MHSAA, MHSFCA to Provide Spring Evaluation Camps for College Football Hopefuls
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 27, 2023
The Michigan High School Athletic Association, in partnership with the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association (MHSFCA), will be hosting first-ever Spring Evaluation Camps to provide athletes with aspirations of playing college football opportunities to show their skills and abilities to college coaches at one of five locations.
The one-day camps will take place between May 15-18 at Jenison High School, DeWitt High School, Jackson High School, Brighton High School and Detroit Country Day High School. The MHSAA’s involvement will allow for the opportunity for Division I college coaches to attend, and representatives from college football programs at all levels are expected.
Athletes who will be juniors or seniors in Fall 2023 may register to participate via a link on the Football page.
“This is an attempt by the MHSAA to help our athletes get exposure during the spring evaluation period in a way that does not intrude on spring sports,” said Brad Bush, an MHSAA assistant director and past high school and college football coach. “We are working with the MHSFCA to help put together a first-class experience for the athletes and college coaches.”
Cost is $20 per player, and each registrant will receive a shirt to wear based on the athlete’s graduation year and registration number so college coaches in attendance can monitor their camp performance. College coaches also will receive registration information for each athlete in attendance.
All athletes must have a coach from the athlete’s school staff present at the camp, and that coach must be a member of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association.
MHSFCA executive director Andrew Pratley called the Spring Evaluation Camps a tremendous opportunity for high school athletes in Michigan.
“We are very excited with the partnership with the MHSAA that allows our kids the opportunity to wear a helmet and do drills in front of college coaches in the spring at a minimal cost,” Pratley said. “College coaches are thrilled, and it's a unique opportunity to have the rules waived by the MHSAA at these events only in order to showcase the tremendous talent all over the great state of Michigan.”
The Michigan High School Football Coaches Association (MHSFCA) has been devoted to the promotion of high school football since its inception in March 1972. The MHSFCA has more than 2,500 members and provides several educational and development opportunities for members and their athletes, including an annual coaching clinic, an annual leadership conference for coaches and potential team captains, and the annual summer East-West All-Star Game for graduated seniors. Additionally, the MHSFCA’s Leadership Development Alliance is in its third year of training coaches and offering veteran members of the association as mentors.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.
MHSAA Spring Tournaments Soon to Begin as Calendar Turns to May
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 3, 2023
The wintery weather inevitably will loosen its grip across Michigan, and perhaps just in time with the first Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason events for this Spring 2023 season only a few weeks away and seeding for three of those tournaments soon to be announced.
Slightly more than 100,000 Michigan high school student-athletes participated in 2022 in spring sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason competition – baseball, girls and boys lacrosse, girls soccer, softball, girls and boys track & field, boys golf (Lower and Upper Peninsula) and girls golf (UP), and girls (LP) and boys (UP) tennis.
This spring’s tournaments will incorporate a few changes, with the most notable in girls lacrosse as the top two teams in every Girls Lacrosse Regional will be seeded and placed on opposite sides of the bracket for the first time. Seeds will be determined by using the MHSAA’s Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) formula, which takes into account success and strength of schedule and also is used currently to provide seeding information in boys lacrosse, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys soccer, and ice hockey. Only the top two teams in girls lacrosse will be seeded and separated; the other teams in each Regional will be placed on their brackets by random draw. Seeds and full brackets will be posted Sunday, May 7, on the girls lacrosse page of the MHSAA Website.
Golf, tennis and girls soccer also have changes that will be noticeable over these next seven weeks.
In golf, the maximum number of strokes allowed per hole during MHSAA Tournament play has been reduced from 12 to 10. Also, teams will be allowed two school-approved coaches to be present and actively coaching during postseason rounds.
In tennis, the number of players who may be seeded at No. 1 singles has been increased to seven if there are between 21-23 players in the field, and eight if the field includes 24 or more players at that flight. The No. 1 singles flight is the only flight that allows for individual qualifiers from Regional play, often making it larger than the other seven flights at the Finals.
In girls soccer, the two seeded teams at the District level will host their games if those games are not scheduled to be played at a prearranged host site. For these Districts, the No. 1 seed gets hosting priority, followed by the No. 2 seed, followed by the team on the top line of the bracket. Girls Soccer District brackets, with seeds, will be posted May 14 on the MHSAA Website.
Boys Lacrosse Regional brackets, which also are seeded, will be posted May 10 to the MHSAA Website.
The 2022-23 Spring campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Golf and Boys Tennis Finals on May 31 and June 1 and wraps up with Girls Soccer, Baseball and Softball Finals on June 17. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Baseball
Districts – May 25-June 3
Regional Semifinals – June 7
Regional Finals, Quarterfinals – June 10
Semifinals – June 15-16
Finals – June 17
Golf
LP Boys Regionals – May 29-June 3
UP Girls & Boys Finals – May 31 or June 1
LP Boys Finals – June 9-10
Boys Lacrosse
Pre-Regionals – May 12-17
Regionals – May 18-31
Quarterfinals – June 2-3
Semifinals – June 7
Finals – June 10
Girls Lacrosse
Pre-Regionals – May 18-22
Regionals – May 24-June 3
Semifinals – June 7
Finals – June 10
Girls Soccer
Districts – May 24-June 3
Regionals – June 6-10
Semifinals – June 13-14
Finals – June 16-17
Softball
Districts – May 24-June 3
Regionals – June 10
Quarterfinals – June 13
Semifinals – June 15-16
Finals – June 17
Tennis
LP Girls Regionals – May 17-20
UP Boys Finals – May 31 or June 1
LP Girls Finals – June 2-3
Track & Field
Regionals – May 18-20
Finals – June 3