Valley home to annual prep football camp

PALMER -- Alaska prep football squads will not officially take the field until early August, but a number of local gridiron stars got a little taste of what is to come.

More than 200 high school football players from around the state participated in the All-Alaska Football Camp this week.

The camp, which has been helping local athletes become better football players for more than a decade, took place at Colony High School this week. Colony has been host to the camp for the last three years, while Palmer High was home to the camp for the first nine years.

The four-day camp featured coaches from a number of college football programs including NAIA powers such as Valley City State and North Dakota, who won the 2001 Division II national title.

Originally the camp focused on individual skills, but in the past three years the directors of the event have shifted to a team-oriented focus.

"It gives teams an opportunity to implement their system early," Valley City State head coach Dennis McCulloch said. "It is sort of like a spring practice.

"The (head) coaches can work with their players and the college coaches are here to also help out."

Several schools brought nearly complete teams to the camp. Colony, Wasilla, Chugiak, Dimond, West, Service, Eielson, North Pole and Anchorage Christian each had enough in uniform to scrimmage.

A handful of schools had enough athletes to field varsity and junior varsity squads.

"It's neat," Dimond head coach and Palmer High graduate Duncan Schackleford said. "It's a great opportunity to take a group out. We have a bunch of guys and could run varsity, J.V. and C teams."

Though it was a team-oriented camp, athletes had the opportunity to receive individual instruction from the collegiate coaches, especially early in the week. The group of college coaches included years of collective expertise on both sides of the ball. Each athlete had the opportunity to receive instruction on methods and technique for their respective position.

"It's great, what I learned will help me a great deal," Colony junior Rhett Magner said.

Magner, who will be competing for Colony's starting quarterback position in the fall, noted that the coaches at the camp helped him with such things as proper throwing technique.

The camp also gave local athletes the opportunity to interact with college coaches and the coaches a chance to see the available Alaska talent.

The All-Alaska Football Camp is credited by many for giving football players from the 49th state the opportunity to continue their careers after high school. Since the camps inaugural year in 1991, countless Alaska prep football players have gone on to play collegiate football.

The coaches who come back to the camp annually and the programs that are represented annually such as McCulloch and Valley City State, have formed a pipeline between their respective programs and Alaska.

McColloch will have 18 Alaskans on his 2003 roster, including a pair of Valley players. Wasilla's Cole Lund will be a sophomore with the Vikings and Palmer's Ali Larijani will be a freshman.

"Ninety percent of the kids I have recruited from Alaska, I have seen at the camp," McCulloch said.

"You learn what it takes," Magner said. "You learn what you have to work on and what you need to do (to play college football)."

The four-day camp concluded with an awards ceremony on Wednesday.

A handful of local athletes earned individual honors.

Wasilla senior Jed Wade was named the camp's top varsity inside linebacker of the camp.

Colony's Dominic Bellotte was the runner-up for top varsity defensive lineman and Magner was the runner-up for the top varsity defensive back.