2025 NFF SHOWCASE DATES

 

Date	Location
Feb. 1	Houston
Feb. 14-15	South Florida (Miami Gardens)
Feb. 15	Arizona (Surprise)
Feb. 22	Southern California (Irvine)

 
HIGHLIGHTS
 

• Events are free to both participants and college recruiters.
• NFF Showcases are expected to connect more than 1,200 high school seniors with coaches from more than 100 colleges and universities from the NCAA Division II, III and NAIA levels, landing more than 250 scholarships for participants in 2025.
• Participants have annually received millions in scholarships since the program's inception in 2009.
• Events have collectively reached 15,450 players since the first event in 2009 with one in four landing on college rosters or approximately 3,810 student athletes enrolled in college.

 

The NFF High School Showcases launched in 2009. The events, 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 15,450 student-athletes participating since the program’s inception and an estimated one-in-four receiving some kind of collegiate financial aid.

Participants, who must all 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 to evaluate a large number of academically qualified student-athletes in a short period while minimizing their travel costs.

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. After the drills, the coaches have an opportunity to interview players who caught their attention to see if their school might be a match. The events allow the college recruiters a unique opportunity to evaluate a large number of qualified student-athletes in a short period while minimizing their travel costs.
 
Launched by a group of Houston high school coaches in 2009, the concept expanded to Southern California in 2013. Florida joined in 2017 and Arizona in 2023. Other sites in the past have included Atlanta, Charlotte (NC) and Detroit. Collectively, the organizers anticipate the four events in 2024 will reach more than 1,200 seniors with an estimated one-in-four receiving some kind of financial aid to go to college.
 
Feb. 1: The 17th Annual Houston Texans Senior Showcase Fueled by Gatorade  will take place Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Texans Methodist Training Center next to NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. 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 Aldine High School; and Chris Vaughan, a board member of the NFF Touchdown Club of Houston Chapter. The Houston event receives support from the Houston Texans and the McNair family as well as the Kinder's Texas Bowl and Executive Director David Fletcher, who also serves on the board of the NFF Touchdown Club of Houston. Notable former players who have volunteered include Dallas Griffin (Texas and the 2007 NFF Campbell Trophy winner), Robert Hubble (Rice), N.D. Kalu (Rice), Cecil Short III (Mount Union [OH]), and well-known Texas high school coaches Dick Olin and the late Sonny Detmer.
 
Feb. 14-15: The 9th Annual Orange Bowl Florida High School Football Showcase, Presented by Baptist Health, will occur Feb. 14-15, at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 2025 South Florida event will take place behind the leadership of Orange Bowl Committee, President & Chairman Henri W. Crockett, CEO Eric Poms and Showcase subcommittee chair David Armstrong. More than $9 million has been awarded to more than 400 participants over the event's nine-year history. Other volunteers who have supported the event include and Glenn Blackwood (Texas), Channing Crowder (Florida), Troy Drayton (Penn State), Jim Gainey (Florida), Larry Little (Bethune-Cookman), Nat Moore (Florida), John Offerdahl (Western Michigan), Brady Quinn (Notre Dame), Twan Russell (Miami), Dwight Stephenson (Alabama), Patrick Surtain (Southern Mississippi).
 
Feb. 15: The Third Annual Arizona Senior Showcase will be held Saturday, Feb. 15 at Spirit Field at Ottawa University in Surprise, Arizona. The NFF Southern Arizona Chapter (NFFSAC) has taken the lead in organizing the event with the support of the athletics administrators at Ottawa and former college coaches Tim Kish, Michael Hankwitz, Mick McCall, and Alex Zendejas Jr. Former players Ricky Elmore (Arizona), Alonzo Highsmith, Jr. (Arkansas), John Kaiser (Arizona), Chuck Levy (Arizona), who all played in the NFL, are among the people who have helped as part of the coaching staff in the past. Kish became president of the NFFSAC chapter in 2022, helping to build key support for the event. Organizers anticipate more than 20 colleges will have representatives on site and more than 150 participants will take advantage of the opportunity.
 
Feb. 22: The 12^th Annual Terry Donahue Memorial California Showcase will take place Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. The event was launched in 2013 by College Football Hall of Fame Coach Terry Donahue, who passed away in 2021. Coach Donahue had tapped many former college coaches and players to help run the drills, and they have kept his legacy alive by continuing to stage the event. More than $43 million in scholarships have been awarded to 1,200 participants since the event's inception. This year, representatives from more than 60 colleges are expected to attend with more than 400 athletes on site. Notables who have volunteered in the past include Steve Beuerlein (Notre Dame), Jim Everett (Purdue), Vince Ferragamo (Nebraska and an NFF National Scholar-Athlete), Nick Foles (Arizona), Jay Schroeder (UCLA), John Sciarra (UCLA, College Football Hall of Fame inductee and NFF National Scholar-Athlete), Cade McNown (UCLA and College Football Hall of Fame inductee), Rick Neuheisel (UCLA), Lester Towns (Washington) and James Washington (UCLA).