Nike is working exceptionally hard to make their presence felt in football. The NFL license they obtained, to provide uniforms and other equipment for the league, is a step closer to slapping a gigantic swoosh on the gridiron in 2012. Most players already wear Nike gloves and cleats, so a uniform contract was logical for both Nike and the NFL.
A cynical outlook would be to suggest that Nike’s “The Opening” — a five-day high school football training camp, concert, clinic, and/or all of the above — was an attempt to purchase youth loyalty from elite talents on the fast track to professional careers. But that would be a terribly short-sighted and uninformed viewpoint of the week. Andrew Sharp at SBNation.com shut that down in his recap:
Plenty of folks will see the Nike camp as a breeding ground for corruption, the same way plenty of folks saw Sonny Vaccaro as a predator, exploiting these 17-year-olds for sneaker companies.
But in the end, 7-on-7 promotes players better than summer combines ever could, and camps like The Opening take kids like Deontay out of places like Baltimore to spend a week getting first class treatment from Nike, and getting exposed to some of the best talent—and the best coaching—in the country. For someone like Deontay, it’s a pretty great experience. How is that a bad thing?
Pigskin is undoubtedly at the event’s core. Nike invited 150 of the nation’s top high school talents to Beaverton, some of these kids from unsavory communities, so they could compete in skills drills and a 7-on-7 tournament for trophies, plaques, acknowledgment, and a vital learning opportunity.
Nike 7On trophy unveiled before the tournament began.
The between time was spent enjoying Nike’s hospitality, featuring a monstrous players lounge filled with flatscreen televisions, gaming consoles, and advance copies of EA Sports’ NCAA Football ’12. There were barbers available to the kids, keeping the kids’ hairlines sharp and their unique designs fresh. Some kids shaved the Nike swoosh into their heads, others had their preferred university logo detailed.
Premium facilities and access to NFL stars like the Lions’ Ndamukong Suh, the Chiefs’ Dwayne Bowe, the Seahawks’ Russell Okung and Aaron Curry, the Browns’ Joe Haden, the Ravens’ Ray Rice, former Saints center LeCharles Bentley, and retired Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce, among others, weren’t enough to really call “The Opening” a party, though.
Nike delivered We The Best Music Group/Def Jam recording artist Ace Hood for a 10-minute performance, just to prove how hip and down they really are — in case anyone forgot.
The only thing left for Nike to do was make sure they had media at the World Headquarters to witness, cover, and enjoy (with stone-faced professionalism) the festivities. That’s where my involvement begins.
*****
I was up at 4 a.m., New York time, on July 7 to board a 6:50 a.m. direct flight to Oregon. Didn’t sleep much the night before since I like the rush of last-minute packing. I whispered lies to myself about resting on the flight, knowing full well that it’d be impossible. No way I’d get real sleep on a plane.
My flight touched down a little before 10 a.m., Oregon time, and I was driven directly to Tiger Woods Center on the Nike campus — for football time. Yes, Nike names their buildings after prominent players paid to endorse the brand. That’s a meaningful token of appreciation.
I was thrown a little off my game since I expected to check in at the hotel from the airport, receive an itinerary, and get a moment to freshen up after a cross-country flight. Instead, I was the guy who inadvertently entered the Nike World Headquarters with a Reebok weekend bag.
Yes, I was conflicted about using the bag. It’s kind of a dick move to carry a rival logo on a corporate-funded trip, but it’s what I had. Besides, if I went directly to the hotel, no one would have ever known. Cause and effect, people. (The bag was swapped for a Swoosh before the weekend was out.)
*****
Some members of the media were already at Beaverton for a day or so, enjoying their opportunity to meet former 49ers great Jerry Rice and getting a head start on everything Nike planned. I was limited for the first few hours without a media credential, so I sat in a room overlooking the football fields where these elite high school players, sized like professionals, were running a variety of skill drills.
Linemen darted around bags with purpose and unexpected grace for kids their age. Quarterbacks threw tight spirals to quick and agile receivers making one-handed grabs in stride. I used a 70-300mm lens as a telescope from my vantage point, watching these kids do things I’d only seen at NFL training camps. More media members trickled in where I was waiting, all sharing stories of kids they saw with 40-inch verticals and 4.3 40 speed.
If you played high school football, or even followed it to some degree, then you know how a truly special kid with Divison-1 talent stands out on a field of boys whose playing days will end before they’re 18. At Beaverton, there were two fields filled with 150 kids that possessed that remarkable ability. Most of the kids there were already committed to prominent Division-1 programs.
Remember: That's a teenager.
The entire weekend felt like a preview for the 2014 and 2015 NFL Combines. Some of the kids couldn’t compete in the contact drills because their commitments to specific Division-1 programs forbid such activity.
*****
The 7On tournament is the culmination of the five-day event. The kids are on the Nike campus, getting to know one another, and keeping their skills fresh and sharp before splitting into teams for seven-on-seven games. It’s glorified two-hand touch like you rarely see, because all the participants are fast, agile, and have instinctive ability for live-game situations. Two-hand touch sometimes turned into a mid-air collision, a hard shoulder bump, and shifty moves to evade converging defenders after the catch.
But when I think football, I envision clashing. I hear helmets thumping against one another, the crack of shoulder pads, and the grunts that come with each feat of strength. Football happens in the trenches.
Running backs don’t run, quarterbacks don’t throw, and receivers don’t run routes without the tug of war at the line of scrimmage when there are 22 men on the field. The 7On tournament was the rims and wheels on a fancy vehicle, but the linemen challenge is the grease engine that powers it.
I gravitated toward the linemen challenges, and watched as Suh, Bentley, and Okung directed teenagers and advised them about their techniques. These kids were exceptional athletes — but raw in a lot of ways — and the pros were there to help refine their skills. They had the basics down: Be stronger, get lower. Some of them already had the requisite aggression necessary to be great on the line.
That’s what I like to see.
*****
Part two of my coverage was about the footwear. I hit Dallas in December for Nike’s debut of the Air Zoom Alpha Talon cleats. They sounded innovative then with all the traction technology they threw into the shoe. “The Opening” was my first chance to see them in action.
The Vapor Carbon cleats also came out to play. It’s unknown if the kids were able to choose which cleats they preferred, or if they were simply provided in a Nike duffel bag upon their arrival.
Suh told me he preferred the Alpha Talons for his purposes as a lineman seeking leverage, thinking the low-cut Vapor Carbon would be better suited for “those skill guys to go faster when making sharp, tough cuts.” I didn’t speak to the kids for their preferences. In retrospect, I should have. (/slaps writing hand. Bad journalist!)
Either way, here’s a side-by-side video I put together to detail the differences between the Alpha Talon and Vapor Carbon cleats:
[July 17, 2011] “Ndamukong Suh details his contribution to the Nike Air Zoom Alpha Talon”
PS – Team Alpha Talon won that really cool trophy.
Tags: Ace Hood, Ndamukong Suh, Nike, Nike Football, The Opening
