March 16, 2023 at 12:01 p.m.
Hundreds turn out for 3rd annual football camps
Hundreds turn out for 3rd annual football camps
The Hodag Gridiron Club held its third-annual Hawgs and Dawgs camp for offensive and defensive linemen and Surface to Air perimeter camp for skill position players on Saturday and followed that with the second annual Northwoods Combine on Sunday.
The camps have been held every year since the Hodag Dome opened in 2021. The full-sized football field inside the Dome provides space for the campers to roam. RHS offensive line coach Paul Ellenbecker, who helped to organize the camps, estimated roughly 400 high school and youth football players from the Northwoods and surrounding areas attended the event.
"We had another really good turnout this year, super excited about having kids from all around the state and all the different kids and coaches that came to help us with the camp. It's definitely exciting for year three and growing every single year. It's quite the event up here," he said.
Camp counselors and clinicians came from all over. A number of high school and lower-level collegiate coaches were in attendance as well as a number of collegiate players. This year's camp featured five players from Wisconsin and two from Northern Illinois.
"I just kind of remember being in their position," said Barrett Nelson, a redshirt freshman for the Badgers from Stoughton, and younger brother of all-Big Ten offensive lineman Jack Nelson. "There's a little bit of nostalgia coming to these camps. I remember getting nervous before doing this in like middle school and high school, so it's nice to be able to show up and show out for these guys and kind of put on a little bit of a clinic for them and build some confidence for them. I'm having fun."
The Nelson brothers, junior Tanor Bortolini, and sophomore Sean Timmis were the four Badger offensive linemen in attendance. They were joined by junior, and Stratford native, Ben Barten on the defensive line.
"It doesn't hurt to have some big Badgers here, that's for sure," Ellenbecker said. "They like coming up and the guys we got this year are doing a great job playing with the kids. In between sessions, they were over there playing with the first graders. It was something to watch."
"They like coming up here. They're like celebrities up here. Even our Northern Illinois guys, they're fabulous football players. They're really good clinicians, great guys and things are going really well," Ellenbecker added.
Barrett Nelson said working with the kids for the youth camp was the favorite part of his day.
"I kinda remember being in their spot and to really knowing how to play football and just having fun with my buddies," he said. "Me and Timmy (Timmis) when we're running out group over here, we kind of changed it up for the little guys, making it more fun for them compared to the older guys, where we're actually working more technique with the blocking."
The camp also featured several former Hodag football players, including three from the 2020 class who were seniors during Aaron Kraemer's first year as head coach - Drake Martin, Peyton Erikson and Connor Lund.
"It feels good to be back and see some familiar faces. Football in the winter, you can't beat that. It's pretty special to have a dome like this," said Martin, who is getting ready to enter his junior season at UW-Whitewater.
Added Erikson, who is now at UW-Eau Claire, "I haven't been in the Dome a whole lot, so coming here and seeing all these kids from all over the state, it's pretty cool."
The lineman camp took place Saturday morning and early Saturday afternoon. The perimeter camp took place Saturday afternoon with the youth camp held in between the sessions. Sunday featured a separate performance combine for skill position players and kickers.
"We tried to make it a football weekend and tried to make Rhinelander a happening spot," Ellenbecker said. "Looking around at all the people that are here, it's a pretty big event for March. I'm not surprised, because I know we've got a ton of interest. People love football and we've got the facilities to do this."
Those facilities caught Nelson off guard. Though he mentioned he and some of his teammates have been to the Northwoods before, Saturday marked his first trip to the Hodag Dome.
"It's pretty cool," he said. "I was kind of expecting, coming up here from Madison, it's like, 'Ah, we'll make due with what we've got. We'll put on a show.' But this is a really nice facility. It kind of blew my mind when we first stepped in here."
Ellenbecker said the camp has grown bit by bit every year and he's already thinking of ways to make next year's camp better.
"It's always what can we do better, what can we get more of, how do we do this better," he said. "At the end we always send surveys to coaches asking them what they want and how we can keep it going like it is. There's a lot of cool things we're working on. We'll see what happens."
This year's camp was sponsored by the Hodag Gridiron Club, the Army National Guard, the Rhinelander Lions Club and Rhinelander GM/Toyota.
Soon a number of clinicians for the camps will be getting back to the college teams and preparing for the 2023 season. For Nelson and the Badgers, they are a couple of weeks away from spring practice as the Luke Fickell era begins in Madison.
"We're itching to get going," he said. "Obviously, it's a whole new coaching staff, new O-line coach. We're all excited to get going here. We just got on spring break (Friday) and I'm just waiting for it to get over so we can hop back into ball. We're all really excited."
Martin, coming in off first-team honors as a special teamer in the WIAC last fall, is eager for a more expansive role in the Warhawks' offense this year. In addition to his special teams duties, he had 70 combined rushing and receiving yards last year and scored two touchdowns.
"Next year they're looking to have me all over the place, running the ball, tight end, fullback and receiver," he said. "They're planning on using me in a lot of ways, which is really cool. I'm up for the challenge and I'm ready to go for the fall."
Erikson, meanwhile, said he is eager to get back to football after a couple of years away, as well as the opportunity to compete against his childhood friend, Martin, when the Bluegolds head to Whitewater.
"I missed it a little too much and wasn't ready to be completely done," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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