the South and we'e looking forward to a great game.

What area of their offense concerns you?

Everyone says their offensive line. I've played against big lines a lot, that doesn't really scare me. I think it is their running backs. They have some quick running backs. Carlo (Audagnotti) and Jai Morris (El Toro), Harold Williams (Tesoro). They can always break great plays.

Is there anybody you're looking forward to seeing in action?

I would have to say (running back) Wes Fletcher. I've never played against him during the regular season, but I'll be happy to see him run some people over.

• O.C. All-Star Game Insider

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com