Scouts Football: Summer Camp Opens, Recruiting Updates
Happy July, everyone! The hot weather has arrived (early!) and that means we are that much closer to the beginning of football season.
Preparations for the 2025 season began months ago. But the official on-field work starts this week, as the Scouts will use the majority of their summer practice dates in July, culminating in the four-day Parkside camp July 24-27.
(This is the first season in 25 years that the Illinois High School Association reduced the allotted number of summer contact dates. That number is now 20, down from 25.)
There’s plenty of time to break down this season’s team. I’m not going to do that in this write-up, as we won’t know much until the group has at least a few weeks of practice (and contact ones) under their belts. The lone certainty about 2025—more positions will be up for grabs than in 2024. That will make for an intriguing summer.
Last week, I sat down with Coach Spagnoli (back for season 23 as LFHS head coach) for a long-ranging discussion. I’ll publish a significant portion of the conversation here and finish with a few updates on the June camp season for a couple of players.
We start with my convo with coach.
Q: You did a speed and agility camp in June, and the guys have been weight training all winter and spring. The July period is now here. What can you learn about this season’s group before July?
What we go through with this current group of kids is they have to learn how to care about each other. What people don’t understand is this: 70-80 percent of our kids we don’t get to coach from November to now. Kids are in the weight room and all that but it’s a different animal. When you are in the weight room and under a bar, it's about you, not about the guy playing next to you or you’re spotting a guy, it’s a different concept. When you are on the field and you make a mistake, it affects that guy or it affects that guy or three guys, so they have to understand that without all three or all five or all 11, nothing works. Because we don’t have them in our possession for seven or eight months a year as a group, it’s very difficult to mold that until there’s a time to get that and we are in the middle of that.
Q: Numbers-wise, there will be fewer experienced players coming back. It’s hard to replicate varsity game experience.
We have a couple of kids out here who have started 20 varsity games. Last year, we probably had 4 or 5 of those. Not that they were the leaders on our team necessarily, but also there was no time for them to look back and say, ‘Oh, I forgot that.’ No, there was no forgetting. They helped the guys along. We have experience on this team too, just less of it. There will be some bruised egos and hurt feelings and frustrating times and difficult situations for all of these kids that are in it now, that’s how we get together. That’s how we become one.
Q: In June and to some degree in July, how is your and your staff’s approach different than once the season starts?
This particular time of the year you probably do more coaching of the kids individually than we do of the team total. An example: we were out running a drill today and the kid was supposed to touch the line. He doesn’t touch the line. So did he not touch the line because he didn’t want to or because he made a mistake? As I explained to him in very clean words, ‘You’re a senior, how can you make that mistake? So was it a mistake or did you not want to do it?’ If you don’t want to do it then how are all these younger guys supposed to look at you and learn how it’s supposed to be done? Those are things that need to be pushed to the forefront for them individually, so they understand their responsibility is to everybody out there. Every year, the big brother goes away. Now, who’s going to cut the grass, who’s going to vacuum the carpet or clean the room? Big brother is gone, he’s gone. Who’s going to do it? If you are not the one who can do it, then you need to step aside and let someone else do it. Or be aware of the one who has to do it. There is nobody else to do it. So are you going to do it right or not? You can ask our entire team ‘who is the hardest working guy in our program?’ They’ll say ‘so and so or so and so.’ I say, ‘How come you didn’t say you? How come it’s not you? What’s preventing that from being you?’ It’s a simple question. Hard answer, but simple question. There has to be accountability by those kids to the rest of our team. That’s their payment for not having to do it before. That’s how it goes, that’s how the torch gets passed. If you are not comfortable with that responsibility, this is probably not a good spot for you. Our kids understand it; they are very smart kids and are very aware.
Q: Switching gears now. For the guys interested in playing college football, how important is the June camp season?
It depends on what their goal is. It can be to see these places and get in touch with some coaches, and, of course, these mega camps are really important to get that. Having said that, in the end, people still have to see them perform on the football field to want to recruit them, so no matter what their relationship is in the summer, it doesn’t matter much until they see the film and get a good feel for them.
Q: I went to the Lake Forest College mega-camp a few weeks ago. A coach there talked about the importance of face-to-face contact for high school athletes at these camps. It gets them off the phone, off the laptop, and forces them to have in-person interaction.
People say all the time, ‘I talked to him, I talked to him’. When did you talk to him? ‘I texted him.’ That’s not talking to somebody. So, face-to-face contact is a very important element when building a relationship. I don’t know how you can without face-to-face contact. I mean, ‘remember I saw you there?’ No, I don’t remember seeing you. I spoke to you there. OK, that I can remember. I think that’s important in any form of life for you to get to where you want to go. There has to be some kind of tie-in or relationship. From a coach's perspective, there always has to be, ‘What is it about them that would make me want to recruit you?’ There has to be a reason for that, not just because I met you and you are a nice guy. Rarely do coaches survive by recruiting guys who they think are nice guys. They still have to feel like they can help them succeed as a program
Q: There has to be value in a young athlete being coached at a camp. Can he take a handful of things he learned and bring them to the high school team?
There’s absolutely some value. Any parent can understand this… you say things differently than someone else, although they may mean the same thing. In the end, what you want is you want them to perform better. Maybe it’s a phrase or a slang word for it, or some type of way to relate to that particular action. Everybody has different ways of communicating, and if it clicks for you, then it's a positive.
Q: I have to ask you about last season’s senior class. Your reflections on the accomplishments of that group?
Every group is so unique as their personality as a group is what it is. Every kid is a different kid, and together they did a great job representing the school and the program. I can’t thank them enough for all the work they’ve done. The amount of enthusiasm they’ve brought to the program is a legacy. Every class leaves its legacy, good, bad, or indifferent. This group should feel very proud of the four years here. Personally, I'm grateful for having had the chance to coach these guys… they were great kids. I wish all of them the best. They know that, individually, we’ve communicated, and as a group, we’ve continued to do so.
A little bit of staffing news. The freshman team will have a new head coach, Tim Jennings, who replaces previous frosh coach Ricky Lilja. Lilja will be on the varsity staff this year. Longtime offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Phil DeWald retired after last season.
Back to recruiting. I had an enjoyable conversation with junior (‘rising’ no more…he’s a junior!) receiver Jack Burger last week on the Slants and Arrows podcast. I encourage readers to listen as Burger is extremely active on the camp circuit, has ambitious goals for his high school and college career, and is a smart, engaging young man to boot. That combination makes for an enjoyable podcast conversation. Expect big things from Burger in 2025.
I also caught up by phone with another player active on the camp front.
Senior quarterback Braden Hoskins was a backup to starter Danny Van Camp in 2024. He’ll be competing for the starting job this season. The 6-foot-1, 186-pound Hoskins attended five camps in June—Northwestern, Miami of Ohio, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, and wrapping up at Drake this past weekend.
Here’s an edited version of our conversation:
Q: Can you share one big takeaway from attending all these camps?
It’s making every rep count. A lot of times in the season, mistakes mess with you. You can’t let that get in your head and affect you. If you make a bad throw or read, don’t let that affect you, and come back and make the next one a perfect rep.
Q: Was there one particular camp that stood out?
Miami (of Ohio) was one of the better camps. It was one of the smaller ones, even smaller than Drake. There were a lot of kids there in the same situation, and I learned a lot from the other quarterbacks who were there. Miami had the best competition, and I love going against someone, as it makes me work harder.
Q: So much of recruiting now is done remotely. Do you enjoy the face-to-face interaction at these camps?
I do. I like it way more than over the phone or text, as it’s way more real, in person. A few coaches from Hillsdale College (MI) were at the Vanderbilt camp and walked up to me.
Q: What feedback are you getting from college coaches?
What stands out is my leadership, my confidence, and my movement in the pocket. I get that a lot, that I can move in the pocket. They’ll say, ‘we like what we can see and you could be a part of our program, and let’s stay in touch.” I’ll send them my Hudl and go from there.
Q: You did see some action as a junior (in 2024), but not a ton. How do you feel you’ve most improved in the off-season?
My field awareness and feel in the pocket. I’ve gotten taller and quicker and faster over the last few months. In our conference, when we face teams like Warren and Stevenson, you have to be able to move when you get pressure. Having that (quickness) and my field awareness and being smart and knowing the defense, that will all help me.
Q: You sound excited to get with the guys and start practices.
This is the most excited I’ve ever been for strength and agility. My energy; mostly it’s my senior year and I want to continue to play like my older brother (Richie Hoskins is a senior wide receiver at Vanderbilt) and going into next week and the postion I’m in, with the competition, I want to keep that going and can’t let anything get in my way. I want to help everyone, and I think I’m in a good position. Besides the play, I want to be a captain. One of my main goals is to be accountable and hold my teammates accountable, but you can’t do that unless you hold yourself accountable. I want my teammates and coaches to know they can trust me, and leadership and accountability are an important part.
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