From the playgrounds of Homestead to the parks of Miami Gardens, Miami-Dade County boasts some of the best youth football talent in the country. Future NFL stars like Frank Gore, Ted ''the Mad Stork'' Hendricks and the late Sean Taylor were first groomed for stardom on the gridirons of Greater Miami.

But while Miami-Dade has talent to spare, it has always lacked the places to play, especially for high school players in the public school system.

Now that is beginning to change.

In January, ground will be broken for a 1,500-seat football field at Moore Park in Allapattah that should be ready by the start of the next season in August.

It will serve youth leagues and high school teams in a section of inner-city Miami whose fierce devotion to football is chronicled in Robert Andrew Powell's We Own This Game, a book about a year in the life of two youth football teams.

And that is just the latest in a series of football field improvements that should make life more palatable for players, fans, coaches and those who schedule the games.

''It's been a challenge to schedule high school football for as long as Miami-Dade Public Schools have existed,'' said Cheryl Golden, executive secretary of the Greater Miami Athletic Conference, which runs the county's high school sports. ``We build more schools and their athletes have less and less facilities to use.''

To be a high school coach or player in Miami-Dade generally means sharing a home field with five or six other teams and riding to your home stadium by bus. The games are played at regional stadiums -- a contrast with many other football hotbeds, where each high school has its own field on campus.

''It's tough when your kids play schools from other counties and they see those places have big stadiums on campus and state-of-the-art places to practice,'' said North Miami Beach High coach Jeff Bertani, who has built his team into a perennial playoff team over the past 12 years. ``When college coaches come down to recruit our kids, it's embarrassing. They think no one cares about what we do.''

RECRUITING MAGNET

Ah, but the recruiters care. Miami-Dade is a wellspring of college talent. Last year, state Class 6A champion Northwestern was the top-ranked team in the country. This year, the Bulls are back in the state championship game. Although Northwestern is not that far from Moore Park, it would not play games at the new stadium. Its fan base is far too big.

High school football has never been hotter. The movie and TV drama Friday Night Lights has broadened the sport's appeal; so has the Internet. Game highlights are on webcasts, including on MiamiHerald.com. Websites such as Rivals.com and Scout.com size up the players' potential and are a must-read for rabid fans.

This year's leveling of the Orange Bowl, the setting for many stirring prep games during its 70-year-run, was a blow to nostalgic devotees of high school football. But the death of the old bowl gave birth to the idea of building the Moore Park football stadium, which will be named Orange Bowl Field.

The Orange Bowl Committee and the city of Miami committed a combined $5 million to build the football-track stadium at 765 NW 36th St.

''When I played high school football at Miami High in 1965, we were blessed to have the Orange Bowl as our host stadium,'' said Orange Bowl Committee President Daniel Ponce. ``Our hope is to have a place with a durable field where many athletes in different sports can have a place to play in their community.''

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