Elite football camp ready to help younger players

When word came out that Shaon Berry's Juniorrank.com would launch its first-ever youth football combine for athletes in sixth through ninth grade on June 27 at the state-of-the-art Lake Barrington Fieldhouse, no doubt this question popped up: Isn't that a little too young to start these kids?

Rich McGuinness, founder of Football University, which provides high-level instruction to elite football players from across the country, has heard it all before and his answer, in a word, is no.

"The tennis academies have been training kids in fourth and fifth grade. You look at gymnastics and they start before seventh and eighth grade," McGuinness said. "I argue that football has kind of been waiting for an avenue to identify and train great seventh and eighth graders.

"We're saying these kids are good and they deserve to be trained differently, showcased differently, and up until now, no one's really been doing it that way. I'm excited to work with Shaon as he identifies kids across the country, many of them I will train through Football University."

It's all quite a change from the old-school method of training young football players.

"Up until the last few years, there really hasn't been an outlet for elite football kids to train and showcase," McGuinness said. "Football was - traditionally you pick up football in July and get ready for camp in August and that was the old way to do it."

At the combine in Lake Barrington, from 8 a.m. to noon, participants will be instructed, measured and tested in the 20- and 40-yard dash, the agility shuttle, vertical jump, kneeling Power Ball toss, and bench press (ninth grade).

"This is not for everyone. It's for the elite football players who eat, sleep and breathe the sport," McGuinness said. "The bottom line is we're creating an avenue for elite football players to get great training, meet other great athletes, and eventually be showcased."

The afternoon session at the combine will feature position specific football instruction. All participants will have a profile on the juniorrank.com Web site and the top 20 will be featured on the main page.

But it's not all just about who the best athletes on the field are, it's who has the complete package on and off the field.

"We're preaching good character, we're preaching good grades, good teamwork," McGuinness said. "We're saying 'the bar is real high and the majority of you won't make it to the NFL. We'll show you where the bar is early.'"

For more information visit Juniorrank.com or call (877) 571-7265.