Went back to the DC/Virginia/Maryland area this past weekend for Curome Cox — my college teammate and current teammate. He had his first annual free camp for the Curome Cox Foundation. There were about 350 kids there — it was amazing. Had a lot of big sponsors. Some other players went out there. Brian Clark came out. Madieu Williams from the Bengals, another college teammate of ours, was there. Demetrin Veal and Elvis Dumervil were there and a couple of other players.

We had a really good time with the camp and we spoke to the kids at the end about the general things that you speak to kids about — teamwork, dedication, hard work, school and all these things and how you need to have priorities and football is not always the number one priority at that age.

Working camps are hard. Those kids are pretty tough. I ended up having a station in the corner; we were doing agility drills. When I got there Curome sent me to the corner with no direction. But he was so busy; it was his first one and he was trying to take care of everything. It was rotating stations, so the first group that came over we did some basic agility drills that everybody could get a handle of. It ended up being kind of boring, so I turned it into a big competition. So then when the kids came over they were competing in little relays and football-related agility drills. The kids really loved that — everybody likes to compete.

I guess it’s not always good because there was a distinct winner and loser. But that’s life — they have to pick it up some time. If you lost, then you better work harder next time. Good rules of life.

But I spent the whole weekend in the Virginia/DC/Maryland area, which meant I missed my favorite hockey team play. And apparently they needed me there, because they notched another one in the “L” column. But we’ll be back strong next week, I know it.

It was nice to be back on the east coast to see some people and friends and family. I’m definitely happy to be back in Denver, because the humidity — ugh. It was like 96 degrees, but as soon as you stepped outside or got out of your car it felt like weights on your back. I was just bragging about Denver all weekend, about how it doesn’t feel like this there and it’s so nice in Denver. I have to pass that information on.

I’ve been thinking all weekend about what we’re going to do tonight in class. Nate Jackson actually is a very talented writer. He’s been taking writing classes the last couple offseasons. So I talked to him this morning and he gave me some really good ideas.

I think we’re going to do a poetry unit tonight. Last week we did college essays, and thats was really good. A couple of the girls are headed into their senior year, so this is a real important time for college for them. After we do the poetry thing I think I’m going to stay after and try to focus their efforts.

Of course my experience getting ready for college was a little different, so I don’t know exactly all the ins and outs. But I’ve getting the people from College in Colorado to help me. Their web site really is amazing, and I’m not just saying that because my handsome face is on it. I went on there and it has exactly what you should be doing to get ready for college I think from about sixth grade all the way to your senior year. Obviously the things in sixth grade are a lot milder, but it has things that you need to be looking at, things you need to be checking out, things you need to be aware of all the way from the sixth grade. I printed out a couple of pages of that and I’m going to give it to a couple of the girls and we’re going to go through it.

I think I might pick up some college applications so we can go over filling those out. And we’re going to probably refine our admission essays. I actually got a connection with somebody at Arapahoe Community College in their admissions department, and she’s going to help us and go over what we need to go over. Like I said, my experience was different. I picked which school I wanted to go to, whereas they need a school to pick them. So we’ll see.

My brother’s coming in town this weekend. I think we’re going to head up to the mountains — him, my dad and my cousin. We’re going to head up to the mountains and do some little outdoorsy Colorado stuff. Probably some fishing and some kayaking, that sort of stuff. I’ve been up there once or twice — it’s a lot of fun. I just think it will be good after Father’s Day weekend. That should be a great time. I did spend Father’s Day away from my dad, but men don’t really get all mushy like that anyway.

Tags: Brian Clark, College in Colorado, Curome Cox, Demetrin Veal, Elvis Dumervil, Hockey, Nate Jackson, Writing

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