DH Purdue Football Skills Camp

[coolbrees]

I am bringing my 10 year old to Purdue on Monday for the Darrel Hazel camp from 9-1. Sounded like a lot of fun for only $45. 2.5 hr drive early on Monday but should be worth it if only to continue to expose my son to college campuses. I won't allow him to play tackle football for a while but it's nice that Purdue puts this on for such a reasonable price.

 

[PaBoiler78]

I am bringing my 10 year old to Purdue on Monday for the Darrel Hazel camp from 9-1. Sounded like a lot of fun for only $45. 2.5 hr drive early on Monday but should be worth it if only to continue to expose my son to college campuses. I won't allow him to play tackle football for a while but it's nice that Purdue puts this on for such a reasonable price.

UM and Jim Harbaugh w/ their travelling crew ( satellite camp) will be at Lafayette College ( Easton, Pa. ) today for their skills camp. I may head over there today to check that out and also it's a perfect outdoor day around here 78 and sunny.

 

[tigerchump]

I am bringing my 10 year old to Purdue on Monday for the Darrel Hazel camp from 9-1. Sounded like a lot of fun for only $45. 2.5 hr drive early on Monday but should be worth it if only to continue to expose my son to college campuses. I won't allow him to play tackle football for a while but it's nice that Purdue puts this on for such a reasonable price.

Please tell us later in the week how the experience was for you and your son.

 

[coolbrees]

this camp was really well run. Great value. Coaches brought tons of energy and it was good for all ages. Everyone got 8x10 picture with coach Hazell and lunch from chick fil a. My son got a small football and his picture signed by coach Hazell and Danny Anthrop signed his football. For $45, great day to take off and spend with my son.

 

[lbodel]

I am bringing my 10 year old to Purdue on Monday for the Darrel Hazel camp from 9-1. Sounded like a lot of fun for only $45. 2.5 hr drive early on Monday but should be worth it if only to continue to expose my son to college campuses. I won't allow him to play tackle football for a while but it's nice that Purdue puts this on for such a reasonable price.

I've beaten a dead horse over the years about this issue, but football camps are something I think Purdue's dramatically fallen short on over the years.

Football camps matter for a few reasons. One, most importantly, it can be a recruiting tool and can get potential recruits on campus. Obviously good football players will not go to 10 different camps as time doesn't permit with camps happening generally at the same time. It's certainly not to say most kids at a football camp are D-1 caliber - most aren't - but they do attend, particularly at a younger age (i.e. not jr/srs).

Secondly, it's a great pipeline to develop allegiances. I don't think this needs much explanation - just look at your experience.

My critique of Purdue Football is two-fold.

1. There are only day camps. With Purdue's location, this doesn't necessarily make it very convenient for many kids in Purdue's "range". For example, Ft. Wayne is 2 hours, Chicago suburbs are 2 hours, etc. So unless you are a big fan - like your situation - you probably aren't going to do a 2.5 hour drive where you have to register at 8:30 am. Many schools have multi-day camps, particularly for the more skilled levels. Purdue used to have a multi-day QB camp, but no longer does.

2. This plays into this first issue - but I think Purdue should go on the road with camps. I've talked about this before - Mizzou does camps across the state because they are "awkwardly" located. The 3 biggest populations in Missouri are 2 hours, 2 hours and 3 hours from campus. So what do they do? They go have a day camp in those 3 places. While this is not a great example anymore (nonetheless), Dorial Green Beckham was a 5 star recruit and #1 recruit in the nation - from Springfield, MO (3 hours from campus). He attended a Mizzou Football camp in Springfield and hadn't even visited campus before. Mizzou, not exactly a national power at the time, landed the #1 recruit in the country because of the strong and lengthy connections they had with him.

I think it'd be great to have day campus in Indianapolis (maybe one northside, one southside), Ft. Wayne, and the Region/Chicago.

If anything, it gives you exposure to new people, gives you exposure with the media in those areas, etc. And camps make profits anyways, so it's not like they'd bleed money.

 

[tigerchump]

this camp was really well run. Great value. Coaches brought tons of energy and it was good for all ages. Everyone got 8x10 picture with coach Hazell and lunch from chick fil a. My son got a small football and his picture signed by coach Hazell and Danny Anthrop signed his football. For $45, great day to take off and spend with my son.

Thank you very much for this report.I always wondered what these camps were like.I am glad you and your son had such a great time.Boiler up!