PHOTO GALLERY: Memorial players, coaches host football camp; fun continues Wednesday
Published 12:35 am Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Memorial quarterback Jah’mar Sanders runs a drill with Emmanuel Dugas, 10. Chris Moore/The News
Memorial coach Korey Mangum coaches up Taurean Wallace, 11. Chris Moore/The News
Michael Cabanaugh, 7, right, runs during a drill at Memorial’s football camp. Chris Moore/The News
Ksean Wesley, 6, gets ready to run a drill at Memorial’s football camp Tuesday. Chris Moore/The News
Michael Cabanaugh, 7, right, runs during a drill at Memorial’s football camp. Chris Moore/The News
Memorial coach Joshua Miller talks to the kids prior to the 2021 Memorial football camp. Chris Moore/The News
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Hundreds of youngsters flooded the practice field at Memorial Tuesday for the start of the annual free football camp.
Children from first grade to ninth grade got to see first hand the type of drills Memorial High School football players run during their practices.
Titans coaches and players led the drills as kids ran with footballs, shuffled their feet and tackled dummies.
Head Coach Brian Morgan said he was pleased with the turnout even though looming storm clouds caused the camp to end prematurely.
“This group is fun,” he said. “They play football all of the time now. It is fun to be around these kids and around the ones you are going to see in a few years. There was a 10-year-old that was bigger than me out here. It is fun to see and learn who the parents are. It was good.”
Morgan also enjoyed watching some of his varsity players lead the drills.
“We always tell them beforehand that they will see how hard it is to herd these kids and corral them,” Morgan said laughing. “Now they know how we feel. They don’t want to get in line. This senior group was our first group of campers.
These are the kids on Friday nights. They look up to them and get to be around them. Those kids know who they are. It is important for them to give back to the community.”
Memorial quarterback Jah’mar Sanders joked around with the campers and encouraged them to keep going. Sanders said going from camp participant as a child to running it as the starting quarterback is a surreal experience.
“It means a lot,” he said. “These young kids already look up to me and know my name. It is a blessing to be out here, coaching these guys up and having fun with them.”
Sanders said having the campers already know is name is humbling.
“When I was little, I didn’t know any high school players’ names,” he said. “I was looking up to NFL people. Some of the little kids, I used to play in the neighborhoods with them sometimes.”
The camp continues Wednesday with grades 1-6 starting at 5 p.m. and grades 7-9 starting at 6:15 p.m.
It is a free event.
