Tipp football hosts college showcase

Over 40 college coaches attended the third-annual Miami Valley League (MVL) Football College Showcase Day at Tipp Park last Thursday morning, giving Red Devils athletes a chance to shine in front of college football coaches.

Several different levels of football were in attendance, including Indiana, from the Big Ten, plus a variety of Division 2, 3, and National Associated of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA) coaches. It was a day that Tipp coach Matt Burgbacher feels is something that can help prospective college athletes who will suit up in the fall with the Red Devils.

“It was another great day of football here at Tipp, our kids did a great job today,” Burgbacher said. “Talking to the coaches in attendance, they were very impressed with not only the work ethic of our kids, but also how disciplined they are. All of those things have given us the success the past five years and many years before that, and that is what they saw on display today. There was a lot of positive feedback from the coaches being able to see the kids do football stuff.”

In a world now where coaches can get so much off watching film and highlights, there is nothing better than getting to see the athletes in person.

“They can actually see the players in person doing football stuff,” Burgbacher said. “You can watch their film and talk to them in school, but to actually see them on the football field doing stuff is great. The coaches can stand next to these kids who say they are 6-foot-2 and really know they are 6-foot-2.”

Burgbacher and some of his coaching staff put the kids through drills and situations the coaches will be interested in, which is what the next-level wants to see.

“It is about the eye test, but also it is just doing the football activities,” the Tipp coach said. “How well do they move in space? We ran it like the National Football League (NFL) Combine, it is the stuff they do with their players.”

“We want to give our kids the opportunities to display what they can do.”

Another big thing these kids take away from this is the fact that camp starts in one month, and this kind of kick-starts them into football mode for the busy summer.

“It really feels close to gameday for these kids, the guys have been talking about this for a while now and it is something we hope to be able to do for many years to come,” Burgbacher said. “This is a huge positive thing for the kids.”

Burgbacher thought that many of the older players could benefit from how they did today, including players like Jackson Davis, Gavin Newburg, Ethan Couch, and some of the offensive lineman.

“It’s not the end of the world if they didn’t have a great day today because we have the season coming up soon.”