Blair continues tradition at Manning Passing Academy
It has become quite the family tradition for one Tipp City family.
The third of the Blair brothers finally made his first trip to the Manning Passing Academy, held at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. As incoming eighth grader Colt Blair followed the footsteps of his older brothers Zach and Dylan as part of the most prestigious football passing academy in the country. Blair, who is part of a very successful group of future Red Devils, returned from camp after finally being old enough to be a part of this event hosted by Archie, Peyton, Eli and Cooper Manning.
“It was so cool to be one of the lucky quarterbacks to get the opportunity to go to Manning Passing Academy,” he said. “My mom had to register me back in August of last year in order to get in. Getting to meet quarterbacks from all the big-time schools was an amazing experience.” “There is so much football knowledge located all in one place, and you can just soak everything up from them. Not only did you learn from the football teaching points, but also just getting to talk with them every day about all of their college stories and the work they all have to put in in order to play at such a high level. Just being surrounded by all of those football minds is definitely my happy place for sure.”
Blair got to pick the brains of several quarterbacks who have made it to the college level, and just being around that much talent is sure to help him grow at his position, just as his brothers did before him. “There were over 45 Division One quarterbacks at the camp, and they served as the coaches,” he said, while also meeting Jon Gruden on the first day of camp. “I made a throw and turned around and some guy told me “Nice throw," and gave me a high five. As I jogged away, I realized who it was. So I stopped, went back, and stood and talked with him for a few minutes. Since he played at UD, we had an instant connection.”
“Eli was one of my coaches and so working with him was so cool. I also got to work with Miller Moss, Noah Fifita, Gio Lopez, and Avery Johnson just to name a few. The camp schedule was four days long, and three of the days were 12-hour days. Sounds pretty long, but to me it was not long enough.” Blair also noted that Peyton and Eli talked about their lives and answered questions about anything from football to faith, which was a once-in-a-lifetime listen according to Blair. The youngest Blair remembers when he was younger waiting his turn to get to attend camp. “ I can vividly remember dropping my brothers and dad off to the airport and remember thinking I'm going to do this when I'm bigger,” he said. “As I got older, listening to all of Zack and Dylan's stories just increased my anticipation. You cannot attend the camp until you are entering eighth grade, so this was my first chance to go. I now understand everything they told me.”
“To actually get to go to this camp and others that my big brothers have done is like a dream come true to me. We all three share a love and passion for the game of football, which started with our dad. It's kind of cool to all have that connection that just belongs to us. Of course, there are always arguments over which one of our teams would beat the other. They both know my team would win though!” Bair has been part of a group of players who have been together since third grade, and they have a very impressive 52-0 heading into their eighth-grade season. They won all four Super Bowls in Pee Wee and were undefeated last year as seventh graders in the MVL.
While about 15 of the players have been together since the third grade, the roster from last year’s unbeaten seventh grade team includes Anthony Szwarc, Dalton Stuchell, Bryce Bruns, Bradley Clark, Henry Browarsky, Alex Eilerman, Wyatt Isaac, AJ Escobedo, Mason Treiber, Lawton Carmichael, Eli Fine, Ramsey Nicholls, Everett Schmidt, Gabriel Barnes, Mason Beisel, Anderson Kopp, Aiden Coppess, Burke Brown, Nate Riffell, Dylan Gossett, Cole Hartledge, Liam Hutton, Sawyer Reckers, and Blair.
