By Josh Katzowitz

Special to PrepChamps.com

Before the event began, before the high school football players with designs on becoming college football players could showcase their wares, they waited. Before Kevin Fitzgerald, the director of athletic combines for PrepChamps, welcomed the 40 or so prep athletes to the Reebok Cincinnati Combine on June 6, they patiently waited for him to finish the last-second preparations. After all, PrepChamps combines are well-known for their attention to detail.

Some nervously tapped their cleats on the tile floor at the Ignition APG complex in suburban Mason. Some chewed their gum with exaggerated smacks. Some playfully shadowboxed. Most found some way to unleash their nervous energy before the combine officially kicked off.

Forgive them for being anxious.

For many of the athletes in attendance, PrepChamps combines are the possible ticket to collegiate scholarships. For a rising high school junior like Hamid Turay — a wide receiver/cornerback from Beechcroft High School in Columbus, Ohio, who said he hasn’t received much interest from college coaches — that’s what made this such an important event.

“It gives you publicity to the world,” Turay said moments after he was clocked running a 4.53 in the 40-yard dash. “It shows you what it’s going to be like in the future. It actually helps you get better and teaches you more techniques.”

That’s the goal for Fitzgerald, a former strength coach at Notre Dame, Florida State and Vanderbilt. By running the participants through six drills that collegiate players perform for NFL scouts – the 40-yard dash, the “L” drill, the broad jump, the vertical jump, the bench press and a pro agility drill – and then putting them through position-specific work, Fitzgerald helps them get a head start on potentially earning a scholarship.

“What it does is that it puts a lot of guys on the college map,” Fitzgerald said. “There are so many athletes out there that it’s really tough for all the college coaches to know who everybody is. This gets extra eyes on them and gives them extra exposure.”

PrepChamps, though, provides more than simply raw data and scores for those college coaches. It also video records each player’s performance in the six drills and puts the results on prepchamps.com. That way, Fitzgerald said, their exposure is maximized, because college coaches – who, due to NCAA rules, can’t watch the combines in person – can see what they’ve missed.

“Especially the video, it does so much more for the players,” Fitzgerald said. “If they go to other combines, they may only get their raw data. But college coaches don’t know what kind of surface he ran on, what kind of form he has. You may have a kid that may not impress the coaches with their time, but once the coach sees the form and realizes the kid is actually faster than what he showed – or he might have stumbled – that actually adds value.”

Fitzgerald and the rest of the Ignition coaches also were quick to recognize a talent, now matter how raw it was. After Christian Albertson – a rising senior tailback/cornerback from Little Miami High School in Morrow, Ohio – ran a 4.58 in the 40, one coach approached him with tips on how to improve his sprinter’s form.

“I just like coming out and showcasing my skills,” Albertson said. “You definitely have to put yourself out there coming to these combines. You have to show people what you’ve got.”

For John Buycks – a rising senior tailback from Meadowdale High School in Dayton, Ohio – his first combine was a rich experience.

He also tried to have some fun. As he and his group switched from the vertical jump to the pro agility drill, Buycks danced his way across the indoor soccer field and slapped the hands of friends. It drew a belly laugh from one of Ignition’s coaches.

“I know it’s supposed to be serious, but I have fun with everything I do,” Buycks said. “If I’m serious about everything, I’m not going to have fun with it. I always have fun.”

Still, he knows how serious these opportunities are for a player like him, especially because he didn’t have to pay anything to be there.

“See, I’m an inner-city student, and financially, me and my family aren’t very well off,” Buycks said. “To have a combine like this where we receive all kinds of stuff – and for free – it opens up the door. It’s been a great experience.”

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Athlete's Corner, Coach's Corner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.