There is probably no bigger topic of conversation in college football right now than satellite camps. Two of the biggest names in the game, Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh, have made their conflicting views known about the rule that allows coaches to travel way off campus and visit football camps in other locations. While Syracuse coach Dino Babers has not captured headlines with his views on satellite camps, he is certainly using the camps for his benefit.
Most recently, Babers and other Syracuse coaches took a trip down to Princeton, New Jersey for a satellite camp at the Hun School. This is one of six camps that Babers and co. has shared or will share with the chief of satellite camps, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
These camps are of particular importance to Syracuse because Babers needs to start picking up some commits, as the class of 2017 sits at only three. The Hun Camp has brought a couple of players to Syracuse’s attention, and maybe brought Syracuse to their attention.
The first is actually a Class of 2018 player, wide-out Kevin Johnson Jr. If his name sounds familiar, it is because his dad, Kevin Johnson, played for Syracuse about twenty years ago and went on to play in the NFL. The High School junior does not currently hold any scholarship offers but he claims to have received interest from Wisconsin.
Johnson took to twitter to talk about Syracuse saying “I performed well for my Cuse family” and “I ate up that camp. I WANT CUSE”.
Dino Babers was also impressed by OLB Jame McCarthy, who up to that point had only one FBS offer, from Army. After the camp, Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Temple and Navy have all expressed interest in the unrated Linebacker. He has scheduled visits to colleges and will visit Syracuse next weekend.
The Hun Camp is just one of thirteen camps that Babers has on his schedule this summer. While Nick Saban laments about how these camps are ruining the college football recruitment process, Dino Babers is putting them to good use and trying to use them to find talent that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
