At least two kids at Trenton Irwin’s fourth annual youth football camp on Saturday at William S. Hart High School will make it to the NFL. That’s what Hart High alumnus and NFL veteran Trenton Irwin told his dad, Craig Irwin, during the event. He added that 50 of them would get a full ride to a big college. That was his prediction.
Over 200 Santa Clarita Valley youth football players — boys and girls — from fifth to eighth grade participated in the football camp, which included various stations for kids to run offensive and defensive drills and participate in 7-on-7 competitions. Leading the activities were Irwin and 10 other NFL players who volunteered their time to help.
“When Trent was a little boy,” Irwin’s dad said, “everyone told him, ‘You can’t make the NFL.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s right. You keep saying to him that he can’t make the NFL. But who knows? Maybe he can.’ And so, that’s why he wanted to do this camp.”
NFL players, including Nick Scott from the Carolina Panthers, Stanley Morgan Jr. from the Cincinnati Bengals and Tim White (a Hart High graduate who’s currently playing for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats), worked with boys and girls from local teams from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., helping them develop skills and give them confidence.
According to Irwin’s dad, who’s a Valencia resident, when the kids see that these NFL players are just normal people, they start to believe that maybe they, too, can make it to the NFL.
And even if they don’t, he said, the ability to play football with skill and confidence could get them into really good schools.
“At the very least, they can get their parents a scholarship,” Irwin’s dad said. “We’ve got a lot of Stanford guys out here, because education is super important to these kids. So, even if you don’t make money in the NFL, you got a degree from Stanford, you go out and get a great job.”
Irwin said he loved the football camps he attended when he was a kid, and that he got so much out of them. They were, he said, critical to him becoming an NFL player. He relished the joy his camp was bringing the kids on Saturday, saying he saw so many kids smiling and having such a good time.
It was important, he said, that he was able to give back to the community that gave him so much. It was also important to help the kids know that they’re supported.
“Hopefully we’re bringing some hope to some people’s dreams,” he said. “And if they go off and play in college, that’s great. If they don’t, they at least have some sort of confidence and belief that they’ve learned from some of the best, so they’re ready to go compete at their level.”
During the camp, kids practiced running and catching drills, among others. At one station where kids did dive-and-catch repetitions, Super Bowl champion Nick Scott threw a football for kids to catch in the air while diving onto an air bag.
“Please, don’t miss the bag,” he told a group of girls who were just lining up at his station.
The first girl took off on cue, Scott threw a spiral into the air, the girl jumped off the ground and went right over the bag. Luckily, a secondary bag cushioned her fall. She laughed, as did the rest of the girls. The joy was contagious.
The next girl caught a perfect pass in the air. The girl after that ran right into the bag as she followed the football through the air.
“Pass interference,” Scoot said, mimicking a referee’s voice. He called interference on the blue air bag.
Other NFL players at other stations rooted for the kids and offered advice: “Stay low. The lower you are, the more balance you have,” said Quenton Meeks, who played in the NFL but last played for UFL’s Memphis Showboats.
According to Jeremy Hilsinger, who’s one of the head coaches of the Santa Clarita Wildcats, who was watching some of his players, the camp is a great introduction to the game of football, whether it’s flag or tackle.
“I think what Irwin is doing is wonderful,” Hilsinger said. “To give back to where he started is awesome. It’s so inspirational for the kids. It makes something that a lot of kids probably think is unattainable more attainable.”
Irwin stayed busy during the camp, going from one station to the next. His dad said he was very passionate about the work. In fact, he said that when his son started playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, he asked, now that he was making such good money, what he wanted to do with it. Irwin told his dad he wanted to do football camps for kids.
The camp, while it cost $20 per kid, was essentially something that Irwin and the others were giving at no charge. The proceeds collected were set to help victims of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.
And while kids and parents showed large smiles throughout the day, so, too, did Irwin show his own as he helped make kids’ dreams come true.
