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Combines Have Become Cash Registers and Their Value Tainted

April 27, 2012 in Camps-Clinics, Combines by Football NW

Combines Hurt More Then Help

This article is long overdue.  And it is not something we take lightly here at WashingtonPreps and OregonPreps.  But something has to be said and this is directed at all you parents and kids in the Pacific Northwest who we have covered and tried to look out for and written about tirelessly for 8 years now.

There is a money grab on.  And people are after your money first and for most.  Many of them don’t care what they need to say to get you to come out and compete.

You will be made to feel inadequate, left behind, or left out.  You will be made to feel as if you have to go or you will have no shot.  And you will be told if you come that “your life can change” and that your fortunes can turn in an instant.   But the reality is that almost all of that is about ego and getting you to drop that “C” Note and not about reality.

I am talking about High School Football Combines.

They were once rare to find and few and far between and College Coaches used them for major recruiting events.  Those days are over!  This year alone there have already been several in the Pacific Northwest and by the end of the Summer there will have been at least 20.  The issues at hand as we see them are that these events have lost their cache and their importance.  They really have.  And if you don’t believe that just ask any Coach from a Collegiate program.

“We could care less what a kid gets at a combine because we won’t trust those numbers.  And that only tells us a little bit anyway.  We recruit football players and athletes.  Not numbers,” said one PAC 12 Coach we spoke to this week.  ”There is no reason for a parent or an athlete to get pre-occupied with a combine when the job at hand should be keeping grades up and finding ways to get to know collegiate programs first hand.  No combine in the world will do that.”

Well said.  But combines which include testing physical skills like the 40 yard dash, vertical leap, 20 yard shuttle, bench press, and broad jump among other things can be run by anyone and can be quite lucrative.

At a recent combine in the NW 60 plus athletes attended paying over $100 each for a chance to test and compete.  That is all well good and fine.  But there is another one up the road the week later and two in Seattle a week or two after that and soon there is just nothing but a lot of noise and no one paying attention that can really help the athlete sort out what his options are.

And what of the $6,000 dollars that mostly left town with the promoters?  How much of that is retained by the public schools who let their Million dollar fields and facilities be used?  Tough questions to ask but they need to be because it appears to be very very little.

So here is what we have to offer into the mix and we feel justified in saying these things because no one has seen this unfold here in the NW the way we have.

What you Need to know about Football Combines for High School Kids:

  • There are no Collegiate Coaches at Combines.  It is against the rules and regs.  The only guys watching you are going to the the same guys charging you money and telling you your special.  So take it for what it is.
  • Your scores may or may not reported.  Everyone claims to send the scores out to Colleges Nationwide but few do.
  • Your scores can hurt you more then they help you.  You can not control what is written down or displayed.​
  • ​If the scores are not reported by a reputable source they will never see the Coaches desk nor should they.  They will be treated as SPAM.​
  • If the meaurments are not down by electronic equipment they can fool you into a false sense of self.  For instance a 4.46 on a hand held time is a 4.65 on a laser timer.  This is a real problem for athletes that want to know where they stand with other top recruits in the region.  Why pay to go to an event that can hurt you in the long run?​
  • The formula used by almost every Combine and camp group is to host a regional or small market event and then encourage the athlete to come to more and more and more events that will lead up to the Mega-Event at a location where kids from all of these smaller events meet and compete.​
  • Combines are held normally by companies who lack credentials and business licenses in the location they are holding them in and are held by people in most cases who have not had to endure background checks or scrutiny normally associated with High School Sports.​​
  • MANY OF THESE EVENTS ARE USED AS A WAY TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE KIDS FOR ADDITIONAL BUSINESSES RUN BY THE COMBINE GROUP OR THEIR AFFILIATES. THESE EVENTS ARE FERTILE SOIL FOR UNSCRUPULOUS STREET AGENTS TO OFFER YOU OR YOUR ATHLETE THE RECRUITING PACKAGE.   But don’t worry as you will only have to pay a few hundred or more then likely a few thousand.​

​

Are we saying never go to one?  No not at all.  Just do not pay very much and certainly take a hard look at what you are going to.  By no means does it make sense to go to more and more of these events.

They are what they are; a chance to see how you stack up.  But if you have D1 Visions for your future you better get to a Combine or event like the Army All American Combine where you will be judged based on competition against the Nation’s best.

Here is a real world approach to this process and how you can help yourself.

  • Talk to your High School Coach and ask them for their advice and input.  Many of these combines and camps sort of sneak in and out of town and do not even contact High School Coaches as they know they will be run off and unwelcome.  Go to Your Coach and Talk!  In  most cases you will get the straight scoop.​
  • Get to the NIKE SPARQ COMBINE held at Tigard High School.  No one can touch Nike and SPARQ on this front.  IT IS FREE!!!!!  They use the latest and greatest electronic timers and measuring devices so be prepared.  And the event is the best you can go to and we have been to them all.   You have a good showing there you will raise your stock.  The Nike and SPARQ Staff are the most seasoned and most experienced we have met anywhere and they see the Nation’s best every year at these the Nation’s biggest and premier events.  We are lucky they come here.  REGISTER FOR THE JUNE 9th, 2012 Nike SPARQ Combine- Event Right Here.​
  • If there is a Free event go if you have time.  If they are charging much money look at the list of critiques we listed above and ask yourself if alarms are going off.  Most likely any of these events will have this effect on you and you should immediately reconsider your next move.

 

Matt James of Nike Football and SPARQ is featured as one of the best trainers in the Country at the FREE Nike SPARQ Events which will stop in Tigard, Oregon June 9th, 2012.

 

Lastly here is a great perspective we found from a guy named Joe Kenn who is a Dad, a Coach, a long time trainer, and a guy in the sports business.

“My biggest problem with high school combines is they make a tremendous amount of money on parents who aren’t truly in tune to a real recruiting process. I overheard several parents talking about attending up to five combines and one of their sons hadn’t even played a snap of varsity ball yet. Attending athletes are training specifically for combine tests, and combines are manufacturing results that don’t transfer to the game. Players are leaving themselves open to injury by not preparing for their sport. This isn’t a words win. You want a words win. Produce solid game tape! I should note that there is one caveat to this. If your son is a blue chip recruit, a specific combine may be needed to provide a shot at the main all-American games that are now played. However, these are generally invite-only combines.”

 

Combines are now a Dime a Dozen, are all about the money for the most part, and they play to the athletes and parents desires and Dreams.  The events are not relevant with only rare exceptions.  Athletes who are good students and exceptional football players get scholarships.  The same guys who have always been at the forefront are still getting the scholarships.  No combine will help you be that guy!

Believe me when I say we understand because I did all this stuff with my kids and we chased all these events and went to most of them.  After a while few if any stand out as being worth the investment of time and money and we fell into the trap that Joe Kenn talks about above.  We had our son train to do well in the combine events and he did that.  But the time and money we spent doing that taught him how to do things that college coaches cared little about and that did not prepare him to be a better football player.

In the end the best thing you can do for your kid is get him in front of Coaches who can help assess where you are at and get game film.  If you do not do those things you had better be one of the above mentioned natural born Blue Chips.

We are here for you all you guys to tell the world your story better then anyone can through the Nations largest network.  But if my words left you turned off then maybe….just maybe… the truth hit home.

Contact me anytime I can help any of you at 503-799-8383 or dirkknudsen@gmail.com.

All the best from me and the staffs at Oregon and WashingtonPreps.com and the RivalsHigh Network!

 

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About the Author

Dirk is a lifelong resident of the Pacific NW; athlete and Merit scholar. He runs camps, clinics, and has been a sports writer and analyst for nearly a decade now; mostly with Rivals.com as the editor of OregonPreps and WashingtonPreps.com. Dirk is the founder of NWPR & BrainChampions.org; a charity for injured athletes suffering from Brain Trauma / Concussion. He is a father of three and married.

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by Football NW

Former Gesser Camp Now Being Led By Local Talent

April 20, 2012 in Camps-Clinics by Football NW

 We have had literally dozens of you calling and asking the question of the 2012 High School Football Pre-Season.  What Camps and Clinics Should I Go To?  We have been waiting to give you all a definitive response and have had to wait on one event.  That event was the much anticipated hand off of the Northwest Elite Football Camp; commonly known as the “Gesser Camp”.  Well folks we have the answer but want to explain the back story.

The camp used to be known as the Nike Northwest Elite Football Camp.  It had been held in the Seattle area in the years past and as the years went along it cemented it’s position as the premier camp in the Region.  Of the camps that you need to pay to get into this camp produced the best combination of skill testing and overall camp satisfaction with those polled.

The thing that makes the NWEFC stand out above the rest was the fact that the campers who went, almost 400 last year, all got plenty of action and got a chance to show what they could do at Point Blank range to a cadre of College Coaches including many Head College Coaches from Major D-1 Universitites.

Now for those of you readers who are new to the Recruiting and camp scene understand this.  College coaches under current NCAA rules can not be present to watch prospective recruits work out unless said work out takes place at their campus at an NCAA approved event.  That is the rule with very very rare exceptions in the months of June and July.

That said these camps are a Golden Opportunity for kids to be seen and to compete against the best kids in the region who are their piers.  “Show Up and Show Out”  the saying goes.  

So former Eastside Catholic Head Coach Jason Gesser designed the NWEFC camp to bring top Northwest Collegiate Coaches in to coach Northwest High School kids.  Over the 3 or 4 years he ran the event he struck gold with many kids being seen for the first time by Coaches who would go on to recruit them later.  

For additional clarity it is important to understand that these Coaches can “Coach” but not “Evaluate” the kids.  That means if they are there they better have their sleeves rolled up and be working.

That sure was the case as we saw Big Sky, Mountain West, and Pac 12 Coaches there grinding it out old school in the drills and skills these past few years.  

BIG POINT HERE:  The Camp has no Combine.  

A quirk in the NCAA rules that says that if there is a Combine (testing in the 40, Bench, Vertial Leap, Broad Jump, Shuttle) the Coaches are banned form being there.  Period!  But combines are a dime a dozen and loosing their appeal and importance.

Ok.  Point made?  

400 kids.  Major Coaches and Schools galore.  Top Talent.  A fun time and just a bubbly terrific football event.  That was the camp as we knew it up until now.

But a wrench was thrown into all of that this camp season as a result of the fact that Jason Gesser left for Washington State and then moved to Idaho as a Coach in the Fall of 2011.  As a college coach he really could not ethically or practically run it this year.  

He was faced with two choices.  

Shut the camp down or sell the camp name and turn it over to another group.  

A decision he needed only a few minutes to decide on as several suitors popped up almost immediately once the word spread.

But Coach Gesser had a legacy camp ; one that had walked the walk and talked the talk in the camp world.  A world filled with out of town “Flash Men” and profit seeking “More Money For Me” types who are known for being as ethical as Carnival barkers.

No folks. Coach Gesser wanted to find the right fit.  And he had several people who would bid for a shot to carry the torch.  In the end there was really one clear choice.  So Jason made it.

Those of you in Seattle, especially in Ballard, will recognize the names Cole Morgan and Eddie Behringer.  They ended up with the camp and are the proud new Owners.

For those of you that do not know they were part of the legendary 2003 Ballard Beaver squad who came within one Touch Down of the 4A WIAA State Title loosing to Pasco 21-14.

Behringer was an All State Receiver and superb athlete who left Ballard for college and moved on to University of Puget Sound where he helped lead the Loggers to many wins over his Collegiate career.  He is the founder of a very successful start up called ComeBackSports.com where they run the biggest Flag Football, Soccer, Softball, and Dodge Ball events in the country for athletes who are out of school and looking to stay involved, connected, and have fun. Find Out More Here and also Check this out!

This guy gets it and has found a way to extend his career as a student athlete into the business world while promoting fitness and fun.  That folks is a guy who walked the walk through High School and College as a top recruit and is proving that his winning formula extends off the field.  The kind of guy you want running a camp your going to send your kids to.

He came into the purchase of the Northwest Elite Football Camp through a guy that has trusted and known all of this life.  The same guy who started tossing him footballs when they were 7 or 8 years old.  That guy is none other then his life long pal and QB Cole Morgan.

Morgan was the gunslinger behind the Beavers and one of the “Ballard Four” as they were

known.  That group all went on to D-1 Schools and are shown in the picture here that we obtained from Facbook.

Morgan went on to WSU where he was able to work his way into the rotation but was stuck behind a couple of WSU greats; Alex Brink in particular.  Cole transferred to Western Washington for a year and closed out his Collegiate Career at Central Washington in 2009 where he started and led the team to the Semi Finals of the National Championships.

His career since College has included the job as the Offensive Coordinator at Bellingham in 2010 and a very successful career for ADRENALINE FUNDRAISING where he using his skills as a business man and former QB to raise money for High School Sports teams.

Could there have been a better duo of guys to carry on the legacy of this Football Showcase camp done right?  

No.  There could not have.  The fact that they are local success stories who played High School and College ball in the Evergreen State only make it all the better.

So to get to the bottom line of what should be the Best Camp of 2012 for Northwest collegiate hopefuls we interviewed new owner Cole Morgan and have these answers for you:

WP:  Cole thanks to taking the time.  Tell us exactly when and where the Camp is.

CM:  June 8th From 5-8 PM at Mercer Island High School

WP:  Awesome!  First Major Camp of the Year!  What will the cost be?

CM:  We are very happy to announce that we have been able to maintain the camps #1 value by keeping the costs at $65 per camper which will include T-Shirts.

WP:  Boy that is a great value isn’t it?  

CM:  It really is.  That is about 1/2 of what other camps are charging and they do not have the Collegiate Coaches we do.  That is the amazing thing that people need to understand.  It would costs hundreds of dollars to travel to even one college camp to be seen.  When I was a Senior I hit 13 College Camps.  That cost my folks over $2,000 dollars not including all the travel.  So at our camp you will have at least that many colleges there.  So is $65 a great deal?  For sure it is!

WP:  Why Mercer Island?  This event had been at Skyline and at Eastside in years past?

CM:  I am glad you asked that.  They have 4 fields there.  That is one of the absolute best places we could possibly be.  There are lined fields and we need that to coach these kids and run drills and the competitions we will have.  The school has worked out a 2 year agreement with us and we just had to move it there.  It will be a special fit for us and will allow the camp to grow.

WP:  Sound great!  Simple question.  Why?  What made you buy a camp and get into an already over crowded business?

CM:  The Kids!  This is about the kids.  The camp at $65 is not going to make much money and not going to lose much.  But Eddie and I are here for the kids.  This was us just a few years ago.  We are as close to these guys in age as anyone could be and we want them to have their shot.

WP:  Is it realistic for assume that a kid who works hard can make it?  There are so many kids out there trying to chase that dream aren’t there?

CM:  Yes there are.  But the facts remain if you love football there is a place for you to play.  This event is a chance to be seen, to gage where your at as a player, and have fun too!

WP:  You guys are both busy guys so really where is this all going?  Will your group run this once a year showcase or do more events?

CM:  That will be determined by the kids and families and what they want.  So stay tuned on that!

WP:  What about this hook up with you and Eddie?

CM:  He caught the first ball I ever threw and you know we are still hooking up.  It’s a dream come true for a couple of local kids.

WP:  What else should people know about this Camp as the onwership changes over this year?

CM:  There are a few things I want to state for the record as I am aware that our Mission here is to help the kids.  And I want to be clear on the following things.  They are:

  1. This camp will not EVER be a combine.  Combines are not helping kids get to college.
  2. We will NEVER rank kids.  That is not our Job.  That is for Kids and Coaches to sort out.  No one should even attempt to do that as it just can not be done and be accurate.
  3. We are in the business of providing a platform for these kids to compete.  A place where they can be seen.
  4. This Camp and any camp we host will be for the kids benefit first.  We have jobs and of course this camp can be profitable but that is not the goal for us.
  5. We will always do what is best for the kids and we want to work with all of the great High School Coaches in the Northwest to strengthen their teams and not take away from them.

WP:  Boy those are simple things but so important.  And with that Mission you are promising accountability in a time that many people feel that High School Football is going the way of AAU Hoops with Street Agents and “Promoter” types really expanding their grab for the kids.

CM:  Yes exactly.  We have to do right by the kids!

WP:  Last question and we will let you go.  Are you planning to start a recruiting business that charges a fee  to kids or families that has you representing kids in the Collegiate recruiting process to colleges?

CM:  Oh my goodness NO.  I don’t ever want to feel as a camp director that kids, parents or worse yet Coaches would feel we were trying to force an outcome for kids.  We will never do that sort of thing.

WP:  Coach your taking the bull by the horns here!  How old are you again?

CM:  26.  Perfect age for this sort of thing don’t you think?

​WP:  How can athletes and parents find out more?

​CM:  This just happened so the websites are being revamped.  But registration will open very soon, probably next week at http://northwestelitesports.com/ .

WP:  Absolutely.  Coach thanks for taking the time and we hope your time with the Northwest Elite Football Camp is fruitful and productive!

CM:  Thanks you guys have been great.  We have been a part of the camp the last couple of years so we are well aware of what we need to do.  And Eddie and I and all of us could not be more excited!

Rivals.com and WashingtonPreps.com will be at Camp getting full coverage and film on all the highlights.  So far the U of W Huskies have confirmed, Boise State, OSU, WSU, Portland State, Idaho, and the list is growing rapidly.  The camp is for High school age only but is NOT, I repeat NOT, an Invite Only.  It is open to anyone wanting to learn!  This should be the biggest and best camp of the year.


TAGS 
About the Author

Dirk is a lifelong resident of the Pacific NW; athlete and Merit scholar. He runs camps, clinics, and has been a sports writer and analyst for nearly a decade now; mostly with Rivals.com as the editor of OregonPreps and WashingtonPreps.com. Dirk is the founder of NWPR & BrainChampions.org; a charity for injured athletes suffering from Brain Trauma / Concussion. He is a father of three and married.

 

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