By John Kovach

NILES — Young football players who would like to establish an on-line profile of their development to help them eventually win a college scholarship may want to check out the Ohio Varsity Sports Nike Sparq Football Combine, scheduled for April 4.

The combine, directed by Robert Andrews of Bedford Heights, a former Youngstown State and Warren Harding defensive coordinator, is open to players in grades 8-11 and will be held from 9 a.m. until noon at the Ralph Infante Wellness Center.

Andrews, now a defensive coordinator at Glenville Academic Campus in Cleveland, a teacher at the Ginn Academy and founder and owner of Speed and Skills, said that the combine is being held in conjunction with ohiovarsitysports.com and rivals.com Web sites, which will publicize players’ performances and skills levels at the combine on a database for recruiters and coaches.

Andrews has done similar combines in Cleveland for both Web sites and said one is needed in the Youngstown-Warren area.

“[Players] have to travel to Cleveland and Columbus and Pittsburgh to attend these camps, but now they will be able to attend a camp in the Warren-Youngstown area,” he said.

Andrews is hoping for a big turnout.

“We are hoping to attract between 100-200 athletes. They have been working hard and training for summer camps and they want to see where they are,” said Andrews, noting that the cost to attend the combine is $55, and that players will be supervised and tested by “local coaches and some personnel who will record the data and it will be put on the database.”

He said the combine and resulting databases for players will make “ it easier for the college coaches and recruiters because they rely on these sources and trust the sources and then can follow the players better.”

Andrews encourages coaches to bring their entire teams to the combine at a reduced price.

“We expect local athletes to come out and get exposed [to colleges]. Some end up at Division II and Div. III schools because they don’t get the exposure,” said Andrews. “Coaches want to see what types of numbers we are putting up, so this will be an excellent showcase.”

In addition, Andrews said he will be taking sophomore and junior players on a tour to various colleges this summer to visit the schools and coaches to learn more about college recruiting and college life and what is required to be a success.

“We will be launching a tour bus. I did it the last two years [in Cleveland] to take them to different colleges,” said Andrews. “We will register athletes at this combine and then they can go on the tour to colleges this summer.”

And, “We are looking for coaches to chaperone the players on the bus tour when they go to visit the colleges.”

Andrews said the college visits will help to acclimate players to the transition from high school to college.

“They [come] back with a focus of what it takes to be successful [because] “they are exposed to the kind of standards required to excel and compete on that level,” Andrews said.

Andrews also conducts ongoing training camps for high school athletes in various sports.

He also is training former college players seeking to try out for pro football, including Louis Irizzary from Youngstown State and Mike Phillips from Pitt.

David Herron, a former Warren Harding player now with the Minnesota Vikings as a linebacker, will be a guest speaker at the combine.

To register for the combine, players can go online at Ohiovarsitysports.com, and can pay by credit card. They are encouraged to register by Saturday. They also can call and reserve a spot at the camp and pay when they attend the camp.

Players may call Andrews at (330) 774-1703 or e-mail him at ruppster17@yahoo.com.

The camp also will accept walk-ups the day of the camp.

Andrews said players should bring running shoes and shorts.

kovach@vindy.com