ILS1
06-16-2005, 07:01 PM
By Andre Shannon
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, June 16, 2005
HUTTO — The University of Houston's traveling summer football camp covers everything from blocking techniques to route running, but wide receiver Dominique Phelps noticed one thing was missing from last week's drills: there were no lessons on end zone celebrations.
"They didn't teach us anything about touchdown dances," Phelps said, laughing.
The Hutto High School senior attended UH's one-day camp last Thursday with 61 other players. With the entire Cougars coaching staff present, players had the chance to get individual instruction from Houston position coaches.
The UH camp traveled to five cities this month, holding camps in Abilene, Victoria, Hutto, Southlake and Kilgore. UH coaches used them as chances to show players around the state what Houston has to offer.
"A lot of people are intimidated by the city of Houston and don't really know what we're all about," said Cougars head coach Art Briles. "So we're going to take our show to them to show them we have good guys who are good coaches and know how to treat athletes."
Phelps didn't mind that there were no coaches on hand to teach the Ickey Shuffle or Primetime Prance. He was just happy to absorb as much as he could from receivers coach Jason Phillips.
"I really learned how to work on my agility and that everyone drops passes," Phelps said. "Some of this stuff I'm going to try to use in a game and see how it helps me out on game day."
Phillips, a former UH receiver, told campers old stories of his days catching passes from former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, and gave receivers lessons on the mental aspects of the game.
"It's just one down," Phillips yelled as a player hung his head after dropping a pass and was walking slowly back to the huddle during a drill. "If you were at UH right now, you'd be running laps.
"You've got to learn that offensive linemen miss blocks, defensive linemen miss tackles. It's just football, things happen."
Phelps, who was part of the group that received the football psychology lesson from Phillips, used the camp as a chance to try and get the attention of the Cougar coaches.
"I hope to catch one of their eyes and get a few offers," he said. "I'd love to go to UH."
For others, the camp was a great opportunity to size up their competition for the upcoming season — and even make friendly predictions among each other on how their competitors would fare. Pflugerville quarterback Tyler Beatty, who attended UH's overnight camp at the beginning of the month, didn't mince his words when talking about his team's plans for next season.
"Everybody knows if they're in 15-5A, they're going to get beat by Pflugerville," Beatty said. "That's the kind of talk that's going on out here."
Although the UH staff are not allowed to recruit players during the camp, Briles said he wouldn't mind seeing some of the players in a Houston uniform someday, and was impressed with the skill level of a few of the campers.
"I can't specifically talk about individuals, but there are some guys out here that seem to be Division I-A caliber," he said.
"Talent-wise, this has been a great camp," said UH assistant coach Mike Spradlin, the former head coach at Westwood.
And it was just that — the skill level of the camp's participants — that got Hutto head coach Lee Penland excited about hosting the camp on his practice fields. Eight Hutto players participated, and Penland said his players would gain a lot from the camp's competitive nature.
"Just learning how to compete with some other really good high school players and being out here with these coaches motivates them and gets them excited about football and the upcoming season," Penland said.
"The talent level was pretty good," said Jeremy Kerley, who will be Hutto's starting quarterback this fall. "I saw some people here that were better than me and some who were on the same level as me, but all together we all just came out and tried to compete against each other."
Houston To Hutto (www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/highschool/06/16Willco.html)
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, June 16, 2005
HUTTO — The University of Houston's traveling summer football camp covers everything from blocking techniques to route running, but wide receiver Dominique Phelps noticed one thing was missing from last week's drills: there were no lessons on end zone celebrations.
"They didn't teach us anything about touchdown dances," Phelps said, laughing.
The Hutto High School senior attended UH's one-day camp last Thursday with 61 other players. With the entire Cougars coaching staff present, players had the chance to get individual instruction from Houston position coaches.
The UH camp traveled to five cities this month, holding camps in Abilene, Victoria, Hutto, Southlake and Kilgore. UH coaches used them as chances to show players around the state what Houston has to offer.
"A lot of people are intimidated by the city of Houston and don't really know what we're all about," said Cougars head coach Art Briles. "So we're going to take our show to them to show them we have good guys who are good coaches and know how to treat athletes."
Phelps didn't mind that there were no coaches on hand to teach the Ickey Shuffle or Primetime Prance. He was just happy to absorb as much as he could from receivers coach Jason Phillips.
"I really learned how to work on my agility and that everyone drops passes," Phelps said. "Some of this stuff I'm going to try to use in a game and see how it helps me out on game day."
Phillips, a former UH receiver, told campers old stories of his days catching passes from former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, and gave receivers lessons on the mental aspects of the game.
"It's just one down," Phillips yelled as a player hung his head after dropping a pass and was walking slowly back to the huddle during a drill. "If you were at UH right now, you'd be running laps.
"You've got to learn that offensive linemen miss blocks, defensive linemen miss tackles. It's just football, things happen."
Phelps, who was part of the group that received the football psychology lesson from Phillips, used the camp as a chance to try and get the attention of the Cougar coaches.
"I hope to catch one of their eyes and get a few offers," he said. "I'd love to go to UH."
For others, the camp was a great opportunity to size up their competition for the upcoming season — and even make friendly predictions among each other on how their competitors would fare. Pflugerville quarterback Tyler Beatty, who attended UH's overnight camp at the beginning of the month, didn't mince his words when talking about his team's plans for next season.
"Everybody knows if they're in 15-5A, they're going to get beat by Pflugerville," Beatty said. "That's the kind of talk that's going on out here."
Although the UH staff are not allowed to recruit players during the camp, Briles said he wouldn't mind seeing some of the players in a Houston uniform someday, and was impressed with the skill level of a few of the campers.
"I can't specifically talk about individuals, but there are some guys out here that seem to be Division I-A caliber," he said.
"Talent-wise, this has been a great camp," said UH assistant coach Mike Spradlin, the former head coach at Westwood.
And it was just that — the skill level of the camp's participants — that got Hutto head coach Lee Penland excited about hosting the camp on his practice fields. Eight Hutto players participated, and Penland said his players would gain a lot from the camp's competitive nature.
"Just learning how to compete with some other really good high school players and being out here with these coaches motivates them and gets them excited about football and the upcoming season," Penland said.
"The talent level was pretty good," said Jeremy Kerley, who will be Hutto's starting quarterback this fall. "I saw some people here that were better than me and some who were on the same level as me, but all together we all just came out and tried to compete against each other."
Houston To Hutto (www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/highschool/06/16Willco.html)