HOMECOMING: Former Colony standout returns to annual football camp to share his own experiences

PALMER — As a high school player, Anthony Bricker participated in the All-Alaska Football Camp prior to each of his four years at Colony High. This weekend, the 2011 graduate of CHS is back home for the fourth straight summer, sharing his own experiences as a high school and college player as a coach and counselor during the 26th annual camp.

Bricker’s football career has included both success and adversity. He was a two-time all-conference wide receiver and three-year letter winner at Presentation College in South Dakota, was invited to participate in the NAIA All-Star Game as a senior, participated in a regional pro day prior to the 2016 NFL Draft, worked out for three Canadian Football League team and trained with a handful of current and future NFL players. But Bricker also had to overcome academic struggles early in his college career.

“He is a role model and an example,” camp director Randy Klingenmeyer said. “He went to the camp all four years of high school, got recruited out of camp, and went to college. It wasn’t easy but battled all the way, and had two terrific years at wide receiver.”

Friday evening, Bricker spoke to players at the camp about life as a college student-athlete. Candid about his own struggles in the classroom early in his career, Friday afternoon, Bricker said the importance of academics is something he certainly stresses to the prep players.

“That’s something I don’t want to happen to anybody else,” Bricker said. “Getting on academic probation, academic warning, anything like that, schools will pull your financial aid. You can’t play ball.”

Bricker said he’s watched many good players see their careers come to a premature end because of academic issues.

“I’ve seen many kids, even friends, really successful out of high school, go to a good college, have a good season, get done with the season, and it’s just school, and they kind of taper off,” Bricker said.

Fortunately for Bricker, he got a second opportunity and was able to take advantage of it. Bricker, and all around athlete who played multiple positions with the Knights, committed to Division III Lewis & Clark as a senior in high school.

“It was a rocky start, my first couple of years of college,” Bricker said. “I played in every game, traveled every game, but academics is kind of where I fell off. Being away from family, I kind of let go a little bit. It’s important for kids to retain their discipline and still go to class, which I didn’t do.

“My grades fell. Because of that I had to transfer.”

Bricker connected with the Lewis & Clark coaching staff during the All-Alaska camp. But the former Knights standout was also recruited by a number of college coaches at the camp. Among the coaches was Presentation head coach Andy Carr.

“This camp is also how I had the connection with Coach Carr. When I wanted to transfer I was able to make that happen,” Bricker said.

Bricker made the move to the Aberdeen, South Dakota, school and its NAIA football program, and he transformed his struggles to success.

“When I got to Presentation, Coach Carr worked with me,” Bricker said. “I got my grades up, and finished with a 3.51 GPA.”

As a senior, Bricker was named to the NAIA All-Scholar team.

Bricker also enjoyed success on the field. As a senior in 2015, Bricker caught 38 passes for 623 yards and seven touchdowns. He averaged 17 yards a reception. Bricker recorded 27 catches for 503 yards and six touchdowns as a junior.

Following his senior season, he participated in a regional pro day attended by NFL coaches. He was also invited to work out for three Canadian football teams, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Eskimos and Ottawa Red Blacks.

Bricker said he remains to keep the option of continuing his playing career alive, but is also focused on other goals.

“If something comes up now, it’s going to be on a minutes’ notice and I’m going to go,” Bricker said.

He moved from South Dakota to Colorado, where he’s been training at the Landow Performance Center for elite athletes. There, he’s been surrounded by current and future NFL players. He said former Stanford standout Christian McCaffery, a first-round pick of Carolina in the 2017 NFL draft is among the elite athletes who train at Landow. Denver Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe is a regular there. Bricker said two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Peyton Manning has also trained there on occasion.

Bricker said he also had the chance to workout with quarterback Austin Davis, who was recently signed by Seattle.

Bricker earned his bachelors degree at Presentation and is now a certified athletic trainer. He’s pursing his Master’s degree and looking into opportunities in strength and conditioning.

Klingenmeyer, founder and director of the camp for the last 26 years, said Bricker is one of a handful of Alaska products at the camp to share their experiences with the high school players. The group also includes former Soldotna standout Drew Gibbs and former West star quarterback Connor Feckley.

The list of coaches attending the camp includes Jared Williamson, a former quarterback at Chugiak, who is now the head coach and an associate athletics director at Robert Morris University.

Klingenmeyer said the 2017 camp includes about 350 players from across the state.

“We’ve got kids as far away as Barrow, Juneau and Kodiak. That’s pretty exciting,” Klingenmeyer said. “The whole state is included, and that’s what this camp is about.”

The camp also includes more than 30 coaches from across the country. Klingenmeyer said camp officials have been able to build relationships with coaches from various levels of college football around the country. He said a thorough job is done to make sure the right coaches are coming to Alaska for the camp.

“We bring in guys for specific situations,” Klingenmeyer said.

That’s what makes the camp unique he said, using the Colony Knights as an example.

“Colony runs the flexbone offense so we have Billy Hickman here who is the offensive coordinator at Tabor College in Kansas. They run the flexbone,” Klingenmeyer said. “He’s here working with Colony High School. We do that for each high school for their offense and defense.”

Klingenmeyer said the goal is not help the Alaska players and coaches.

“Those coaches can come in and work with these kids and their coach. It gets his kids ready for the fall, and they can be great mentors and teachers for the high school coaches,” Klingenmeyer said.

The 26th camp was hosted at Colony High. Teams involved in the three-day camp practiced each afternoon on the turf at Colony, Palmer and Wasilla.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.