Pictures and brief recap of today's camp in Grand Prairie (Dallas)

Submitted by CoachW on

Disclaimer:  This is literally a copy pasta from MY OWN post on Rivals, so if you saw it there, it's the exact same.  And yes, it is my post and my pics, I'm not copying someone else's stuff here.

 

Here is the link to the imgur album if you just want to see the pics: http://imgur.com/a/ASKtV

It was HOT out there today. Easily the hottest day of the year so far. My dash gauge read 97 when I got there and it was well over 100 on the field. The stadium is dug into the ground as well so there is not a lot of airflow. Despite this, Harbaugh was wearing a long sleeved shirt under his M polo. It didn't take him long to roll those sleeves up though!

He gave a very short opening welcome to the kids. You could tell he was ready to get after it. Every coach was there as well as Partridge and quite a few other guys that I didn't recognize (support staff I would guess). I would estimate that the turnout was around 300 kids.

The first thing the coaches did was kick everyone not coaching in the camp off the field. I happened to be walking up to the bleachers right behind Sam Webb and he mentioned that was a first. It didn't seem like being down there was an issue at the other camps but whatever.

They broke the kids out into position groups and did some warm ups and then had races until they declared a winner in each group. After that, they did rotating agility drills all over the field. From there it was Indy for a good hour. After that, they broke the kids out into freshman and sophomores on one end and the upperclassmen on the other. Here they did basically a one-on-one, make the other guy miss drill with offense vs defense. It was 30 yards long and from the sideline to the hash and all the defender had to do was touch the offensive guy. The young kids really struggled with this as the defense won pretty much every time. Kids that age tend to want to slow down and do a Madden move on the defender and don't know how to make a cut and explode out of it yet. The upperclassmen had a very spirited competition and there were some good athletes out there. 

I should mention I am not going to have any names for you guys because they did not distribute a roster to anyone in attendance. Sam did mention that the #1 ranked 2017 QB (I assume as ranked by TOS) was there, but I couldn't even tell you his name. He looked pretty good, but he didn't blow me away by any means. Sorry if you're looking for names, I had no chance on that front!

Next they did passing one-on-ones. They had TEs and RBs vs LBs going one way and the receivers vs 
DBs on the other end. You could tell they are still looking for 2016 WRs to target because they specifically told any 2016 WR to be on the left side of the field and everyone else to go on the right. There was some good competition and some solid reps here.

Harbaugh finally called them all in at about 7:15 (camp started at 4:00) and wrapped it up. He started to tell the kids a story and then turned around and told all the media creeping in to back off and the story was for the campers only. Drevno actually had to chase some guys away that were still hanging around too close. I could hear the beginning from the bleachers, something about in 1991 when he was with the Bears, but I couldn't hear anything after that. Then he wrapped it up with a "WHO'S GOT IT BETTER THAN US?" and the kids all on cue said "NOOOOOBOOOODYYYYY".

P.S. If you ever wanted to see Harbaugh in a cowboy hat, check out the pics (Drevno too)!

Yo_Blue

June 10th, 2015 at 8:00 AM ^

As a follow up, if you haven't seen Jim's role in a western, watch this hilarious clip.  They draw a football diagram in the dirt to plan their defense against the bad guys (or maybe THEY are the bad guys).

LINK

It looks like a truly terrible film, but then again HARBAUGH!

michman54

June 9th, 2015 at 11:25 PM ^

Shawn Robinson is the 2017 QB. He did not look the best to me as well, a lot of wobbly bad throws. Watching these coaches was a great experience, they know there stuff! All the coaches had great energy, Jay Harbaugh was really watching a TE from Oklahoma, wish I knew his name but the player was somewhat unknown. I had heard that kid was in a Coma last year, he won all of his drills I saw.

6tyrone6

June 9th, 2015 at 11:44 PM ^

and realized just how good this team is going to be, with guys like this keeping up with Harbaugh. The whole coaching staff, with all that talent, having to keep up with him, can only make every player at every position that much better.

CoachW

June 9th, 2015 at 11:57 PM ^

A couple things I left out that I didn't mean to:

 

The linemen all went to the indoor facility once the warmups were over, so I do not know what they did.  I was more interested in staying outside.  That's why I have no info on them.

 

There was a rumor that USC was sending a couple coaches to the camp.  They were there.  You can actually see one of them in the foreground on the picture of Zordich and Partridge.  I didn't pay attention to them much, but I did notice them several times and they were doing nothing but watching.  I did not see them coach for one second.  They spent most of their time watching the DBs.  Seems kinda cheap to me to accept an offer to work a camp and then just evaluate and not do any, y'know, work at the camp.

Roc Blue in the Lou

June 10th, 2015 at 12:03 AM ^

Some describe Harbaugh's persona like a rock star/celebrity, but the cool thing all these camps show is that he is just a very high energy KID who loves with exponential passion everything about the game of football.  To make the image of Rock Star celebrity fit, imagine arriving at, say, a U2 concert 4 hours before showtime and the entire band was on the floor of the arena mixing it up with high school and college age musicians, helping them sharpen their craft and offering tips to those trying to make the music scene.  Then, throw in a giant jam session with the band and these kids and you just might have the BEGINING of the true wonder of Harbaugh.  Enjoy these Harbaughllapalooza moments my MgoBlog friends...they are epic and will form the stuff of legend.

Yostbound and Down

June 10th, 2015 at 12:17 AM ^

Appreciate the writeup, and the photos.

Wheatley is still the coolest dude on the staff. I mean, yes Harbaugh, but the floppy hat is awesome. Really hope he continues his recruiting success and develops the RBs for the fall.

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

June 10th, 2015 at 12:21 AM ^

Thank you for this.   This is absolutely awesome. 

This is what makes this place the best.    

Black Socks

June 10th, 2015 at 12:34 AM ^

The people are super nice in Dallas but I do not miss living there one bit.  The summers are hot in the flat, concrete jungle.

michman54

June 10th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^

I wish I had paid more attention to who he was, the story of him being in a coma his senior year was interesting. I wondered if it was an auto accident, or health issues witch would explain the under the radar status. He certainly looked the part, great footwork, fast, great build. If he had one fault it may have be his height, maybe he was 6"3 ,6"4...

Prince Lover

June 10th, 2015 at 3:50 AM ^

General question for anybody who knows, was Durkin not there? Has he been to any of the other camps? Or is this like a state of the Union thing where they left a high ranking someone behind? For like, recruiting visits or something.

Magnus

June 10th, 2015 at 5:55 AM ^

I'm not sure who exactly has been at which camp(s), but they have been leaving at least one or two coaches behind during the whole trip. Durkin was at the Florida camps, which makes sense because he just spent a couple years coaching in Florida and probably has some relationships there. John Baxter has also spent most/all the time back in Ann Arbor. Since he coached in California at Fresno State and USC, I imagine he might join the crew for their two camps out there, but we'll see.

Also, Michigan has some visitors trickling in this week and a ton of them coming in this weekend. The SMSB Camp is taking place on the 11th and 12th, and there are players going to Michigan before or after the camp. So again, it makes sense to have some coaches on campus to help host those kids. Here's a list of the guys I've been able to keep track of:

http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2015/06/visitors-june-12-14-2015-and…

CoachW

June 10th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^

Durkin was not there and I didn't even realize it until you mentioned it.  Baxter was there though.  He spent much of the day working with the TEs and was coaching up the offense in the freshman and sophomore group.  I'm pretty sure Durkin was the only one missing.

LSAClassOf2000

June 10th, 2015 at 6:53 AM ^

Very nice writeup and some very nice photos to go with it.

It just doesn't get old to see Harbaugh and the staff out there in the middle of this rather than taking positions as quiet observers. To see Harbaugh doing his evaluation and doing this networking with recruits in the middle of drills in which he sometimes will participate in some fashion can only mean good things down the road, I would hope. 

GoBLUinTX

June 10th, 2015 at 7:40 AM ^

Looks like G Man has lost some more weight.

It wasn't just hot yesterday it was also quite humid.  Luckily it was a bit overcast for much of the day which helped a bit.

Spunky

June 10th, 2015 at 9:18 AM ^

Yesterday, Harbaugh also visited Texas Rangers pitcher Derek Holland, who is an Ohio native but M fan (Remember, Derek stopped by the UM locker room a couple years ago and said, "Oh, I hate Ohio State. Even living in Ohio sucks.")

 

michman54

June 10th, 2015 at 9:16 AM ^

I did see one USC coach working with the lineman. I talked to a high school coach who said USC was there to see a DE, and DB. But, as OP said we really had no idea who these kids were because no roster.

jerseyblue

June 10th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^

I know coaches from other schools are coming to some of these camps. If one of them commits a recruiting violation does UM get penalized because it's their camp or does that guy's school or what?

Magnus

June 10th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^

AFAIK, it would be the offending coach's school to get dinged. I don't see any reason why it would be Michigan. Coaches are responsible for their actions, regardless of where they are.

BigHouseBoyz

June 10th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^

Great pics as I don't have a very good camera, and I don't know how to use my son's!  There was a lot of energy from the coaches and campers, and I saw a lot of one on one coaching with kids of all ages and abilities.  Drills were fast passed, well organized, and fun to watch.  Wheatley was barking a few times at campers to finish the drill, even made two guys redo the drill!  Great stuff!!