CMU holds satellite football camp in Kingsford

KINGSFORD — Some of the best prep football players from across the U.P. participated in the first ever satellite football camp hosted by Central Michigan University.

The Chippewas football program has always held camps but this is the first one done in the U.P. Head coach John Bonemego says he recognizes the vast amount of talent in the U.P. from personal experience during his playing days at Central.

“We always had a very healthy contingent of players from the Upper Peninsula. I just remember playing with a ton of guys from Escanaba and Iron Mountain and they were all high quality individuals and they were always great players. I can’t remember one of them ever being a dud. I think it’s a resource for us and we want to just continue to cultivate that,” Bonemego said.

The camp started off with a physical evaluation of the players, including the 40 yard dash and the broad jump. Then the players participated in agility drills while taking instruction from the coaches. And finally, they were split up into position–specific drills. The most important part of the camp was the exposure that the players received.

“They’ll receive a high quality, high level of instruction from our staff. We have guest coaches here with us today from Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech and also Finlandia so it should be a great experience for the kids. We should get a chance to identify them and test them. They should also learn a lot of football and have a great day,” said Bonemego.

CMU will be holding three more satellite camps this month downstate: on their campus on the 14th, at Paw Paw High School on the 20th and at Wayne State in Detroit on the 27th.