INDIAN RIVER COUNTY–Twenty days on the road and football camp stops at 10 colleges in North Carolina, Boston, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Chicago, and South Bend – that was the itinerary of Vero Beach High School football players Connor Moore and Rakeem Marcelle, who enjoyed exactly one day off after school ended before hitting the road to North Carolina for that 20-day marathon.
That’s because it is common today for better high school football players to attend several competitive football camps throughout the country in June.
Stakes are high at these camps, where players compete for scholarship offers from some of the best colleges in the country.
“I’m just trying to get my name out there on this trip,” said Moore. “Hopefully I can perform at these camps as I know I can.”
All 10 of the schools visited on the trip were elite academic institutions befitting of student-athletes the caliber of both Moore and Marcelle.
Moore carries a 4.1 grade point average and scored a 1250 on his SAT, and Marcelle boasts a 4.0 grade point average and scored 1140 on his SAT.
“I’ve always prided myself on getting good grades,” said Marcelle. “I know I can’t rely on football my whole life, but I’ll use my grades to have a good life beyond football.”
John and Lee Moore had been through the recruiting process with their son, Jack, in 2009. They now know how the system works and how to make the system work for the student-athlete.
“John, Connor and I had already sat down for several hours at the table to strategically plan on taking Connor to camps this summer,” said trip chaperone Lee Moore.
“The mission has always been to take advantage of his athletic talents and academics to find a high quality football experience in college, while achieving a larger goal of attending an academically elite institution.”
“As it turns out, Rakeem’s goal was identical,” Moore added. “An opportunity presented itself when we realized that Rakeem needed to hit the road with us, so that the programs who were interested in Rakeem could solidify their interest.”
Moore, a 6-foot-2 255-pound junior offensive lineman, and Marcelle, a 5-foot-11 175-pound senior wide receiver, started their college tour in the Carolinas with Duke, Wake Forest, University of North Carolina, and ended with The Citadel.
After spending two days in Blowing Rock, NC, the trio drove to Charlotte to catch a flight bound for Burlington, VT. They made the short drive to Dartmouth just over the New Hampshire boarder in Hanover, where Moore and Marcelle were given the superstar treatment by Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens.
“Coach Teevens talked to Rakeem and I in his office for over an hour, which is much longer than any head coach spent with either one of us,” said Moore.
“He told us all about two of his former offensive tackles who were now CEO’s of major corporations, and other success stories from the football program there. I really enjoyed our visit to Dartmouth more than I thought I would – the campus was really beautiful.”
Gator fans might remember Teevens as Steve Spurrier’s passing game coordinator, and later, offensive coordinator at University of Florida from 1999 to 2001.
“It was fascinating to attend meetings with the head coaches of incredible schools like The Citadel and Dartmouth to hear the coaches tell Rakeem what they’re offering him,” said Lee Moore.
The Dartmouth offer was a pleasant surprise for Marcelle, but he had been in close contact with The Citadel for several weeks prior to his visit.
“The offer from The Citadel is pretty amazing,” Marcelle said. “They were a school who contacted me and they showed a lot of interest right off the bat. Dartmouth and The Citadel are some of the best schools in the nation. I never thought that I would have an opportunity like this to play there or go there.”
Dartmouth also took a big interest in Moore, and they will be one of the many schools recruiting him in the fall. He’s the reigning Junior Rank Camp (Tempe) MVP, and a player Duke knew about before he showed up for camp.
“Duke has a nice campus with great architecture, and they have a great coaching staff,” Connor Moore said. “That was also probably my best camp. Matt Luke, their offensive line coach and running game coordinator, praised me on my film.”
After leaving Dartmouth, the trio drove three hours south to meet the Harvard football staff and continued on by air to the Chicagoland area to participate in camps at Notre Dame and Northwestern.
Coaches from Western Michigan and Notre Dame talked to Moore and Marcelle at these stops, where the Western Michigan coaches praised former teammate, Broncos defensive tackle Travonte Boles.
A flight back east to New Jersey started the final leg of the trip, where they drove to Princeton and Rutgers.
Princeton gave Moore and Marcelle plenty of attention, but at Rutgers the Vero Beach boys were given the celebrity treatment.
Rutgers football chief of staff and assistant to the head coach Todd Greineder gave Moore and Marcelle a full, personalized tour of the football facility.
Greinader was tipped off about their visit by his former business partner, certified strength and conditioning specialist Tom Siano of Complete Athletic Training in Vero Beach.
After 10 colleges and 20 days on the road, Rutgers was the end of the line the Moores and Marcelle.
“The Moore family really treats me like one of their own, and I’m very grateful they invited me on this trip,” Marcelle said.
“Getting this kind of exposure is going to help me get into a really good school.”
“Rakeem is like family (at this point), and I can’t say enough about how awesome my mom has been,” Connor Moore added. “She’s done everything without any hesitation, and she’s fit all the pieces of the puzzle together by herself. She’s superwoman.”
