MGCCC head football coach Steve Campbell (left) chats with former MGCCC Bulldog and current Saints defensive lineman Jon Jenkins at the MGCCC Offensive/Defensive Lineman Camp on June 17.
In the early days, one field was more than enough to accommodate the crowd at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Offensive/Defensive Lineman Camp.
This year, MGCCC head football coach Steve Campbell used three fields to handle the more than 530 high school students from all over the state and region.
“It’s easily the largest lineman camp in the Southeast,” says Campbell, who was named 2012 Coach of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC). “We also have a skills camp that is in tandem with the lineman camp, so there’s something for everyone. We have some of the best high school and college coaches from around the region instructing these kids.”
The campers got two bonuses at the June 17 afternoon workout – a downpour that briefly cooled things off and a visit from New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Jonathan Jenkins. The 2013 third-round draft pick by the Saints played at MGCCC from 2009-2010 and was an NJCAA All-American for the Bulldogs.
“I told them I’m proof that good things happen when you put in the hard work,” Jenkins says. “I gave them the insight on what I went through and how I was able to do it. It all started for me here at Gulf Coast.”
Even without wearing pads, the up-tempo workouts at the camp are demanding, and sometimes grueling, in the South Mississippi heat. Campers practiced once on Sunday, three times on Monday, and finished up on Tuesday morning, June 18, with a skills contest.
“Championships aren’t won in the fall,” Campbell says. “They’re won right now. The effort you guys are putting in this week will pay off during the upcoming season.”
More than 530 campers attended the 2013 MGCCC Lineman Camp, held June 16-18 at the Perkinston Campus.