When the hip hop music blasts and UF coaches begin issuing orders at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Friday, four reigning 3A state champions will take the field for Florida’s seventh-annual Friday Night Lights camp.
But three of the four teammates from Tampa Jefferson High have much more weighing on the event than their well-documented leader.
For four-star defensive end Tyriq McCord, the trip is a luxury. The 6-foot-3, 222-pound linemen was asked to come to camp by UF coaches Dan Quinn and Derek Lewis. He already holds a UF offer, along side others from Georgia, Notre Dame and Southern California. “I’ve been pretty much across the U.S. [this summer],” he said. “I’ve been real tired and what not. It’s been a blessing, though.”
McCord’s only focus on Friday is the one-on-one drills and dominating the competition.
But for cornerback Will Watson and receivers Charles Booth Jr. and Adrian Jenkins, Friday Night Lights is a chance to prove they belong at a camp with an abundant amount of top-tier talent.
“I like going to things like this to show that, at the end of the day, it’s all football, and I’m one that can play it at multiple positions and play it very good,” Booth said.
Only Watson currently holds an offer from a BCS conference school (Iowa State).
Both Booth and Jenkins feel Friday night can start a surge that will carry into their senior seasons and ignite the recruiting process.
Booth, a two-star prospect who said he ran a 4.41 40-yard-dash at a UF camp in June, thinks the fact he will start at both receiver and corner in 2011 will make him more appealing to big schools. At 5-foot-9, cornerback could be his only hope of drawing more attention — Youngstown State is currently his only offer.
“Most of the colleges told me after two games at playing corner, they’re going to watch the game film and then decide to offer me or not,” he said.
Jenkins, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound three-star receiver, is focused on taking over for the departed Andre Davis (USF) and Chris Moore (Cincinnati) who combined for 2,786 receiving yards and 33 touchdowns for the state champion Dragons in 2010. “That’s what I need to prove,” Jenkins said. “That I can be a No. 1 receiver and just dominate games.”
Booth and Jenkins admitted McCord’s high stock can open the doors for them at events like Friday Night Lights and throughout the upcoming season.
“They just have to prove that they’re more athletic than what they’re projected to be,” McCord said. “They have to go out there and outwork everybody because they have more to show for themselves.”
“[College coaches] will come to see Tyriq, and they’ll have no other choice but to see me when we’re at practice because I’m making plays all the time,” Booth said. “It helps a lot being at a school that gets a lot of attention from colleges.”
While McCord’s biggest concern is narrowing his options, Booth and Jenkins are contemplating what could be.
NC State tops the list for Booth, while Jenkins is clear about his dream top two. “Florida and North Carolina,” he said. “If either one of them offered me, I’d probably give a commitment on the spot.”
