Joey Sanders wasn’t always a go-to performer.
Growing up and maturing in the Noxubee County High School football program, Sanders learned to love the passing game.
As one of quarterback Omarr Conner’s favorite targets, Sanders blossomed into an All-State wide receiver as a senior and earned a scholarship to play football at Mississippi State.
Sanders wouldn’t have gotten there without 7-on-7 passing camps.
“It did benefit me,” said Sanders, who played in 30 games for MSU from 2004-2006. He redshirted in 2003. “Coming in, I was pretty much underrated and I knew I had to get better. Seven-on-seven was the key to that happening. I attended individual camps and 7-on-7 camps and individual workouts. All of that had an impact on me reaching the college level.”
Nearly 10 years later, 7-on-7 camps remain a fixture in the state of Mississippi, and around the country. Mississippi State, the University of Mississippi, and Southern Mississippi all held 7-on-7 camps earlier this summer, as did East Mississippi Community College, Itawamba C.C., and many of the state’s other junior college.
Part recruiting and part skill development, the camps are great ways for college coaches to keep track of talent and for high school coaches to build chemistry with skill players.
They also are ways for talented prep players to showcase skills that might have gone unnoticed and to earn a spot on the list of a college coach who one day may need a talented offensive or defensive player.
“At MSU camps, I heard feedback from other coaches who said they saw pretty good potential (in me) and said there were some things I needed to work on,” Sanders said. ” All of my coaches told me I had the potential and told me I can do this, which gave me the motivation to get better.”
MSU offered two 7-on-7 camps, or “Shootouts”, in June. The first was for larger classification schools, while the second was for smaller schools. At $20, the cost was comparable to many schools across the country. MSU provided players with a T-shirt and a meal, and each team was guaranteed to play in six to eight games. The kicker was the championship rounds were played in Davis Wade Stadium.
At Alabama, the “Nick Saban 7 on 7 Classic” was an invitation-only, 48-team affair on June 17-18. The format featured eight-team pools in which schools were guaranteed to play in seven games. The entry fee was $600.
At Southern Miss, NFL great Brett Favre was on hand in June to attend his inaugural 7-on-7 camp in Hattiesburg. Twenty-four schools, including one from as far away as Texas City, Texas, attended the one-day event, which raised money for the Favre 4 Hope Foundation and the University of Southern Mississippi Brett Favre Athletic Endowment Scholarship.
Noxubee County football coach Tyrone Shorter has accompanied the Tigers across the state and the region in their play at 7-on-7 camps. He recalls going as far as LSU to attend camps when M.C. Miller, now the head football coach at Louisville High, was head coach at Noxubee County.
These days, Shorter and his staff make the most of Mississippi High School Activities Association rules that limit schools to seven passing camps. This year, Noxubee County attended six, including trips to MSU, Ole Miss, and EMCC.
Shorter said he and his coaches tell players high school coaches don’t give scholarships and that it is their responsibility to take advantage of trips to colleges for 7-on-7 passing camps.
“Even though we’re there to get better as a team they also can improve their recruiting when we go to Mississippi State or Ole Miss or Southern,” Shorter said. “They do have college coaches looking at games, especially if you make it to the championship game. (The coaches) are watching and taking notes. We tell them they need to show the coaches what they can do because he coaches are watching.”
Noxubee County lost in the semifinals of the passing camp at MSU, it finished second at Ole Miss, and won the event at EMCC. In 2010, it won at Ole Miss and took second at MSU.
This season’s team may not have someone with the reputation of Joey Sanders or Conner or Patrick Patterson or Vincent Sanders, who is at Ole Miss, but the Tigers have plenty of talented skill players on offense and just as many players with potential on defense.
“I have had several coaches calling already asking about kids they saw in 7-on-7,” Shorter said.
Shorter said players like Joey Sanders, Conner, Brandon Tate, Patterson, and Vincent Sanders helped open doors for other football players at Noxubee County. He said colleges now send out invitations to his school and know the Tigers will compete when they participate in 7-on-7 events.
Shorter said the cost of attending 7-on-7 camps has remained reasonable through the years. He said the number of teams participating in passing leagues at state schools may be down a little bit due to the economy, but he feels the camps remain a vital part of a team’s development and its ability to make sure its players get seen and have opportunities to get college scholarships.
“We try not to have kids pay anything out of pocket throughout the year,” Shorter said. “Our administrations lets us sell donuts to build money and to do fundraisers. The Noxubee County Booster Club does a tremendous job of raising money and sending us to camps. My hat goes off to our booster club and the work they do so our kids don’t have to spend any money.”
Mississippi’s junior colleges also are active in the 7-on-7 circuit.
At EMCC, the Lions charged $20 for their camp, which was scheduled for June 22 but was moved to two days due to rain.
Assistant coach Clifton Collins said EMCC tries to get all of the schools in its allocated area, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay, Noxubee, and Kemper counties, to attend the 7-on-7 camps. He said the cost of travel often prevents teams from farther away from coming Scooba for an event that begins at 10 a.m. and runs through the afternoon.
Collins said the primary benefit for college coaches is to get players on campus so they can see them play and so the teams can see their schools. The hope, he said, is that the coaches see something they like and the player sees something he likes in the school.
“We try to be around them as much as we can,” Collins said. “We use it a lot (as a recruiting tool). It gives us an advantage of watching kids before they go into their junior year to see where he is and which kids we need to be watching for the upcoming season.”
Collins said the turnout at Scooba has been consistent. This year, 14 teams participated in the annual event head coach Buddy Stephens started in 2008.
At ICC, the Indians held their 7-on-7 camp in conjunction with the NFL and National Guard High School Player Developmental Camp. The cost was free.
ICC athletic spokesman Adam Gore said next year the NFL has proposed the winner of each NFL site camp be placed in a regional pool to determine a regional winner. The regional winners would advance to the championship that would be played Super Bowl weekend at the Super Bowl site. He said the NFL is looking at the possibility of flying the winners up for the championship.
ICC football coach Jon Williams said his program places the emphasis of the camp on the development of players and coaches.
“We don’t view it as a money-maker, but a chance for coaches and players to get better at their skill,” Williams said. “In addition, we are able to get upwards of 250 prospective student-athletes on our campus. Consequently, when that student-athlete begins the recruiting process, he is familiar with the ICC coaching staff, as well as our fine facilities.”
Sanders remembers that experience well. He went through the process several years ago, and knew from the ninth grade that he had to raise his level if he wanted to compete with his teammates.
Looking back, Sanders credits his participation in the 7-on-7 camps for helping him have a successful college career. He said it also benefited many of his teamm
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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