Engagement Insider
ATLANTA, GA March 17, 2014 – NFL Player Engagement held its third 2014 NFL PREP 100 Series Presented by Under Armour and the National Guard on Saturday in Atlanta, and once again the event reached maximum capacity as it drew approximately120 top high school football players from the Georgia region.
Like the previous two successful series events in New Orleans and Baltimore, the focus for the eight-city tour is on developing the “Total Athlete of Tomorrow,” and the invitation-only event again did just that.
“We are truly hitting our stride in just our second year with the PREP 100 Series, having reached full capacity for both our Baltimore and Atlanta events the past two Saturdays,” said Troy Vincent, Senior Vice President of NFLPE. “We are pleased with the instant popularity of this series since the NFL believes strongly in being the leader of turning student-athletes into successful adults.”
To accomplish this, NFL Legends like Eddie Mason, the Series Director of On-Field Operations, have worked with the entire PREP 100 team to develop a program full of teaching moments.
“Since registration was full well ahead of time, our staff was perfectly prepared to deliver a high-quality experience,” Mason stated. “As an example, to maintain discipline, we have found that mental reps are just as important as physical reps, so we stress to our student-athletes the importance of watching their peers from the sidelines. This takes leadership and focus, but we have found that they are twice as good when their time comes on the field. I know this approach made me a better player in the NFL.”
This and other successful strategies already proven in the NFL are what sets the Series apart, as a typical schedule shows.
A PREP 100 Saturday begins at a hotel with all the participants divided into four groups, with the morning comprised of rotating half-hour breakout sessions covering the topics of Professional Development with a Player Engagement Ambassador, Character Development with a National Guard Presenter, Leadership Development with an NCAA Representative, and Football Development in an NFL Panel Discussion.
After the morning classes are completed, followed by lunch and roll call, the entire assemblage boards buses for the ride to the local NFL training facility, the last two weeks being the Baltimore Ravens in Owings Mills, MD, and the Atlanta Falcons in Flowery Branch, GA.
Once there, they were ready for some football. Which is exactly what they got as the groups are were introduced to the Coaches and a representative from Gatorade, who sponsors the afternoon breaks.
Following a 10-minute warm-up, the players participated in a pursuit drill called “Pat & Go,” followed by a break and individual training.
After that, it was onto defensive and offensive 1-on-1s followed by defensive front 7 vs. offensive front 7 in a Run Fit exercise.
Next up was a Coaches Chalk Talk and team practice installation, and then an Officials Address/Under Armour “I Will” session was held.
By this time, the players were ready to compete, and this part of the day began with a 7-on-7 competition in 12-minute round-robin games, followed by offensive and defensive linemen technical development.
Then the games began, in a format featuring familiar NFL divisional names, such as AFC North vs. AFC South and NFC North vs. NFC South.
After these two 15-minute games, the coaches huddled to make on-field corrections, and then two more games were held, followed by a high-octane challenge featuring offensive and defensive linemen 1-on-1s as well as another coaches correction. After that, the final two games were held so that ultimately each of the four teams got to play each other.
Then the team photo was staged, following by a closing ceremony, and it was on the buses back to the hotels to end the day.
From here, the PREP 100 Series hits the road for future weekends in Miami, Dallas, Houston, and Oakland, before closing this year’s Series in Cleveland on June 21.