MIDDLETOWN, Md. - Coach Rob Ambrose returned to his roots on Wednesday night when the Tiger football coaching staff conducted its third high school prospect camp of the week.
For the final camp of the week, he returned to Middletown High School in Frederick, his alma mater and a place where he spent countless hours growing up.
The Tiger coaches also conducted a clinic at Baltimore's Poly High School and Bishop McNamara in Prince George's County. At the three clinics, the Tiger coaches saw more than 430 high school players.
"It was great to come back here," said Coach Ambrose after the clinic at Middletown High School. "I hope these guys take away something positive from this camp. If they do, I would be very proud."The purpose of these clinics is to evaluate the talent pool in the state before moving on to out-of-state recruiting, and to offer high school athletes a chance to hone their skills for a day with a full collegiate coaching staff.
"Our recruiting rules say we have to evaluate players in the state first," Ambrose said. "We do that with these in-state camps, and there's a lot of good talent in the state. For these guys to get a chance to work out with college coaches, it's a great experience."
Realizing many players have to sometimes travel out of the area, perhaps out of state, to attend summer football camps, Ambrose thought bringing high-end camps to players near where they live was a good idea.
After discussing the idea with his father, former longtime Middletown football coach Tim Ambrose, Rob thought holding a camp at Middletown was a good fit. The response was overwhelming.
"We put this together about four months ago," Tim Ambrose said. "It was a great idea."
Middletown Coach Kevin Lynott watched as players went through their routines. Oakdale coach Kurt Stein also dropped by to watch.
"We had guys from all across the state coming here," Rob Ambrose said. "This is not just open to one high school."
Defensive coordinator Matt Hachmann of Towson was one of the Tiger assistant coaches to attend the camp. Jared Ambrose, Dassin Blackwell, John Donatelli, Reno Ferri, Brian Fleury, Derrick Johnson, Konstantinos Kosmakos and James Vollono, all Tiger assistant coaches, also assisted at the clinics.
