Selling Points: Hargrave Post Grad Players Showcase Talents for College Scouts

Kent Walker has played in front of large crowds before, but this was different.

By Paul Long
This article is reprinted online with permission from the Danville Register and Bee. “Selling Points: Hargrave Post Grad Players Showcase Talents for College Scouts” first appeared December 2, 2008 in the Register and Bee. Paul Long is a Register and Bee sports writer.

CHATHAM — Kent Walker has played in front of large crowds before, but this was different.

This time, the watchful eyes along the sidelines belonged to a group of college coaches with the potential to shape his future.

Walker, an outside linebacker from Kittaning, Pa., was one of nearly 60 players from Hargrave Military Academy’s post-graduate football program who were auditioning Monday afternoon for about 300 coaches from as far away as New England and the Midwest.

“For a lot of people, it’s sort of their last chance,” Walker said. “It’s a big day for a lot of people, with these coaches here, to show what they can do. It is a little nerve-wracking.”

Every year, on the first Monday in December, Hargrave coach Robert Prunty and his staff host a workout which enables them to showcase their players for some of the top football programs in the nation.

“Today is the day where I’ve got to become the greatest salesman in America,” said Prunty, “as far as college football goes. I’ve got to sell every kid, and I’ve got 60-some kids to sell to some university or college. That’s part of my job.”

University of Mississippi coach Houston Nutt attended Monday’s workout, as did the sons of Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier. Ohio State, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina and North Carolina State were represented, along with smaller schools like Fairmont State, Livingstone, Gardner-Webb and Catawba.

Alabama coach Nick Saban and his Florida counterpart, Urban Meyer, are scheduled to visit next week, after the Crimson Tide and the Gators meet in this Saturday’s SEC championship game.

Through the years, Hargrave has become one of the top destinations on the recruiting trail. Its post-grad program has placed more than 300 players with Division I colleges, and at least 33 of those have gone on to play in the National Football League, including first-round draft picks Brandon Albert (Kansas City, 2008); Carlos Rogers (Washington, 2005); Jon Sullivan (New Orleans, 2003); Charles Grant (New Orleans, 2002) and Torry Holt (St. Louis, 1999).

“If you’re a coach, you can come see probably 50 of the top players in the country for one bus ticket,” said Hargrave president Wheeler Baker. “You don’t have to travel all around the country. We’ve got the cream of the crop standing right here. Plus you’ve had a year of academics, a year of structure. It’s a great market for the coaches.”

Nutt, who spent 10 seasons as the head coach at Arkansas before taking the Mississippi job just over a year ago, said he knows what to expect when he recruits here.

“I have a lot of experience with Hargrave,” Nutt said, “because we’ve signed some players. And they’ve always turned out very well, because they’ve been raised the right way and they have good work ethics, good attitudes, good school habits, and so it makes you want to come back here every year.”

Nick Siciliano, the offensive quality control coach at Ohio State, said that while recruiters often come to Hargrave to look at specific players, they often find some hidden gems once they arrive.

“You’ve got to have an open mind,” he said. “You always have guys that are on your radar screen, but you’ve got to keep your eyes and ears open and pay attention to everybody else that’s here. Because you never know, there may be somebody else here that catches your interest, that may be a great player that you just don’t know of yet.”

Nutt agreed. “Usually, we know about them, but then all of a sudden you get up here and you say, ‘ooh, who’s that?”

According to Prunty, his players often have some anxious moments leading up to the workout. “You know that you’re going to go out here and perform in front of all these schools,” he said. “You make a mistake, you’re like, ‘am I going to get a scholarship, am I going to lose one?’ I guarantee you, 95 percent of them didn’t sleep last night.”

Walker said he was trying not to dwell on what was at stake. “It’s like a game, really,” he said. “I just try to block all the coaches out, just try to go out and play it like a game. If you start to think about the scouts being around, then you start thinking too much, and you might mess up.”

Walker has drawn interest from Marshall, Kent State and Miami of Ohio, among others, but was taking a wait-and-see approach before making a commitment.

“I’m still trying to see if something else will come along,” he said.

Hargrave Military Academy logo.