By Alicia Couch Payne
On a field overlooking the old Buford High School, what looked like a flurry of activity was taking place. In the muggy July heat, coaches and high school football players were giving instruction to groups of boys.
Parents could sign up their children if they were in the 1st through the 8th grades for the Buford Youth Football Camp. The camp took place July 8-11 at the old Buford High School practice field. During the week-long camp, roughly 100 campers were taught skills to help give them an advantage on the football field.
Coaches, high school players, and even former Buford football standouts offered advice and imparted life lessons that every young person should hear. Former Wolves running back Derrian Brown, Michigan running back Christian Turner, former Tennessee linebacker Austin Smith, and Indiana linebacker T.D. Roof returned to their former alma mater to mentor the next generation of Buford football players.
The campers could be seen during the daily three-hour sessions practicing drill after drill to get the new skills they learned down pat. Students were split into groups according to their ages. The groups rotated between the different coaching stations, each station focusing on a different skill set, with coaches and high school students mentoring the campers. Campers learned the fundamentals of receiving, passing, blocking, and tackling. Words of advice and encouragement could be overheard as coaches and high school players put each camper through their drills.
No matter the skill set of the campers, they each learned something, made friends, and had fun in the process. Future Wolves were being made under the blazing July sun.
