Eric Sorenson
Saturday some of the most highly touted high school football players in Arizona and along the west coast assembled at Hamilton High School in Chandler for the first ever Rivals Camp Series from Yahoo! Sports presented by Under Armour.
Over 200 players from Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and even Kansas showcased their skills against one another in a series drills featuring some of the most promising players in the coming years. 27 of the Arizona players who attended already had Division-I scholarship offers.
“Rivals has always wanted to be in the football camp business,” Head of Rivals.com for Yahoo! Sports Eric Winter explained to Pros2Preps.com after the event. “There are more than 300 men and women in the Rivals.com network coast-to-coast. It’s an opportunity to for these players to get in front of the network.”
Events like this are commonplace for players who hope to create a “buzz” around recruiting circles even though college coaches aren’t allowed to attend camps this time of year. The hope for some of the lesser known or small school recruits is to make a name for themselves competing against top-notch talent.
The players don’t wear pads during the six-hour workout, but competition is high with every player putting their best foot forward.
“I like to compete against kids around the country to see how I match up against them,” Scottsdale Desert Mountain quarterback and top 2014 recruit Kyle Allen told Pros2Preps.com. “These kids are really good. A lot of good competitors and quarterbacks. It [was] a lot of fun.”
Allen, who was scheduled to attend a camp in southern California along with a handful of other players from Scottsdale on Sunday, said the Rivals Camp Series presented by Under Armour was well-organized and each event was fluid.
Winter said the event was developed and organized by 50 people over the course of a year. The task included locating and finalizing a host school, as well as hiring the coaches and coordinators for the camp.
