Several hundred players from a half dozen schools put on the pads, laced up the cleats and strapped on the helmets for some hard-hitting football action at the annual Wing-T Camp hosted at Escalon High School.
The camp, run by Princeton University's Steve Verbit, makes several stops around the country during the summer and Escalon's turn was Friday through Sunday, June 13 through 15.
Over the course of the three-day camp, players learn the intricacies of the Wing-T offense and learn how their particular position figures in to the overall scheme. Groups are typically divided up by position, with fullbacks in one group, tight ends in another, quarterbacks in yet another grouping. Head and assistant coaches from various colleges, universities and high schools are brought together to provide the high level instruction.
Schools involved at the Escalon camp ranged from host Escalon to Pioneer, Hollister to Granada and Waterford to a school out of San Jose.
Working on running patterns, passing drills, blocking schemes and more, the groups rotate to a number of different stations to start, then begin to put the skills into action, running some offensive plays later in the camp.
And, as usual, the arrival of Wing-T also heralded the arrival of triple digit heat, with the high temperature hitting an even 100 on Friday.
"Those things just seem to go together," Escalon head coach Mark Loureiro agreed. "But we had a great camp, it was a good size and we had 75 kids from Escalon there, a large turnout of freshmen. We graduated a lot of guys but we are good and young in the offensive line. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. We've got some work to do but we're going to have some great senior leadership."
The camp, run by Princeton University's Steve Verbit, makes several stops around the country during the summer and Escalon's turn was Friday through Sunday, June 13 through 15.
Over the course of the three-day camp, players learn the intricacies of the Wing-T offense and learn how their particular position figures in to the overall scheme. Groups are typically divided up by position, with fullbacks in one group, tight ends in another, quarterbacks in yet another grouping. Head and assistant coaches from various colleges, universities and high schools are brought together to provide the high level instruction.
Schools involved at the Escalon camp ranged from host Escalon to Pioneer, Hollister to Granada and Waterford to a school out of San Jose.
Working on running patterns, passing drills, blocking schemes and more, the groups rotate to a number of different stations to start, then begin to put the skills into action, running some offensive plays later in the camp.
And, as usual, the arrival of Wing-T also heralded the arrival of triple digit heat, with the high temperature hitting an even 100 on Friday.
"Those things just seem to go together," Escalon head coach Mark Loureiro agreed. "But we had a great camp, it was a good size and we had 75 kids from Escalon there, a large turnout of freshmen. We graduated a lot of guys but we are good and young in the offensive line. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. We've got some work to do but we're going to have some great senior leadership."
