TRYOUT FAILS ITS TRYOUT : Attendance at First Football Test Camp Falls Short of Expectations--98.7% Short

The water coolers were still full.

Many of the helpers, originally totaling 30, had been sent home. Those remaining twirled stop watches, shifted back and forth on their feet and looked around for signs of life.

Organizers of a high school football tryout camp had expected as many as 300 athletes to show up at San Diego High Saturday to test their abilities in leaping, sprinting and the bench press. Results would be printed in a new publication, available to colleges, called “The Football Scouting Report: The High School Athlete.”

The idea belongs to Rob Carlson, chairman of the physical education department at San Diego State. Saturday was the first of 13 testing days scheduled throughout California this summer.

And four players showed up.

Four.

Fred Hammond, Carlson’s assistant, was appropriately deflated, reaching for an explanation. He had to tell the helpers to pack up equipment just after 10 a.m. on a day he’d hoped to work well into the afternoon. Day 1 bombed, and Hammond wasn’t exactly sure why.

“If you know the reason, tell me,” Hammond said. “I do not know. I don’t have the answer.”

Nobody could quite put a finger on it.

“This is just amazing to me,” said Steve Ferguson, one assistant.

“Really disappointing,” said Bill Taylor, another assistant. “I was expecting to be busy all day.”

Carlson, who hopes to provide accurate information for college recruiters and give athletes an opportunity to prove their abilities, will take his crew through Palm Desert, Walnut, Pasadena, Santa Rosa, Pleasanton, Sacramento, Atherton, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Westminster and Tustin. Naturally, he’s hoping business picks up, having already spent more than $20,000 out of his own pocket to get the program off the ground.

“We’ll just have to see how it goes,” he said. “I think it’s well thought out. I think the need is there. I am very concerned about legitimate student/athletes getting into colleges and universities.”

Carlson can’t be accused of plunging in without doing his homework. He came up with the idea in the early 1970s, after directing off-season conditioning for athletes at the University of Kansas. Last October, Carlson began contacting high school and college coaches to get feedback. Then in April, he gave the program a dress rehearsal at Crawford High School, testing members of the football team and putting together a report complete with personal information on each athlete, including grade point averages.

He also checked to make sure the program didn’t violate NCAA rules. For it to be legal, it could not be connected with SDSU, information gathered had to be be made available to all universities and Carlson would not be allowed to provide information not included in the report to any school. Carlson said he received clearance from the NCAA in writing.

Among local high school coaches, there is skepticism. John Shacklett, coach of defending 3-A champion Morse, wonders whether this type of testing might raise false expectations among athletes not possessing Division I talent.

“I first thought it was just another way of getting money from kids,” Shacklett said. “I think that a number of (coaches) were concerned about the fact that we felt it was kind of a gimmick. Coaches tend to be extremely protective of their kids.”

One possible explanation for the dismal turnout was the $40 registration fee. Several coaches told Hammond and Carlson it was exorbitant, though Carlson says it was just enough to cover the operation costs, including liability insurance and facility rental.

One of the athletes who did show up Saturday was satisfied he had been given his money’s worth. Matt Begley, a senior who plays left guard and nose guard for Monte Vista, said he arrived early to avoid the crowd. He enjoyed the testing, though maybe not the results.

“It kind of hurts your ego a little bit,” he said. “You come here thinking you’re a lot faster and stronger than you really are.”

Begley said the cost might have deterred some.

“That’s the only reason I can think of,” he said. “My dad paid for it, so I didn’t argue.” Carlson took out a full-page advertisement in California Football magazine, and letters were sent to 625 prospects statewide. Still, local awareness was evidently not what it should have been, evidenced by Shacklett saying: “To be honest, I didn’t even know they were having it today.”

Is it money well spent? Well, a blue-chip athlete figures to be under everybody’s microscope anyway. In the case of players such as Ty Morrison and Darrell Lewis, who graduated from Morse and accepted football scholarships to play at Ohio State, publicity isn’t necessary.

“The kids that can play Division I football are going to be found,” Shacklett said. “Those kids are identified.”

El Camino Coach Herb Meyer agreed.

“The primary place for it, I think, is for the marginal athlete,” he said. “This would be a place where he could perform for some people to possibly get exposure.”

And it might save recruiters some unnecessary trips. The joke circulating Saturday’s event was about players listed as monsters in their high school programs but who don’t look quite so imposing on the field.

“A lot of coaches say their players are 6-8, 345 and run a 4.2 (40-yard dash),” Begley said. “This kind of brings it more down to earth.”