Blue White Illustrated

LAST WORD TIM OWEN | OWEN.TIM.BWI@ G M A I L . C O M It's a numbers game A s Gerald Hodges and Michael Mauti were being drafted into the NFL, a few hundred elite high school prospects were assembling on a sun-drenched football field in northern New Jersey, beginning the long, arduous journey that Hodges and Mauti had just completed. Taking part in the Rivals Camp Series presented by Under Armour, nearly 300 of the top recruiting prospects from seven states throughout the East Coast and Midwest, including a few Penn State targets, traveled to Piscataway High School on April 27. It wasn't a full-pad football camp. Rather, each participant wore a tight sleeveless shirt, shorts and bright yellow socks, all of which were provided for free by Under Armour. Also available were an array of gloves and armbands – what the kids call "swag." Although they weren't wearing helmets and shoulder pads, the competition – one-onone coverage and pass rush drills, route-running, pass-catching, etc. – was intense. Led mostly by volunteers, the athletes spent the day working out with their position coaches and performed many of the same drills that are featured during the NFL's Scouting Combine. That seemed appropriate, since the event was essentially a combine in itself. The competition gave the prospects a chance to test their mettle against fellow recruits whom they had read and heard about it, or with whom they were battling for scholarship offers and recruiting attention. It also provided an opportunity for Rivals recruiting analysts and scouts to rank and evaluate the talent on hand. A solid performance might even earn a recruit an extra star on his Rivals.com recruiting profile. (That's directed at you, Thomas Holley.) But really – for the athletes, at least – this camp marked the beginning of their college football expedition, which most of them hope will conclude with their name being announced during draft day, as was the case with Hodges, Mauti, Jordan Hill and the other 251 selections. The majority of the prospects in attendance had already earned at least one Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship offer. Some had multiple offers. Some had dozens. Some were committed to top programs like Notre Dame and Tennessee, while others were still hoping to earn another offer or two – even though NCAA regulations prohibit college coaches from attending camps like this one. But no matter the difference in the scholarship sheet, all the athletes had one thing in common. At the camp's conclusion, the prospects gathered around Eric Winter, the head of Rivals, and took a knee. Winter graciously thanked each athlete for attending, and gave a brief but insightful overview of the scouting website's mission. Before he was finished, though, he told the knelt-down crowd, "Raise your hand if you have dreams of one day playing in the NFL." Nearly 300 hands pointed to the sky. All the prospects had NFL aspirations, which was expected. Even recruits who earn just one offer, or maybe no offers, think they have the potential to be the next NFL draftee. And who can blame them when you have Colin Kaepernick, who garnered just one offer coming out of high school, leading a team to the Super Bowl? But the fact remains that only 254 players are drafted each year, and since there were about that many campers in Piscataway, it's obvious that not everyone will fulfill their NFL dreams. Plus, when you consider that the Rivals Camp Series makes 14 additional stops, including checkpoints in recruiting hotbeds such as Dallas, Los Angeles and Birmingham, Ala., the dream seems even more like a moonshot. Collectively, the prospects understand that the odds are piled against them. But if you were to ask each individual, he would tell you an NFL contract isn't that far away. And for some of the guys who were in Piscataway, that might not be such a farfetched notion. K.J. Williams, a receiver from Coatesville, Pa., whom Penn State decided not to recruit, was one of the top pass-catchers at the camp. Chris Godwin, the Middletown, Del., receiver who is verbally committed to Penn State, had an impressive showing, too. Add in Noah Brown of Sparta, N.J., and Freddy Canteen of Elkton, Md., and there was probably at least one future NFL wide receiver among the group. But that's the thing. For every one standout, there are a dozen others who are just as, or even more, talented. It's like finding a four-leaf shamrock in a fertile bed of clover. That's why when these athletes are drafted, like Hill in the third round, Hodges in the fourth and Mauti in the seventh, it can be such a relief for them. They were among the 254 who rose above. That's something special, even if they don't play a single down in the league. It's a heckuva dream for the hundreds of high school athletes who came out for the Rivals Camp Series. And here's hoping that each one continues that pursuit. But if my daytrip to Piscataway showed me anything, it's that the numbers are stacked against them.

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