Over the past two weekends, players around northeast Indiana participated in the Midwest Exposure Skill Camp at Empowered Sports Club to catch the eyes of college scouts, as well as to have meaningful reps with other high school players in June. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these players haven’t been able to interact with colleges who may be interested in them, or to gain interest from colleges, the way they normally can. This camp was supposed to help them gain exposure with video cameras recording the players reps, so that colleges can see the film. This is extremely crucial for upperclassmen, who may be in their last few months of trying to catch the attention of recruiters.
This camp also allows these players to have a structured workout at a time in which there hasn’t been a way to have them. While high school sports teams in Indiana are allowed to start practicing again in July, football practices and conditioning begins at the start of June. Losing a month of practice will greatly affect players for the season, still tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-August. While getting reps for a few hours on two days can’t make up for the lost time, it at least helps players get back into a competitive football mindset.
One of the players that probably benefited from this camp the most is Homestead halfback Braeden Hardwick. Hardwick was ripping teams apart for 6.8 yards a carry, 15 touchdowns, and a ridiculous 136.7 yards a game before he went down with a season-ending knee injury against Carroll. However, with the unique situation, Hardwick has had plenty of time to rehab.
“I feel pretty great,” Hardwick said afterwards. “I’ve had a lot of time to work out, get running outside, and do a lot of stuff to get my knee to where it needs to be. I feel great right now and I’m excited for the season.”
Hardwick led the SAC with 957 yards rushing through 7 games, on his way to having well over 1,000 yards before the end of the season. While Ryan Burton did well filling in for Hardwick at the end of the season, the dynamic QB-RB duo of Luke Goode and Braeden Hardwick couldn’t be replaced. But this is what makes this year’s Spartans just as frightening as last year’s: Hardwick believes he can put up those same numbers and possibly be even better.
“I have a good offensive line to run behind and I feel like I’m better than I was last year, so I think I can do it again.”
While some players are trying to replicate their numbers from a year ago, others at the camp are trying to break through. Carroll LB Liam Ottenweller is one who will try to make a splash this year for the Chargers defense. His brother, LB Matthew Ottenweller, made 61 tackles last year, 16 being for a loss, during his senior campaign. The younger Ottenweller made 22 tackles himself last year, but has the potential to do even more damage alongside fellow junior linebacker Tucker Steely. While much of the hype surrounding Carroll this year will be on offense, and rightfully so, the defense looks strong and should be better than last year.
“We had a really young team last year,” Ottenweller said, “so I think we’re going to come out with a bang this year. We’re going to have a super close team, a lot of leaders on a very close knit team.”
The SAC will be full of great QB’s again this year, many names you’re probably already familiar with such as Luke Goode, Jeff Becker, and Brenden Lytle, but another QB primed to have a great season is North Side’s Duce Taylor. Taylor finished last year with 557 yds and 4 TDs, still with some room to grow in his senior season, but lots of potential to do so. He’ll be the focal point of the offense now with RB Alex Holliday-Robinson gone, meaning there will be more pressure on him to play well. Taylor should continue to improve in a lot of areas, but there’s one area in particular that he wants to be better in.
“Right now I want to improve my escapability from the pocket,” Taylor said. “Just escaping and being able to keep my separation away from defensive ends.”
Duce Taylor is certainly athletic enough to be a great dual-threat QB, having experience at receiver and on defense for the Legends, and could cause fits for defenses if he finds his way into the open field when the play breaks down.
This camp will go a long way for these players to garner recognition and hopefully scholarships from colleges. And as the calendar turns to July these players will continue to be conditioned for the season ahead. While there still appears to be more questions than answers right now, the IHSAA has cleared football to be played as scheduled this fall. Obviously the situation could change, but for now, fingers-crossed, we’ll get to see these players light it up again on Friday nights.
