The Super Bowl was yesterday, but the day before that was even more super for a slew of high school seniors. They got a chance to extend their football careers, and get a college education.
The 13th annual Greater Houston Senior Football Showcase was held Saturday at the Houston Methodist Training Center, and 422 high school football seniors went through a combine in front of representatives from 41 colleges. National Signing Day was last Wednesday, but the seniors who took part in the showcase hadn't latched on with a college program. This event, which was free of charge, was a chance for them to show their talents off for Division II, Division III and NAIA schools that still had room on their rosters for the 2021 college season.
Kids came from as far as New Mexico to take part in the event, and they needed a 2.5 GPA or better, an SAT score of 970 or higher or an ACT score of 18 or higher.
The day began with each athlete, regardless of position, getting tested in the 5-10-5 drill. Area high school coaches, as well as some NFL alumni helped run the event. After the testing, players were broken into their position groups for more fundamentals work. The day concluded with a college fair, where the players were able to talk with coaches and administrators from the various collges about financial aid and scholarship oportunities.
Since 2009, on average, 20 to 25 percent of the participants wound up on a college roster the ensuing autumn.
