The kid's got a pretty sweet deal.

Graduate high school a semester early and get a jump-start on a college football career that spring. Arrive on campus as a freshman to not a cubicle of a dorm room, but an on-campus apartment, with kitchen and individual bedrooms and all.

Of course, Justin King, the Penn State football recruit who enrolled this spring and is privy to this set-up, isn't fully aware of all he'll have here.

"My parents moved in for me," said King, who has been in San Antonio since Sunday, preparing to play in a high school all-star game.

The No.1 ranked cornerback recruit in the nation according to Rivals.com, King will play both cornerback and kick returner in tomorrow's U.S. Army All-American Bowl, set to kickoff at 1 p.m. EST in the Alamodome. The game showcases the top 78 high school players in the nation in an East versus West matchup and will be televised live on NBC. King's stepfather and head coach at Gateway High School in Monroeville, Terry Smith, will serve as a coach for the East All-Stars.

Derrick Williams, who also enrolled at Penn State this spring and is ranked by Rivals.com as the top overall recruit, is on the roster for the game, but will not attend. That means that King, who is the only Penn State commitment slated to play, has all the representing to do for his recruiting class -- but he's playing it cool.

"I just want to get better and have fun competing with great athletes around the country," King said. "I don't think I have anything to prove -- they ask where I'm going, I say, 'Penn State,' and tell them about it. People come to me, I tell them like it is; I tell them the positive things about [Penn State]."

The players have been in practices and meetings with their teams all week, but the starting lineups haven't been set. King is one of five cornerbacks on his team and is quick to caution that there are a lot of superb defensive backs in the East, and, for that matter, that there are a lot superb players in the East -- moreso, perhaps, than in the West.

"Oh, the East [will win]," he said. "We got more talent, and we're deep at the DB position."

He doesn't have any specific means in mind to separate himself from the other corners or to defend his recruit ranking, except for his plan to "make something happen" on the punt returns. And, in a fashion not so typical of cornerbacks, he even admitted that he's a bit worried about the air attack that is so often featured in all-star games.

"It excites me, yeah, but at the same time, there's more chance for us to us to get beat," King said. "We're much more vulnerable to get beat."