Brysen’s 5 Star Showcase

This past weekend Brysen and I attended the Future Five Stars Showcase in Miami, FL. It was our first time going to any type of combine or showcase. Myles hasn’t been to one yet. The event was hosted by Generation Nexxt and sponsored by Battle. Those are two of the bigger brands involved with youth football. It’s important to follow what those companies are involved with when attempting to compete on a National level. Darrien Green and his new brand, The Seal, was the primary promoter of the event. Overall I think it was a good event and a good investment. I was able to film it and we spent some time together hanging out. Other than just being able to spend time together the number one take away for me is I asked Brysen if he would do it again and he said, “Yes.” Although, he would like to try again as a QB. He decided to enlist as a RB this time. Here is my analysis of the our experience.

First, the event was advertised as 4^th – 8^th grade and Brysen is going into the 4^th grade so I thought it would be good for him to compete against kids in his actual grade which he doesn’t always get to do. Unfortunately, I learned my first lesson right away. The grades were based on last school year even though the new school year starts in a few weeks. So the 4^th graders there were actually 5^th graders which made him the youngest by far. The good news is that based on his performance you wouldn’t be able to tell. He fit in very nicely.

He was tested in the 40 yd dash, 5-10-5 shuttle, and vertical jump. I liked this part of the showcase because they used laser times which are more official and accurate than hand times. His actual time doesn’t matter at this point because of his age but how he compares to others does. What also matters is his form. Watching the film I can see areas we can begin to work on to improve his times as well as his vertical. We don’t have the official results in yet but I will update this post once they are in.

They also had a session where kids went 1on1, running backs versus linebackers, but he only got three reps and he went against the same kid all three times. The 1on1 was the most disappointing part of the showcase. Some kids went six or seven times and I don’t believe the kids were separated by grade. They also didn’t do the 1on1 drill that requires the RB to attempt to make the LB miss in open space. He was excited to try that drill since there are always videos online of it. Out of the three attempts he had he came up with one catch.  He doesn’t have experience running a lot of different routes out of the backfield and you could see the miscommunication between him, the coach, and the quarterback on his other reps. The one he caught was on a route he had experience running from the RB position.

At the end I asked him if he had fun and his exact words were, “A little.” For Brysen, that’s a good answer. He hates long car rides (four hours) and practicing out in the sun all day (four hours). He also doesn’t like to lose and didn’t come away with any of the awards. If he didn’t like it he would’ve told me and exactly why. He’s never shy about that. He also told me about a few kids that he met and talked to throughout the day. That was one of our goals. He’s going to be seeing these kids a lot. His other goals were just to go hard and have fun. Mission accomplished. He had a great attitude all day and I’m most proud of that. We celebrated by having some ice cream at one of my favorite spots in Miami.

Looking back at the event, I wouldn’t do anything differently but these showcases will continue to be a challenge for him because you only get to play one position. On his tackle team he plays pretty much every position and does them all well. I let him choose his position this time and he went with RB. If it were up to me he would have gone as a WR. I think his ability to attack the ball in the air and his catch radius are his best attributes. However, allowing him to choose and discover at this age is what’s best. We now have a feel for the process and we have a baseline of data to work with moving forward.

For the event, I’d recommend adding a few more coaches to improves reps, instruction, and transitions. On a scale of 1 – 10 I’d go with a solid 7.5. The amount of reps was the one consistent complaint I heard amongst parents. I really do believe the linemen got the best work on the day. I was able to see some of what they did and I found myself wishing my son was in their group. Linemen often get overlooked so it was nice to see that group work hard and have fun. Also, there was a ton of talent out there. You can see it at every position. It’s amazing to see kids so talented at these young ages. There were coaches and players from our area in North Florida as well. Knowing kids and coaches are working and pursuing just like you are is always refreshing. We will definitely be back. We came, we saw, we had fun, and we learned. Until next time, B U!