While the Verde Valley swelters, Mingus Union High School football players are on a beach in Irvine, Calif.
But before Marauders fans’ envy fills the Verde River, head coach Bob Young would like to remind them that his players have more than twice as many practices as they will lunch hours on the sand through Saturday, July 23.
“It’s hard to make up for eight practices,” Young said. “You always have a few stragglers that’ll come after camp, but they know the chances of them playing a whole lot are not going to be very good.”
MUHS players will sleep in Concordia University dorm room beds. But they won’t have much time to enjoy them, with four hours of practice beginning after a 5:30 a.m. breakfast wake-up call over the next five days.
“I don’t wake them up at 4 [a.m.], except if they’re late,” Young said. “Then I have them run with me. Most of them are smart enough that they don’t do that.”
By 7:45 a.m., they’re on the field for practice, with two more hours to focus on defense prior to 6:30 p.m. dinner.
Then, there are the team-building activities — Mingus Idol and dancing and eating contests sure to embarrass everyone who is not one of Young’s eight returning starters.
Four skill camps and 20 practices also come with the summer for MUHS football going into its Friday, Aug. 19, scrimmage with Chino Valley High School.
This past June, the Marauders emerged victorious over 16 high school teams from the Navajo Nation as well as New Mexico, Utah and Colorado at the Monument Valley seven-on-seven challenge.
“That’s one of the reasons I like going up there,” he said. “The reservation schools, honestly, weren’t all that great, but Coconino [High School] was.”
But Young was more impressed with the competition from 50 of California’s best at San Diego State University and the 24 teams in June camps at Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University.
“They were highly competitive,” he said. “We played Hamilton and Chandler [high schools] — the best teams in the state.”
Senior Trevor Galloway even struck out on his own June 25, competing in a prospect camp at the Colorado School of Mines.
“That’s where he wants to go,” Young said. “They’re looking at him as a tight end, but he’s such a good athlete that when he gets there, who knows?”
With all-new starters in the backfield, though, and senior three-position starter Trey Meyer having no varsity experience from Young’s 9-2 sectional champions to back him up, Young is looking for many of his young sophomores, like quarterback Antoine Zabala, to grow up quickly in the next month.
“We’ve got to start over with a lot of new guys,” Young said. “Defense is definitely our strong suit, but until they put the pads on, you really don’t know.”
For photos from Mingus’ youth skills camp and more information about Camp Verde High School’s inaugural youth football camp, please see the Wednesday, July 20, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
