TSU hosts biggest football camp ever

By Kevin Pearcey

Sports Editor

There are plenty of things that a boy between the ages of 15-18 could be doing on a hot summer afternoon. Sitting at home beneath the cool waves of an ever present air-conditioner is just one thing that comes to mind.

But in hopes of laying the foundation for a successful upcoming season, over 240 high school football players and their coaches have taken an opportunity to attend the Troy State Football Camp this week,

TSU offers two football camp sessions. The first began on Sunday and will end today. The next

group of players, over 150 in total, will begin arriving today for the second session.

Troy State Assistant Coach Wayne Bolt, who coordinates the camp, said that the 240 players who attended the first session was the "biggest one yet."

"It’s really a tribute to all of the high school coaches that bring them in, which is not limited to the south Alabama area," he said. "Creekside High School in Atlanta brought 58 kids and we get a lot of schools from the Florida Panhandle. They’ve been coming here for years. It’s been a good camp so far."

But Bolt said there are plenty of local teams who attend the camp also.

"We’ve got Goshen coming in this week and Coach Addison of Dothan will be bringing his team in," he said. "Brantley will be here as well as Enterprise."

Unlike the Bowden Camp which took place at TSU in June, Bolt said the TSU Football Camp offers instruction in every position on the field; from offensive line to cornerback. The Bowden Camp solely focused on quarterbacks and receivers.

"We work all offensive positions and all defensive positions," said Bolt. "If we have an lineman that comes in and wants to focus more on the offensive side of the ball, then Coach Dye (TSU Offensive Line Coach Jim Dye) will work with that player the whole camp on offense."

Bolt said all of TSU’s coaches work with the players who attend the camp. He said most of the drills the coaches run with the high school players are the same ones run with the Trojan Football team.

Bolt also said that the camp serves as a recruiting ground for possible Troy State football players.

"We sign a lot of players who come into this camp," he said. "Simply because we usually are the first ones to see them."

But for the player who is not a prospect, Bolt said it is a good opportunity for the player to get a good look at TSU.

"Most of them have never been here before," he said. "And if a kid doesn’t end up signing, he still might want to come here simply because he’s impressed with the beauty of the campus and the atmosphere at Troy State."

Bolt said that he and his fellow coaches provide constant feedback to the high school coaches about how a player is doing in the camp.

"The first night the kids are here we weigh them, get their height, time them in the 40-yard dash and get their vertical jump," Bolt said. "We then print out all of that information and and give it to their coaches. That way each coach knows how his players are doing."