The Ultimate 100 Camp: Where the Elite Have Their Chance to Shine

 

With one million plus high school football players grinding it out across the nation and less than 3,000 total invites (approximately .003 percent of the total players) to the Ultimate 100 camp, selecting exactly who makes it is a grueling and strenuous task for NUC staff.

“The difficult part is determining the balance between good testers and solid football players”, said National Underclassmen Combine CEO and president Dave Schuman. Some kids only test well but aren’t good pure football players and vice versa, so it's a tall task to differentiate."

The Ultimate 100 features all of the regular testing events, which includes the 40-yard dash, shuttle run, vertical leap, broad jump and bench press as well as 1 on 1 drills. The U-100 also has a, 7 on 7 tournament, lineman showcase, and skills competition, giving every attending athlete an ample amount of opportunities to display their talents.

Heart, soul, determination, talent and immense focus are bare minimum requirements to even be considered for the Ultimate 100. All National Underclassmen Combine participants dream of participating in the camp, many are worthy, but only a select group are actually invited. With a plethora of athletes filling all of the aforementioned abilities and still falling short, a dejected feeling becomes imminent. Hence the name “Ultimate 100”, which signifies that the event is only for the elite.

"The talent at this camp is always top notch", stated Schuman, who added a fifth U100 in 2009 due to the increase in participation. "We have seen numerous D1 bound stars over the years and many of these players will eventually end up in the NFL."

Statistics don't lie. The U100 has opened doors for participants, with fifty percent of the those to compete at one of the five camps across the nation receiving offers to play division 1 or D-1AA.

Aside from competing with the best players regionally (the combines are held in New Jersey, Dallas, Los Angeles, Indiana and Atlanta), the event itself leads to major publicity for the athletes. Former invites turned All-Americans include #1 nationally rated recruit Ronald Powell, Jelani Jenkins (the #1 rated outside linebacker by who will suit up for University of Florida in the fall), Dom Espinosa (former #1 rated  center who currently plays for national runner up Texas), and Tajh Boyd (#4 rated QB heading to Clemson) among countless others have attended the combine.

After being awarded the Overall MVP at the 2008 Southwest Sophomore U-100 James Haynes’ recruiting process took a complete 360. By tearing apart the stat sheets with a 34 inch vertical, 10’8 broad jump, 4.37 shuttle and 4.51 40, Haynes unleashed his talents not just to our coaches but to the super powers at the next level.

Haynes signed on to play at the University of Oklahoma, turning down offers from Florida Arkansas, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M among many others. Haynes athletic abilities are exceptional, without question and even though few can claim his talents, making the most out of the Ultimate 100 ultimately relies on those lucky enough to be chosen.