• Events in Houston and South Florida reached 800 high school seniors by following local COVID health protocols while organizers in Charlotte, Detroit and Southern California will return in 2022 after postponing 2021 events because of pandemic travel restrictions.

 

• Events have collectively reached 11,950 players since the first event in 2009 with one-in-four landing on college rosters or approximately 2,975 student-athletes enrolled in college.

 

• Five events normally garner an estimated $6 million in annual scholarships for participants to use during their freshman year in college.

 

• Five events annually attract more than 1,800 high school seniors and 145 colleges and universities from the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA levels, landing more than 700 scholarships for participants.

 

• Events are free to both participants and college recruiters.

 

• NFL player, NFL coach and NAIA All-American among the many who credit their Showcase experiences as playing a critical role in their paths to college.

 
 
IRVING, Texas (May 19, 2021) – The National Football Foundation (NFF) High School Showcases, launched in 2009, called an audible in 2021 with two of the five sites staging events and the other three preparing for a return in 2022. Events in Houston and South Florida reached a combined 800 high school seniors by following local COVID health protocols while organizers in Charlotte, Detroit and Southern California had to postpone their events until 2022 because of pandemic travel restrictions.
 
"The leaders in these five cities all deserve huge praise for their efforts to expand opportunities for kids to earn their college degrees with football opening the door," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "The Showcases provide a great path to college that previously did not exist. It's a huge difference maker, and we look forward to having the full slate of events again in 2022."
 
The NFF High School Showcases, which are absolutely free to both participants and college recruiters, provide academically eligible high school seniors an opportunity to go through a series of drills in front of college coaches from the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and the NAIA levels.
 
The highly successful events have firmly taken root in their communities as a path for high school seniors to earn academic and participation scholarships to play college football with 11,950 student-athletes participating since the program's inception.
 
Participants, who all have to meet minimum academic standards, compete in a series of athletic drills designed to let divisional college coaches assess each player's potential, including a 40-yard dash and several agility and strength tests. The events allow the college recruiters an opportunity to evaluate a large number of qualified student-athletes in a short period while minimizing their travel costs.
 
The 13th Annual Greater Houston Senior Football Showcase took place Feb. 6 at the Houston Methodist Training Center with 578 seniors showing off their skills for recruiters from 53 colleges. All participants had to take a rapid-COVID test on site before entering, and attendance was limited to players, college coaches and individuals running the drills.
 
Coach Phil Camp, who joined forces with the NFF Touchdown Club of Houston Chapter and the coaches from the Houston Independent School District to stage the first Showcase 13 years ago, said 2021 was the best year ever because they were able to split the event into sessions, doubling the number of seniors who could attend.
 
"By dividing into two sessions, we did not break the COVID protocols and our insurance policy, which previously had limited us to 500 seniors at a time," said Camp. "I really believe there are going to be a lot of kids who are going to be on college campuses this fall because of our event this year."
 
The Fifth Annual Orange Bowl Florida High School Football Showcase presented by Tire Kingdom, which took place Feb. 13 at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida, also followed local COVID protocols. More than 250 high school seniors participated with recruiters on 30 colleges on site to make additions to their fall rosters. The event has garnered more than $1 million in financial aid every year.
 
"The Orange Bowl Florida High School Football Showcase presented by Tire Kingdom is a tremendous opportunity for college programs across the country to witness and meet directly with the incredibly talented and academically-qualified football players all over South Florida that may have been overlooked during the recruiting process," said Orange Bowl Committee President & Chair Jack Seiler. "Being able to hold the event this past February was especially important because many high school football players have not had the same amount of exposure as they normally would have. In organizing and hosting our Showcase, the Orange Bowl Committee is extremely excited for these scholar-athletes and their families as we provide this exciting opportunity to receive financial aid to attend college."
 
Organizers in Southern California, Detroit and Charlotte laid plans for 2021, but local COVID regulations prohibited them from staging their events. They all plan to return in 2022, eclipsing their collective high-water mark in 2020, which included recruiters from 145 colleges and 30 states, coupling them with more than 1,800 aspiring college players.
 
Launched by a group of Houston coaches in 2009, the concept expanded to Southern California in 2013 with Florida and North Carolina added in 2017 and Detroit in 2020. Collectively, the events reached 1,800 seniors in 2020 with an estimated one-in-four receiving some kind of financial aid to go to college.
 
"We have had people come together across the country to create opportunities for young men to continue their educations," said Camp. "The Houston Showcase alone on average produces $2.3 million a year in scholarships and grants in aid, which has enabled young men to go to college, get their educations, graduate, and come back and make huge contributions to their communities."
 
Inspired by the success of the Houston event, College Football Hall of Fame Coach Terry Donahue (UCLA) assembled an impressive array of former coaches and players in 2013, introducing the first California Showcase.
 
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these high school seniors to continue their educations and it is free," said Donahue. "At least one in four of the kids who attend our showcase will get a scholarship to a great school and continue to play the great game of football. There are so many combines and showcases, but this one really has legs to it because it's totally free for the players and the colleges."
 
Hearing about the success of the Showcases in Houston and Southern California, the Orange Bowl Committee in South Florida and Charles Arbuckle in North Carolina approached the NFF in 2017 about launching events to benefit the high school players in their regions.
 
"I saw Terry Donahue several years ago, and they have been able to get millions in grant and aid scholarships for these young men over the years," said Arbuckle, who played for Donahue at UCLA and then in the NFL. "Every year when I was playing for the Colts, I would have kids who were not getting recruited ask 'how can you help me,' and this is the perfect way to do it on a mass level."
 
The Orange Bowl, which ranks among the top local sports organizations in the country with an impressive reputation for supporting a wide-range of community events, has strong ties to the NFF. Bob Epling, who serves on the NFF Board, is a past president of the Orange Bowl Committee, and current NFF President Steve Hatchell served as the Orange Bowl executive director from 1987 to 1993.
 
"South Florida is home to an incredible array of talented student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom, who are looking to use their athletic ability to secure a college education, beyond those that receive Division I scholarships," said Orange Bowl Committee President & Chair Jack Seiler. "The Orange Bowl is proud to be able to assist in this endeavor."
 
Building on the success of the four established events, Arbuckle invited Mel and Mike Farr, brothers and both his teammates at UCLA, to attend the 2018 Charlotte event to map out a plan to stage an event in Detroit to honor their father, who passed away in 2015 and played for the Lions. They hosted an inaugural event in Detroit in 2020.
 
"We want to try to help as many kids as possible and that is what this is all about," said Farr. "It's about trying to give kids opportunities and give them hope because that is what these kids need. You can't possibly go out there and find every kid. But if we're able to help one additional kid, then we will be successful."
   
 
The Academy Sports + Outdoors Houston Senior Football Showcase held its 13th annual event Feb. 6, 2021 at The Methodist Training Center next door to NRG Stadium in Houston. The originator of the Showcase concept, the event in Houston was founded by Phil Camp, the former head football coach at Milby High School in Houston; Coby Rhoden, an academic coordinator at Houston Heights High School; and Chris Vaughan, a member of the NFF Touchdown Club of Houston Chapter. The Houston event receives additional support from the Houston Texans and minority owner Javier Loya and the Texas Bowl and Executive Director David Fletcher.
 
The Fifth annual Orange Bowl Florida High School Football Showcase presented by Tire Kingdom took place Feb. 13 at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 2021 South Florida event was led by the Orange Bowl Committee, President & Chair Jack Seiler, CEO Eric Poms and Orange Bowl Committee Member and Event Committee Chair Matt Morrall.
 
The California Showcase staged their eighth annual event in 2020 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. The event was launched by College Football Hall of Fame Coach Terry Donahue (UCLA, 1976 – 1995), who has tapped many former college coaches and players to help run the drills. The event receives significant support from the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl and several corporate sponsors, including Bank of America, Toyota Financial Services, Union Bank, Morgan Stanley and Deloitte. The 2021 event was canceled because of COVID but will return for its ninth edition in 2022.
 
The Carolinas Senior Football Showcase held its 4^th annual event in 2020 at the Charlotte Latin School in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event was spearheaded by Charles Arbuckle, who played for Donahue at UCLA. To stage the event in North Carolina, Arbuckle has collaborated with the Blazing 7 on 7 Foundation, a local non-profit organization that operates offseason passing leagues and run by Weddington High School DL coach Mike Newman and Marcus Kimbrough. The 2021 event was canceled in 2021 because of COVID but will return for its 5th edition in 2022.
 
The Motor City Showcase hosted its inaugural event in 2020 at the Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan. The event was staged by the Mel Farr "Superstar" Foundation, which is run by Mel Farr Jr., Mike Farr, and Monet Farr Bartell as a tribute to their late father Mel Farr Sr., who played at UCLA in the 1960s followed by a career in the NFL with the Detroit Lions. The 2021 event was canceled because of COVID but will return for its second edition in 2022.
 
The countless NFF Showcases success stories include:
 

• Jarell Carter who in 2017 became the first-known NFF High School Showcase participant to ever make an NFL roster with the Arizona Cardinals after landing a scholarship at the 2013 Houston event to Trinity International University (IL);
• Caleb Thomas who set multiple NAIA records as a wide receiver after receiving a scholarship at the 2017 Orange Bowl Showcase to Graceland University (IA);
• Cedric Whitaker who garnered a scholarship at the 2011 Houston event to Texas Lutheran University and is now a coaching assistant with the Carolina Panthers; and
• Mitchell Nickovich who was a two-time SCIAC All-Academic Team member from the University of Redlands (CA) after being recruited during the 2016 California Showcase.