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Local athletes host fundraiser
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Matthew Roselle released his shot during the football camp fundraising event at Wedgewood Lanes.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Cletus Higgins watched his shot roll down the lane during the football camp fundraising event at Wedgewood Lanes.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Austintown Middle School eighth-grader Michael McNally rolled a shot during the football camp fundraising event at Wedgewood Lanes. McNally was one of six players attempting to raise enough money to attend a camp in Columbus.
By TIM CLEVELAND
With six football players wanting to attend a pair of camps in the Columbus area in July, Matthew Roselle put on a fundraising event at Wedgewood Lanes on May 9.
Roselle independently works with the six players but will be an assistant coach this season at East High School. He said the cost to attend the camp is $625 per player. Approximately 1,800 athletes will be in attendance.
“The camp is a regional camp,” he said. “It’s in Columbus at Dublin Scioto High School. I believe there’s around 1,800 athletes that show up.”
The six players who hope to attend the camp are Matt Whittenberger, Mike McNally, Aaron Jenkins, Nate Fowler, Bryson Pegram and Jason Johns. All of the players are heading into ninth grade at Austintown Fitch High School except Jenkins, who will be a senior at Canfield, and Pegram, who is originally from Austintown and now lives in Columbus. Whittenberger has yet to decide if he’ll attend Fitch or Ursuline.
At the regional camp, which runs from July 11-13 and is for players entering grades six through 12, the players will go through drills based on position. The linemen will be judged on footwork and blocking, while quarterbacks will be evaluated on their throwing skills and will compete in one versus one, two versus two and seven versus seven drills. All players will also be evaluated on their mechanics and maturity.
The top three or four players at each position will then advance to the Top Gun camp, which will be July 21-23 at Dublin Jerome High School. Roselle said approximately 2,800 players will be there from around the United States, as well as Europe and Canada.
“With Top Gun, you get the elite of the elite,” he said. “You see a lot of the ESPN top 350 [recruits] down there.”
Roselle said performing well at Top Gun can lead to a selection in either the Eastbay Youth All-American Bowl or the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, both of which will be played in January in San Antonio, Texas.
Roselle said the amount raised may have been less than he hoped due to other events going on in the area.
“What I was hoping for today is to raise $1,800,” he said. “I kind of ran into a road block as far as Relay for Life, and I also ran into a road block of a track meet. This is the only day I could get available here, so we’re just trying to do what we can with what we have. Any little bit helps.”
The players all agreed that participating in the camps will give huge boosts to their football careers.
“I think it’s going to help me in many ways, like on the field, new drills and show me proper footwork,” said Whittenberger, a defensive end. “I think the skills I’m going to learn here are going to carry over to wherever I go to high school.”
“This is helping us out, getting us the exposure, everything that we need,” said offensive lineman McNally. “It’s going to get us top of the line training and it’s going to improve us by a long shot.”
“As of right now Coach Matt’s been helping us since we had that harsh winter,” said Jenkins, a quarterback. “He’s been giving us something to look forward to with this camp. He got me several D-I offers.”
Jenkins said he’s gotten looks from Youngstown State, Tiffin, Ohio Wesleyan, Ashland, John Carroll. Indiana State and St. Francis, among others.
Roselle said attending the camps will help the players in ways other than just improving their skills.
“It helps them big time as far as getting out of the community,” he said. “A lot of kids stay in the community and don’t leave the area. They go and they live life around Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Niles. They just stay in their bubble. By getting these kids out and getting them exposure is one of my biggest things as far as college. They get out there and see that colleges are there.”