07-03-2008, 07:06 AM
|
 |
Head Coach
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 10,798
Points: 499,473.71
Bank: 0.00
Total Points: 499,473.71
|
|
Quote:
College camps help recruits compare schools
By Amy Donaldson
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, July 3, 2008
John Martinez jabs at instructor Marshall Parnell's hand during a martial arts class, part of offseason training for football team. (Jason Olson, Deseret News)
Cottonwood lineman John Martinez spends time with USC head coach Pete Carroll during a football camp in Los Angeles. (Photo provided by Steve Martinez)
From riding around in a golf cart with Rick Neuheisel to discussing his future with Jim Tressel, sometimes Cottonwood High offensive lineman John Martinez can't believe this is his life.
Just as the 16-year-old was growing weary of the coaches and reporters calling him, he packed his bags and hit the road to attend football camps at Ohio State, then UCLA, and finished up with USC.
"It's all pretty amazing," he said.
|
Quote:
Steve Martinez said the trips gave them a lot of information, but they also made the upcoming decision even more difficult.
"After 10 days," he said, "the only thing we know for sure is that they all have their advantages and disadvantages."
John agreed that if anything, a gut-wrenching decision has become even tougher.
"Those three schools already had me sold, but they blew me away," he said of the camps. "If Ohio State does offer me, it's going to be an even harder decision."
Sitting down with storied coaches like Tressel and Carroll can be intimidating for a teenage boy.
John said he was nervous meeting with the head coaches after each of the three camps he attended but quickly got over that as he found all of them easy to talk to.
"Jim Tressel is one of the best head coaches I've ever met," said John Martinez. "He seems like a guy who hates to lose, and he has the will to win. He also takes good care of his guys. I heard him asking one of them about how he was doing in a class. I think I could take him for four years."
He said UCLA was "crazy. I thought it was really cool," he said. "At first it was weird to be that close to Hollywood, but the campus was great. I liked coach (Norm) Chow and coach Neuheisel a lot. They told me don't choose a school just because of football; choose a school because you want to be there. If you're just there for football, you're going to hate it. I liked that. Also, their weight training coach reminded me of (Cottonwood) coach Cecil (Thomas)."
It was Martinez's second time attending a USC camp, and he said he was even more impressed this time than he was last year.
"There is more energy and intensity about football," he said. "The coaches were always pumped up and ... the game (modified version of football) we played in the stadium was so intense it was like a real game. It was really cool and coach Carroll is great."
|
Deseret News | College camps help recruits compare schools
|
Linear Mode
