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Kickoff for Addazio's football camp at Temple

After working various summer football camps while an assistant coach at other colleges, Steve Addazio will on Sunday oversee the first of five sessions that bear the first-year Temple coach's name.

"We want to enhance the game of football and teach," Temple coach Steve Addazio said. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/Staff file photo)
"We want to enhance the game of football and teach," Temple coach Steve Addazio said. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/Staff file photo)Read more

After working various summer football camps while an assistant coach at other colleges, Steve Addazio will on Sunday oversee the first of five sessions that bear the first-year Temple coach's name.

At the Owls' Edberg-Olson Hall practice facility, Addazio expects to welcome about 350 players from grades 6 through 12. The camp will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 3 p.m., with a 90-minute break for lunch.

The Steve Addazio Football Camp, which will also have sessions next Sunday, June 18, June 23, and June 26, costs $55 per session to attend. The younger campers wear colored jerseys to identify them, and they are grouped by age and size.

Between 150 and 200 players who will be high school seniors next fall are expected to show up for the first session.

"I hope we see a bunch of guys from right around this area, and I know we will," Addazio said. "Diamonds in your backyard. You can search far and wide and spend your life savings and everything you own, and all the while they just might be right there in your own backyard. This is our backyard right here."

Sitting in his office last week, Addazio pointed out that when it comes to staging football camps, the mission at Temple is different from that at the national powers.

Some big schools offer three- and four-day camps that may cost players $300 to $400.

At Florida, the Gators had three multiple-day camps during the summer and would get a turnout of more than 1,500 for each.

"Camps are big business for people," Addazio said. "Those three- and four-day camps are just moneymakers for people. For us here, that's not really the case. For us here, we want people to get to know Temple. Hopefully, over 1,500 kids and their parents can get a sense of Temple. They will get coached by Temple coaches on the Temple campus. They see the campus and the facilities. They are all potential students here, whether they are athletes or not."

Under Al Golden, who moved on to Miami after last season, Temple attracted a record total of 1,868 campers last year to surpass the 1,854 the program drew in '09. During the Memorial Day weekend last spring, 548 showed up on the first day.

Last year, 17 of Temple's 21 signees attended camp on the university's campus. In '09, 23 of the 28 new Owls participated.

This year, coaches from 16 colleges will be on hand to help out and avail themselves of the opportunity to meet and work with prospective recruits. The visiting coaches will also share knowledge and techniques.

"As an assistant coach, I used to love coaching in those camps," said Addazio, whose most recent job as the offensive coordinator at Florida was preceded by stints at Indiana, Notre Dame, and Syracuse. "I love football, and I want them to love football. We want to enhance the game of football and teach. It's great for me to get around ad meet a bunch of people. There are people coming here that I've known for 25 years who are bringing their sons. There'll be some of that, too."