FBU Bay Area Metro Hosts Tryouts In Palo Alto
FBU Bay Area Metro hosted tryouts Saturday, October 1st in Palo Alto, CA to continue building for its regional squad with hopes of putting together an all-star team that has what it takes to make it to FBU Nationals in Naples, Florida. There were about 40 youth football players in attendance, with some athletes driving over 80 miles to get a shot at making the all-star squad.
For those of you unaware, FBU, formally known as Football University, is a position-specific football training experience company with NFL coaches. They deem themselves as the place where football players are made better. FBU hosts camps and other player experiences all over the United States with the specific focus of helping football players excel at the highest level.
The FBU National Championship is the premier youth football tournament for 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade athletes, with more than 4,000 athletes participating in the tournament each year. Teams from across the country compete to make their way to Naples, Florida, where the final eight teams in each grade play to win a National Championship title. Each year Regional Directors, such as Bay Area Metro's Coach Carl Wilson, assemble teams from some of the best youth football teams in their respective areas with hopes of advancing to and winning a National Championship for their respective home towns. It's a true battle of regions. Additional FBU events in Naples include the FBU Freshman All-American Bowl powered by adidas, for the country’s top freshman, and the FBU National Invitational Championship, for the top 9U and 10U teams. The Palo Alto tryout was the third of this season in the Northern California area with the final cuts occurring on October 22, 2017 in Antioch, CA.
The tryout started off with traditional combine-type drills where athletes ran 40 yard dashes and also completed an assortment of agility drills, including the 3 cone drill and aptly named L-drill. After the testing drills, the athletes transitioned into competition drills to see how they performed against each other in live action. They finished up with some play-calling to see how quickly players can catch onto an offensive playbook.
The drills were conducted by local area performance trainers and coaches, including Coach Adrian Cooper and Coach Mori Suesue. Both coaches also coach local area 7-on-7 teams. As far as athletes, there were some local well-known players, including Zeke Berry, Kenny Moore & Devin Rasmussen, as well as many others trying to build a name for themselves.
We look forward to following the FBU Bay Area Metro team this year and continuing to document their journey. The Bay Area Metro region is ripe with youth football talent looking to get discovered on a national scale. The entire Bay Area metropolitan region has tons of kids that can really play even though they do not get the same exposure as some of the more well known football hotbeds such as Los Angeles Metro, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania or South Florida.
Check out some of the footage below!
Youth football players from the Palo Alto Area try out for a Bay Area Metro all-star youth football team