Rams finish 8th at High School Player Development 7-on-7 National Tournament
By Joe Gacioch
Special to Stlouisrams.com
The 12 local high school football players who represented the St. Louis Rams at the NFL High School Player Development 7-on-7 National Tournament in Tampa, Fla. finished in eighth place this past weekend. The tournament included teams representing 22 NFL markets and consisted of 20-minute, non-contact games.
The student athletes were chosen to represent the Rams after completing the weeklong High School Player Development program that focused on character development, life skills and on-field techniques. The program, held at Belleville West High School in June, attracted 150 football players from several St. Louis and Metro East high schools. Players were treated to an appearance by Rams wide receivers Keenan Burton and Laurent Robinson, who visited the camp one evening.
The character development and life skills portion of the program featured guest speakers, including NFL players and coaches, standardized test preparation and discussions about life after high school.
In addition to working to enhance their life skills, the players performed on the field, as well. The football-related components included position skill development, reviews and individual competitions. Players focused on an offensive and defensive position and were able to apply the skills they learned during live drills.
When the week concluded the roster had to be finalized, and the 12 players chosen to represent the Rams in Tampa were Jeremy Hill, Deonte McCarvey, Bernard Oranika, Zach Pegues and Sedrick Spillers from Belleville West High School; Kevin Gettis, Trey Parker, De Dre Ramsey and Darnell Stevenson from Belleville East; Jorian Clemmons and Kendall Fennell from O’Fallon; Wilson Babb from Columbia.
“The players were chosen by Rams Youth Football staff and Elite Football Academy Founder/President Matt Biermann and coaches,” Kyle Eversgerd, St. Louis Rams Fan Development Coordinator, said. “They were chosen based on their character, leadership and football skills.”
When the team arrived in Tampa Friday, July 9, they were welcomed by NFL Football Operations Staff, met the Buccaneers cheerleaders and mascot and had the privilege of listening to a speech by Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris.
Later that day all tournament participants and coaches toured the Tampa National Guard Armory as the weekend’s community service component. In addition to sitting in Army hummers and tanks, the players stuffed gift bags that included a football, kicking tee and air pump, along with letters of appreciation, for the troops stationed in Afghanistan.
On Saturday all 22 teams competed in a series of exhibition games to get themselves ready for the tournament on Sunday. Later that evening, the players participated in a unique character development activity in which they were split into 12 groups of 22 players, one player from each team, and were required to come up with a team name, cheer and act out a skit based on a character trait they were given.
“It was cool to see 22 kids from all different places come together and form a skit in less than 30 minutes on a wide range of topics,” Eversgerd said. “There was a lot of laughter during the 12 presentations.”
The double-elimination tournament started Sunday, and the Rams got out to a quick start, defeating the Green Bay Packers team 24-7. They lost the second game in heartbreaking fashion to Tampa Bay 31-28, as a Tampa Bay player intercepted a bobbled ball in the end zone as time expired. The Rams got back on track, winning two more games against the New Orleans Saints (31-24) and Atlanta Falcons (21-14). In their fifth game, which proved to be their last, the Rams were defeated by the Minnesota Vikings 28-21. With their second loss they finished in eighth place.
“They (players) showed their guts today and were the talk of the tournament for a while,” Eversgerd said. “Overall it was a great experience for the kids.”
