A golden chance to impress WSU, UW

FOR HIGH SCHOOL seniors-to-be like Tere Calloway of Seattle, Kahlil Dawson of Graham and Jake Gall of Cle Elum, this Friday's Northwest Elite Football Camp on Mercer Island is far more than a chance to learn from some of the best minds in the game. It's a chance to stand out in the crowd -- and there will indeed be a large throng on hand -- in front of college coaches from WSU, UW and elsewhere.

Calloway, Dawson and Gall all have scholarship offers in hand, but none has one from either of the two big home-state schools and Friday offers a first-hand chance to impress those coaches, as well as a host of others from the likes of Arizona State, Idaho and Boise State.

The Cougars have expressed interest in all three intriguing prospects. Calloway is a running back and defensive back from Seattle Prep who could play on either side of the ball in college. He holds offers from Colorado, Purdue, Syracuse and others. Dawson is a corner from Graham-Kapowsin High with an offer from Wyoming, and Gall is a linebacker/running back from Roslyn High whose sole offer at this stage is from Butler.

Those three will be among more than 600 area prospects registered for Friday evening's fourth annual Northwest Elite Camp. The list of colleges who will have coaches there is long. Besides those mentioned above, some of the others are Nevada, Montana and Eastern Washington.

At least two players with WSU offers already in hand will be there: linebacker Peyton Pelluer of Skyline High and athlete Isaac Dotson of Newport High.

Washington State is sending four coaches to the camp: defensive coordinator Mike Breske and assistant coaches Jeff Choate, Eric Russell and Eric Morris. In addition, former Cougar players Tony Thompson, Gary Rogers and Greg Prator will be helping run the camp. (Kenny Alfred was also going to help out but he's under doctor's orders to rest an injury.)

Camp director, former WSU QB Cole Morgan told CF.C the player response has been huge.

“We are now officially at capacity," he said Thursday. "Early registration is now closed. For the campers who have registered but not yet paid, they’re not yet confirmed for the camp, but they can take care of it via the link in the confirmation email we sent them,” said Morgan.

The camp is sponsored by Adrenaline Fundraising, an organization that structures and promotes fundraising programs for high school sports teams across the nation.

Baden is the exclusive provider of the footballs that will be used at the camp, and Cougfan.com is the official WSU news, information and opinion site for the camp, said Morgan.

Morgan also said for next year, schools like WSU, Oregon State and UCLA are planning on scheduling their camps and events around the Northwest Elite Camp in order to be able to send as many of their coaches as possible. WSU's staff had prior scheduling commitments this year but juggled some things around in order to send their four coaches. UW is scheduled to send as many as 12, he said.