It was a special day for a couple of former local high school football stars.

Former Hyde All-Stater Willie Harriott had a career-high five tackles as Penn State opened the season with a 66-10 win over Coastal Carolina before a crowd of 106,577 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. Harriott, a junior reserve cornerback, came into the game with four tackles in 10 career games.

Ex-West Haven star Rob Jackson didn't have a game on Saturday but the seventh-round pick out of Kansas State in April's NFL draft received the good news that he made the Washington Redskins' opening day roster. Jackson played his way onto the team with a strong training camp as he had nine tackles and two sacks in five preseason games.

Harriott's former Hyde teammate Lionel Nixon had six tackles and a sack in Maine's 46-3 loss to Iowa. Nixon started at left corner for the Black Bears. The starting right corner for Iowa was former Xavier star Amari Spievey who finished with two tackles.

Going back to the NFL, if you are wondering who will be the next area player to make the jump to the big time it could very well be former Notre Dame of West Haven star John Moffitt. After starting six games at guard as a red shirt freshman, Moffitt started at center for Wisconsin and helped open the holes for a Badgers team which ran for 404 yards and four TDs in a 38-17 win over Akron. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 323 pounds, Moffitt appears to have a bright future ahead of him. He is part of a sizeable Southern Connecticut Conference contigent playing Big 10 football along with Spievey and former Fairfield Prep star Garrett Brown, a defensive lineman at Minnesota.