By Troy Vincent
NFL Player Engagement
Camps are no longer confined just to summer, especially for elite Prep players closing in on a college football calling.
Just on one June weekend alone, I was with hundreds of Washington, D.C. area high school stars who participated in football camps at three of America’s iconic football institutions – Pitt, West Virginia, and Ohio State.
The goal is to promote the values of football, and for the boys I coach and accompanied on the bus trips, it was mission accomplished.
“I want to play college football, and these camps are a chance for us to showcase ourselves,” said senior Andrew Caskin of Georgetown Prep in Maryland, a 6’4” linebacker, who has already attended five camps this year and plans to be at many more before practice for the season opens on August 8th.
He also has the good fortune to be tutored by former NFL player Keith Willis in agility, speed, and strength skills, which he called “really cool since he played at the highest level, so I am learning from the best.”
Junior cornerback Sammy Morrison from D.C.’s Gonzaga College High School, whose father played on the legendary University of Arizona “Desert Swarm” defense in the early 1990s, reported that he was “really impressed” with the camps, adding that he hopes to attend three more before his high school team begins practice the first week of August.
But before then, he anticipates using these camp drills to sharpen his sprinting and footwork, while also improving his cardio-vascular endurance in the hopes of adding bulk to his 5’10” 150-pound frame.
The same held true for another junior cornerback, Tarrin Weston of Woodson High in D.C., who, in addition to weightlifting, was working on DB drills such as back pedaling and breaking on the ball to enhance his coverage skills.
“I learn a lot at all of these camps and they are both fun and interesting,” noted the 5’9” 158-pound Weston, who plans on participating in three more this summer. “They really get my name out there,” he added.
Here at Player Engagement, we support these camps since they share the sport’s values that we preach, and, like us, they emphasize the off-field learning as much as the on-field lessons.
Values such as teamwork, responsibility, and accountability are highlighted, while also addressing key life skills like communications, which we hone by stressing the importance of setting goals they want to accomplish each and every day and then asking these teenagers if they achieved their daily goals.
The camps also allow us time to teach the values of football, starting with honoring their coaches by saying “thank you” to them for their efforts, which we consider the most basic yet the ultimate sign of respect.