Approximately 1,400 athletes attend Mercer football’s Raise the Bar Mega Camp

Over 90 universities were represented at the camp.

June 1, 2023

Shaaz Peerani,

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) –Approximately 1,400 high school, junior college and transfer student-athletes from various regions of the country converged at Mercer University for the Raise the Bar Mega Camp, with a collective goal to seize one opportunity that could propel them to the next level of their football careers.

“I think it’s great to come to these camps. You get a good 40 time. Let people see you do one on ones, do individual drills. They get to see you live. Get to see your actual size,” said Mercer head coach Drew Cronic. “You get to see a lot of the intangibles that you don’t get to see on film. You get to see their body language, see their attitude, so you know a kid can really help himself at a camp like this.”

Over 90 universities were represented at the camp, with several of them going a step further by extending scholarship offers directly to the participating athletes during the event. Notably, a standout 15-year-old emerged with an impressive tally of six scholarship offers.

“At center, I never lost a rep. And then I went to defense for two reps, and I hit a spin move, and the crowd went crazy,” said defensive/offensive lineman Zykie Helton, class of 2026. “They started pulling me left and right saying yeah, you got offers from here from there, and like my eyes got big like oh, great opportunity for me.”

Hall of Fame football coach Tony Dungy graced the event as he attended to support his 17-year-old son. The legendary coach took the opportunity to share invaluable wisdom for the young athletes.

“Work hard, set high goals, don’t let anyone say that you can’t achieve it,” said Dungy. “But don’t make football your whole life. As hard as you work on that, you’ve got to work on academics. You got to work social, spiritual, develop as a total person, and you’re going to be in good shape.”

Mercer will host a second camp on Saturday, June 3rd. Register at drewcronicfootballcamps.com.