Football
Buckeye Football Camp Brings Campers to Campus
By John PorentasFootball season is still a long way off for Ohio State, but there will be football aplenty going on at the Ohio State campus this week because OSU's football camp season is in full swing.
Earlier this week the OSU coaching staff conducted a camp session for fifth and sixth graders as well as a kicking camp. Last Sunday they hosted an advanced camp for rising juniors and seniors. On Friday, the first of two all-position camps began.
Campers in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center waiting for their room assignments.
Photo by Jim Davidson"We have right around 1,200 campers for this session," said camp coordinator John Peterson.
The three-day camp is a chance for players from grades seven through 12 to experience football on the OSU campus and be coached by college coaches. It is a learning experience for the campers. For the OSU coaching staff, which takes an active role in the camp, it's a chance to give back to the football community.
"We're here to serve the game of football and serve the people of our region, although we have people from way outside our region in attendance here today," said OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel of the purpose of the OSU camp.
"Its for kids to come here and learn a little bit more and get a little bit more passion about the game than they ever had and hopefully stay safe," Tressel said.
Though the camp is aimed at enhancing the overall football experience of young players, it also serves as a reminder for the participating coaches of how their coaching careers began.
"For the coaches, high school and college, all of us, you get so far along in spring practice that this is chance to coach at the very most fundamental level. It's almost like you get to start over. It's a reminder of where we all have come from," said Tressel.
"It's really great to be able to coach at such a fundamental level because sometimes you forget what its like to coach kids who haven't had that much coaching and experience yet," agreed OSU offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.
"You get to go back to where you started."
L to R: OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel, offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, former OSU Head Coach Earle Bruce and camp coordinator John Peterson share a moment before camp begins on Friday. Bruce's grandson was a camp attendee at the camp several years ago.
Photo by Jim DavidsonThe camp is a place where former Buckeyes often return, sometimes just for a visit and sometimes as coaches. This year was no exception. Former OSU center Mike Jacobs is now an assistant coach at California of Pennsylvania college after having served as a graduate assistant at Purdue. Jacobs was on hand as a camp counselor as was former offensive lineman John Bates. Jacobs reports that his father, former OSU offensive coordinator Mike Jacobs Sr. is now the head coach at Mesa Community College where former Buckeye Joe Germaine is his quarterback coach when he is not playing arena league football.
The camp also annually yields a handful of "legacy" campers, campers who are the descendants of former OSU players. This year the fifth and sixth grade camp yielded a rare "double-legacy" camper.
Sixth grader Max Orazen was on hand last week for the youth camp. Orazen's grandfather on his father's side, Edward Orazen, lettered at Ohio State in 1962, 63 and 64. While a student at Miami of Ohio, Orazen's son met a girl who turned out to be the daughter of one of his father's OSU teammates, All-American linebacker Ike Kelley who lettered in 1963, 64 and 65 and was named All-American 1965. The two were subsequently married and sent their son, Max, to OSU football camp this year.
The second session of the all-position camp takes place June 17-19. There will be an additional senior advance camp June 20.
Return to the-OZone Front Page
(c) 2008 The O-Zone, O-Zone
Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, rebroadcast,rewritten, or redistributed.