Hawgs & Dawgs camp draws another strong turnout

Football players from around the Northwoods and the state descended on the Hodag Dome last Saturday for the Hodag Gridiron Club’s fifth annual Hawgs & Dawgs football camp.

In excess of 300 players showed up to take part in either the morning’s session for offensive and defensive linemen, the afternoon session for skill position players or the youth camp that took place between the sessions. 

The biggest draw, as it has been in years past, was the number of current and former collegiate athletes who come to the camp to work as clinicians and counselors. That once again included a number of linemen for the Wisconsin Badgers. 

“We had real good numbers again,” said event organizer and Hodag football assistant coach Paul Ellenbecker. “It started a little bit slow, but by the time we got started, we were over close to 100 kids and every camp, like we were. Numbers are good again, so we’re really happy with it. 

“It was really cool. The clinicians did a great job again and it’s like we’re getting a routine down now. and it’s like we’ve got kids coming back, some kids did this five years already.”

One clinician was back from the inaugural camp held in 2021 — former Wisconsin Badgers lineman Tyler Beach. School District of Rhinelander superintendent Eric Burke had ties with Beach during their time as coach and student at Port Washington High School, and Beach brought some of his Badgers teammates at the time — including current Pittsburg Steelers defensive lineman Keeanu Benton — to the inaugural camp.

After his time at Wisconsin, Beach spent the last two seasons in camp for the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh, but was unable to latch on to their 53-man rosters. He’s since hung up the cleats and says he’s looking to get into coaching.

“That transition is it’s different, you know, you learn a lot,” he said. “The first thing I did was I went and got a coaching job ... at a local gym, did that for some time and it really grew my passion a lot, especially with all the experience I’ve had here and other camps that I’ve done, so I think coaching in the future is definitely something that (I want to do).”

Beach said he was amazed by the growth of the camp over the past five years. 

“For me to finally come back after all these years and seeing how much it’s grown in the community and especially there’s kids from Milwaukee ... coming up here, that’s just tremendous to see, especially something that I felt like I helped, you know, start and seeing that grow exponentially since then has been incredible,” he said.

Saturday also served as a full-circle moment for incoming Badger freshman Michael Roeske. The 6-foot-8, 295-pound standout from Wautoma High School had previously been a camper at Hawgs & Dawgs — where he met some of his future Badger teammates. Saturday he served as one of the clinicians as he gets ready for his first spring camp with the program.

“I think it’s more like just giving back to the kids,” he said. “Obviously, the past couple of years, I’ve been up here, you know, and just learning as much as I can from, the Badger guys. And obviously now with me early enrolling, you know, I’ve got that experience to come and, you know, give to the younger generation. I think that’s the biggest thing is just giving back to the kids that are like, were in my shoes.”

Other clinicians at the camp included graduate student defensive lineman Ben Barten, freshman offensive lineman Nolan Davenport, freshman offensive lineman Hardy Watts, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Will McDonald and redshirt junior safety Matthew Jung.

There were plenty of former Hodag alumni and coaches who helped at the camp as well, most notably collegiate players Joe Fugle (Olivet Nazarine), Connor Lund (UW-Oshkosh), Peyton Erikson (UW-Eau Claire) and Drake Martin (UW-Whitewater). 

Martin, who finished No. 2 on the Rhinelander all-time rushing list, wrapped up his career at Whitewater this past fall earning All-WIAC honors for the third time in his career. After briefly considering pursing the game at the professional level, Martin decided to hang up his cleats and, like Beach, is now looking into coaching in some capacity. 

“This is a great experience, you know, coaching youth and perimeter (camp) afterwards,” he said. “It’s definitely a good experience coaching these guys, because, you know, if you can coach young kids, you know, you can coach older kids as well.”

Proceeds from the camp benefit the Gridiron Club and, in turn, the Hodag football program. The team was able to purchase hedgehog tackling dummies through funds raised from previous camps and, on Saturday, debuted it newest toy — a pair of flip sleds designed to be used on artificial turf and help linemen with their explosiveness when engaging or attempting to shed blocks. 

“The camp’s been very beneficial to our own program,” Ellenbecker said. “The flip sleds were $7,000 and we have a hedgehog tackling (dummies). A lot of the Wisconsin Badgers, they thought it was crazy, the equipment we have and the stuff we had. So they were pretty excited about seeing this stuff. The campers really enjoyed it today and they were fun getting after it with them.”

Several Hodag football players were at the camp, which took place right in the heart of the offseason, nearly five months away from the start of fall practice.

“We’re just hoping to get them more exposure to whatever they love, whether that’s a perimeter position on the offense or defense or whether it’s playing line or, for our youth kids, it’s about another day for them to learn and grow,” Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer said. “That’s really it. It’s getting out here, it’s competing with one another. For the linemen, it’s kind of seeing where you’re at, because we do have a large group.”

Kraemer noted there were players from several larger metropolitan areas — including Wausau, Eau Claire and suburban Milwaukee —who made the trip north. Rhinelander was far from the only GNC team represented. Antigo, Lakeland and Merrill were among schools who brought contingents of high school and youth players to the camp.

“We’re all trying to get better and we work in as units and stuff like that,” Ellenbecker said. “On Friday nights, we want to beat the crap out of each other, but we all got to get better to beat the rest of the state too, so I think it’s been huge for us.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].