Got back from Lubbock yesterday and wanted to highly recommend the Texas Tech Youth Football camp to anyone with kids. They split the camps up into two time slots for the younger kids (K-6th) and the middle school kids (7th-8th). The younger camp had 200-250 kids and they didn't really separate by positions. Every kid got to work at every station and all the coaches and GAs as well as several players were right in the middle of everything. Each "team" of about 15 kids (separated by grade level) had a "coach" who was a current player. Ours was Jackson Hildebrand, a freshman OL from San Antonio. My little one was glued to his hip all morning and he was always willing to engage the kids and parents in conversation. That camp was more of an experience and less technical, though there were several drills I'll take back for my boys.
The middle school camp was really, really good. There were probably 100 kids and they did split them up into position groups and then into smaller groups. Half the camp was offense and half was defense and the coaches were really coaching them hard and being very diligent with their technique. He ended up in a group with @codycc64 son and that kid is one to watch in the next few years. He was one of the two best linemen at the camp and is class of 2029. My son's favorite coaches were easily Zarnell Fitch and Cole Maxwell while he was working with the defensive line. When they went to competition period with the 1-on-1s he had a really good rep at Offensive Tackle and got dapped up by Clay McGuire and you would have thought he just got offered a scholarship.
What really stood out was the willingness of all the coaches to engage with parents and talk shop. I chatted up Kirk Bryant for at least 15 minutes about a kid I coached in South Carolina and he was willing to give me a full rundown of what he thought of him. Talked with Lance Barilow for a solid 10 minutes and he was more than happy to chat.
Joey's recall was incredible. We met him and talked for about a minute during check-in during the morning session and he knew my name and referred to my boys as "my Aledo Bearcats" every time we saw him the rest of the day. There had to be 300 kids at least that were at the two camps and he knew my 2 on sight the rest of the day. It takes me meeting someone 3 times and learning half their life story to remember a name, so its especially impressive to me that he can remember people so well. I told my wife I'd bet her any amount of money that the next time we see Joey, even if its not until next summer, he will remember the boys and where they go to school.
If you want a cool and memorable experience, the kids camp for K-6th is a lot of fun for the little ones. I can't recommend the middle school camp highly enough for the older ones. They really get technical and take their time coaching, demonstrating, and correcting the kids. The competition period at the end is a lot of fun. Though there were only a handful of top-end kids in the lineman group, they worked to get good matchups as the competition period went on. My son is entering 7th and he said his goal for next camp was to be in the "championship matchup" during the competition period. That matchup this year was two older kids and was won by @codycc64 boy in a tight matchup.
First time I'd been to Lubbock in 14 years and the first time my boys had ever been out there and it was an experience they'll never forget.
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