Michael Sudhalter
Record Staff Writer
St. Mary's junior quarterback Pete Murdaca has been preparing for today's Nike Camp at Stanford University for the past two years. "It's definitely a big weekend for me," Murdaca said. "It's not pressure. I'm real confident, but there's real intimidation when you see those other guys. I'd say it's an important day, but not make or break. Make or break comes Sept. 10 when we play Jesuit in the season opener." Murdaca, who led the Rams to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinals, is one of 300 underclassmen to attend the Stanford Nike Camp, one of 12 Nike Camps and the top one on the West Coast. The camp runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Stanford campus.
Most of the players attending the camp are prep stars from Northern California, but others have come from as far away as Wisconsin and Virginia. Other attendees will be Lincoln's Curtis Shaw, Montrel Richardson and Stanley Arukwe of West , Escalon's Jaremy Puthoff and St. Mary's Gerome Surrell. With the exception of Surrell, all of the players will be seniors in the fall. The camp is free, but it's by invitation only. Prep coaches send in recommendations of their top returning players although preference is usually given to juniors. Football players can also send highlight tapes in hope of getting invited to the camp. Although Nike is the title sponsor, Student Sports runs the annual camp, which is attended by head college coaches and their staffs.
Student Sports editor Mark Tennis estimates that 25 to 50 head coaches will be in the crowd with notables like Cal's Jeff Tedford and USC's Pete Carroll present. According to Tennis, the athletes get their height and weight taken, and perform bench press and vertical leaps. The second set of tests involves a 40-yard dash and a 20-yard shuttle. After breaking up into groups for drills, the athletes are given position-specific instructions by camp coaches, and the camp concludes with one-on-one sessions in which players go up against each other. Tennis' magazine and Web site publish the testing results to its subscribers, creating a lot of interest among coaches and recruiting-obsessed fans. But some prep coaches are skeptical about the camp's importance. Said St. Mary's coach Tony Franks, "They don't put enough stock into what really matters, and that's how they play football. The (college) coaches start socializing and it's tough to focus in on one or two kids. If you do something eye-popping, it's good. There's only a couple of guys that can do that." One of those guys is Franks' former starting quarterback, Willie Tuitama, who started last fall as a true freshman for Arizona. "That's where our quarterbacks coach (Mike Canales) found me," said Tuitama, who will attend this year's camp and help Canales evaluate talent. "Going into the camp, some people knew me, some people didn't. It was just a good chance to showcase what I had."
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