John Peterson on camps
Ohio State football: High school camp shares the wealth
Tressel still allows college coaches to scout talent
Sunday, June 7, 2009 3:23 AM
By
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
There were scores of coaches and hundreds of high school football players. It was the Ohio State summer football camp, but it could have been labeled paradise as far as John Peterson was concerned.
"When I was an assistant coach in the Mid-American Conference, I remember that working different camps during the summer, particularly the Ohio State camp with (then-OSU recruiting coordinator) Bill Conley, was a great time for me," Peterson said. "You got to mingle with and get to know all kinds of coaches from around the country, and you got to work with and evaluate mass numbers of football players."
That tradition continues, except that for several years now Peterson has been in charge of the OSU camp.
The tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the Buckeyes has seen it evolve under coach Jim Tressel into several different mini-sessions over 14 days to keep up with the changing tastes of the campers and the coaches.
Although high school coaches have long been the backbone of the teaching/counseling staff of the camp, Peterson said it has become an increasing attraction for college coaches. More than 50 colleges from 24 conferences -- ranging from the four subdivisions of the NCAA to NAIA schools -- have been represented the past few years.
"Pretty much every school in the Mid-American Conference has had coaches work this camp," Peterson said. "It's pretty much a Midwest East Coast draw, for the most part, but we also have guys come in who had Midwest ties from schools in states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska."
The two-week run this month will include a two-day youth camp and various other multiday sessions for players at various positions, even kickers and long snappers, attracting campers from the fifth grade through the 12th. (Registration is still open, but only for commuter campers, not overnighters.)
Peterson said there's no doubt that the big draws for the college coaches are the one-day "advanced camps" June 14 and 26 for rising high school juniors and seniors.
Call them stop-and-shops for would-be recruits and recruiters.
"The college coaches really want to be at those one-day camps," Peterson said. "The coaches are allowed to wear their college shirts and colors, and they like to be seen as much as they like to see. It's a two-way street to have that many college coaches at one spot."
Because of NCAA rules, college coaches no longer are allowed to attend combines run by non-NCAA entities, Peterson said.
"So a camp like ours gives a player and a coach a chance to see and be seen," he said. "It gives the players and coaches a chance to put a face to a name. Relationships are built from this camp."
It's not just the visiting coaches who benefit. The Buckeyes invariably offer scholarships to several players after watching them perform various drills during the one-day affairs.
"And the majority of the players we end up offering will go through our camp at some point in the high school career," Peterson said.
Tressel could keep the camp door shut to other colleges if he preferred. But Peterson said Tressel's 15-year run as coach at Youngstown State helped him understand that "some of the smaller colleges out there can only do so much recruiting-wise from a budgetary standpoint, and, as we all know, finances have gotten even tighter.
"Coach Tressel is all about promoting Ohio and its high quality high school football. There are so many talented players in this state, and as the old saying goes, we can't take 'em all at Ohio State, not even close."
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