NFL Junior Player Development:
News from Around the Country
Dysart, NFL tackle football project
The sun continues to rise and the temperatures are already in the high 80s at Willow Canyon High School on this May morning. Saturday would normally be a quiet day on the Surprise campus. Yet the sounds of whistles, shouts of encouragement and thunderous collision of shoulder pads
break the silence.
Instead of spending their Saturday morning watching cartoons and eating bowls of cereal, more than 130 incoming freshmen have decided to strap on football gear and go through drills in Surprise. It’s all part of the Junior Player Development Program, sponsored by the NFL, the Arizona
Cardinals and run in cooperation with the Dysart Unified School District.
"This program is designed as an introduction to tackle football," said Willow Canyon coach Mike Hudnutt, one of several participants. "The kids get a chance to put on pads and it gives them a jump on football this fall."
Hudnutt had never heard of the Junior Development Program during his playing days in Iowa and his coaching experience in Arizona. That changed when he met Marty Senall, a native New Yorker who served as a Willow Canyon assistant coach last season. "Without Marty, none of this would have happened," said Hudnutt, who completed his first year as varsity coach last season. "He put in a lot of work to make this happen."
Senall had participated in the program on an annu- al basis during his coaching days in New York. When he discovered there were no schools west of the Mississippi participating in the program, Senall quickly made some calls. Senall worked the phones better than a veteran NFL signal-caller executing the two-minute drill and helped make the program a reality at Dysart.
"Give the credit to the NFL and the Arizona Cardinals," Senall said. "Also give credit to all the coaches who give their time for this." The NFL subsidizes the entire program, loaning all the football equipment for 132 players. Each player gets to keep their jersey, equipment bag and wristbands following completion of the two-week session.
The Dysart, Valley Vista and Willow Canyon staffs share coaching duties and run the players through fast-paced two-hour sessions with drills broken into 15-minute segments. "We try to keep everything very basic," Hudnutt said. "Some of these kids come in here and they may not know how to put on their shoulder pads. When fall practice begins in August, they’ll know
how to put those pads on and they’ll be able to help some of the other freshmen coming out for the team.
"In that way, the program helps to build camaraderie as well as teach football basics." Robert Castro said he couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning. "I think this program is great because it gives me extra football work," said Castro, an eighth grader at Sonoran Heights Elementary School in Surprise.
Parents made up the bulk of the crowd in attendance at the morning workout. One of those parents was Barb Merritt, who sat on the grass and kept a watchful eye on her son, Anthony, a hulking lineman. Merritt listened intently as one of the coaches went over that day’s inspirational message with a group of players. "I love what they are doing with the kids," Merritt said as the coach extolled the virtues of self-control. "This is what these kids need to hear."
There is a different inspirational message each day and printed messages are placed in each Dysart, NFL tackle football project player’s wristband.
"The lessons learned on the football field are lessons that can be applied to life," Senall said. "That’s what we’re trying to get across to the players."
Robert Castro carries the ball on a reverse during football drills at Willow Canyon High School in Surprise. Castro is one of 132 eighth-graders participating in the NFL Junior Development Program, an introduction to tackle football being made available at Dysart schools. MOLLIE J. HOPPES/SURPRISE TODAY
Defenders bring down a ballcarrier during drills at Willow Canyon High School. The Dysart Unified School District represents the first district west of the Mississippi to participate in the NFL Junior Development Dysart, NFL tackle football project Program, an introduction to tackle football. MOLLIE J. HOPPES/SURPRISE TODAY