EVANSVILLE — High school football coaches across Southwestern Indiana want to see their sport continue to grow as much as possible.
There was a large turnout at Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin‘s football camp Saturday at Central Stadium. About 150 attendees between the ages of six and 16 participated in various drills, sharpened their football skills and even heard a moving speech by Franklin encouraging them to keep going.
“Honestly, this is my first time here in Evansville,” Franklin said. “The people have been nothing but hospitable. Nothing is better than hanging out with the kids all day. That’s like my favorite thing.”
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The Southern Indiana and Pocket Athletic Conferences were also well represented at Franklin’s camp.
Multiple area high school football players were in attendance while Central’s Brandon Artis, Bosse’s Stephan Mullen and Princeton’s Eric Schnur were among the various coaches on staff. Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. athletics director Andy Owen and Brady Allen, a University of Louisville quarterback and Gibson Southern graduate, were also on staff.
“It means a lot, especially for the city and our conference and just the EVSC,” Artis said of the camp. “I think this is one of the first times you have somebody of (Franklin’s) caliber to come to Southern Indiana. And to add Brady to that, that’s amazing for our kids. I think that we wanted to show our kids that these guys, they can be them if they put the work in and do the right thing.”
Mullen remembered how excited he was when Peyton Manning visited his middle school. Schnur’s 8-year-old son, Jude, was one of the camp’s attendees. Allen himself also hosted his own football camp in Fort Branch in 2022.
Everyone was honored to be a part of Franklin’s camp while continuing to give Southwestern Indiana exposure.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to give back,” Allen said. “We were all once these young kids, and it’s great to give them somebody to look up to, to give these kids this experience and have some fun with them.”
There’s plenty of excitement on what the next generation of players can contribute. There are camp attendees who could later play high school football. Many of them even have dreams of going to the NFL. That’s why it’s important for Allen and the coaches to continue to use their platforms and inspire others.
They would love to see more football camps like Franklin’s come to Southwestern Indiana in the future and provide more exposure for their area. More importantly, they want everyone who attended the camp to succeed in whatever line of work they go in, whether if it’s in football or something else.
“I think that’s why every coach is out here,” Mullen said. “A lot of us are taking time out of our day to come out and help the coaches that are in charge of this and just make it successful for the whole SIAC, the PAC and some other schools around the area. The kids are all working hard on a hot day, so they’re getting better through the summer, which is great.”
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Southwestern Indiana has been a hotbed in Indiana high school football. Six area teams have played for IHSAA championships since 2018 — three of them have won titles. Multiple prep standouts are currently on Division I program rosters, from Allen to Purdue running back Devin Mockobee. Allen has even cemented himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in Southern Indiana.
There’s great honor for everyone when it comes to being in two of the toughest conferences in the state. They hope Southwestern Indiana will continue to be represented with pride in that regard.
“It was always this thought that it was an underrecruited area,” Schnur said. “But there are former SIAC greats that have played in the Big Ten and had stints in the NFL that are here. Now we’ve got kids at almost every school in the city who are getting opportunities to play Division I football.
It’s just a matter of time before one of those guys catches on and we end up with an NFL player who’s coming home back to Evansville to run a camp. I hope we get to be a part of that, too.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin football camp Evansville
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