Camp Savage offers an education in football for Free
By JOEY WARNER
Most football camps cost high school players four or five hundred dollars and the kid will not get nearly as much training as he will receive free of charge at “Camp Savage,” which is a 3-day instructional camp conducted by Mobile’s Phil Savage.
Savage spent three days teaching nearly 150 players on-the-field and off-the-field leadership skills at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in the mornings and Fairhope Municipal Stadium in the evenings in June.
For eighteen years, Savage, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Cleveland Browns has hosted his own football skillscamp in his hometown.
“We started this camp in 1990 with 12 kids, missed 1991, and started back in 1992 and have kept it alive through the years and now have nearly 150 participants on both sides of the Bay between the two camps,” Savage said. “We have had a lot of great players come through but more importantly, we have given players an opportunity to improve and learn how to practice over the course of the Summer and that is where they get better.”
Savage started this camp because he wanted to offer a free camp to kids that may not have the financial backing to attend expensive collegiate camps. “We felt like w e could offer a free camp when every kid in the area would have an opportunity to have an experience in this camp setting,” Savage said. “We are not their coaches and will not determine their play time. We are here to assist them and supplement their football education.”
Savage credits his Dad, Phil Sr., for supporting him with the camp through the years by talking to the parents, coaches and adults that work the perimeter of the field.
“I support what Phil is doing because I know it comes from his heart and I try to help him by giving people the information that Phil wants me to give,” his father said. “I basically pat him on his back and try to inspire him but it is the campers that come through here that makes him want to come back every year.”
Collegiate and professional coaches and scouts also assist Phil in the camp designed for high school quarterbacks, receivers and skilled players.
“I have always brought a handful of scouts that help and have stayed away from bringing the celebrity players to the camp because it takes away from the instruction and the teaching of fundamentals at the camp,” Savage said. “The camp is for the kids and is not for the promotion of some celebrity.”
According to Savage, each day starts with a meeting and we look a footage from the20Browns as examples of what the kids are going to learn and then we have a walk-through of what we are going to put in that day before spending two hours on the field.
“We close each day in the meeting room and give the kids a chance to see themselves on video at ground level so they can have a different perspective of the techniques we are teaching them,” Savage said. “We talk a lot about off-the-field behavior, how to make a first impression, the importance of keeping grades up in school for a chance to go to College, and teach ways to stay connected with the game of football when you are not a player.”
Savage conducts the camp on both sides of the Bay twice a day so the kids that work can have an opportunity to attend one of the sessions.
“It is just pure football with no controversies and it is just a lot of fun,” Savage concluded.
Chisom Opara of Atlanta is a Southeastern area scout and Bobby Vega of North Carolina is a Northeastern area scout for the Cleveland Browns.
Opara and Vega help with the instruction like a coach on the field and the behind-the-scenes organization and function of the camp.
“I help out with the receivers and work on the fundamentals of stances and starts and we add a different drill each day and try to build on what we taught the day before,D Opara said. “By the time they leave, we want the player to have a basic understanding of the passing game so they can apply it and work on it themselves so they
can take their game to the next level.”
“We try to break down the different fundamentals for the running backs and instill these things in these young players and install different concepts and schemes that offenses focus on,” Vega said.
Mary Montgomery high school running backs coach Herb Spies brought two quarterbacks and five receivers to the camp.
“My fist year at the camp was in 1994 at UMS-Wright where I was a coach at the time,” Spies said. “This is a high quality camp and I am an advocate of it because it forms athletes to be positive people on the field as well as off the field.”
Nearly 1,500 athletes have participated in the camps over the years, including former Williamson quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell and Tee Martin and Daphne alumnus Pat White.
Russell starred at LSU and became the NFL’s number one draft choice by the Oakland Raiders in 2007; Martin led the University of Tennessee to a National Championship in 1998 and White is presently a Heisman Trophy candidate at the University of West Virginia.
Savage, 43, is a 1983 Murphy high school graduate that played football and baseball at the University of the South (Sewanee, Tenn.). He earned a B.A. in English and was a three-time All-Conference shortstop in baseball. He received a Master’s degree in physical education from the University of Alabama in 1989.
Savage was named Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Cleveland Browns in 2005. He is an 18-year veteran of the NFL and is known throughout the NFL as one of the league’s top talent evaluators.
“After I finished playing at Sewanee, I really wanted to stay connected to the game and I thought coaching might be an avenue to pursue,” Savage said.
In 1987, Savage joined Bill Curry’s staff at the University of Alabama as a graduate assistant. In 1988-89, he coached tight ends before offensive coordinator Homer Smith took Savage under his wing before both of them went to UCLA in similar roles.
“Coach Smith and I became close and he was number one mentor and is one of the most brilliant men I have ever been around,” Savage said. “I learned about ninety-percent of what I know about football from Coach Smith.”
In 1991, the Cleveland Browns called and he became part of Bill Belichick’s first coaching staff and worked under then-defensive coordinator Nick Saban.
When the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1996, he became the director of college scouting, a post he held for seven years before being promoted to director of player personnel prior to the 2003 NFL Draft.
Prior to rejoining the Browns in 2005, Savage spent the previous nine seasons with the Baltimore organization, including the last two (2003-04) as the Ravens’ Director of Player Personnel and worked directly with general manager Ozzie Newsome to oversee both college and pro scouting.
Savage has played a role in the Browns’ improvement from a 6-10 record in 2005, 4-12 in 2006 to an impressive 10-6 mark in 2007.
In his nine years with the Ravens organization, Savage witnessed the franchise earn three post-season appearances with a 5-2 record, including winning Super Bowl XXXV over the New York Giants in 2000.
“I was one of about twenty that went to Baltimore from Cleveland but I am the only one that has actually gone back to Cleveland,” Savage said.
Savage’s father, Phil Sr., who was a star in baseball and football at Murphy high school in the mid fifties, supports everything his son
has done for football.
“Phil’s mother and I are very proud of our son’s success because he has had the desire to work hard and dedicate himself to paying his dues to get to where he is today,” his father said. “It has been like putting together the pieces of a puzzle with a lot of blessings and most of all, his faith has carried him through the tough times.”
In addition to all that he does for athletes, Phil and his brother, Joe, have partnered together in organizing Winners Influence. Their idea is to ‘influence the influencers’ across the nation by ministering to NFL coaches and scouts, business leaders and pastors.
For more information, visit www.winnersinfluence.com.
