This Saturday, Virginia Tech will host a Nike Football Training Camp. By now, you've surely heard about that, but unless you follow recruiting closely, you may not know exactly what a Nike camp is. You also may not know what a big deal it is for recruiting. Rest assured that hosting a Nike camp is indeed a big deal, and we've put together this article to give you the basics on what the camps are, who attends, and what the recruiting rules are.

The Nike camps are on their sixth year. Eleven of them are held nationwide, at college campuses around the country, so it's a coup to get one of them to come to Blacksburg. This year's camps are:

You get the idea -- this year's camps are at USC, Miami, Florida, Michigan, Penn State, Texas A&M, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Oregon, and Washington. That's an impressive list of schools, and VT should be proud to be included.

So what happens at the camps? Nike -- and the organization that runs the camps, StudentSports.com -- insist that the camps are not combines, and indeed, a large part of the camp consists of Speed, Agility, and Quickness (SAQ) drills, plus position-specific drills and one-on-one coaching, all designed to improve an athlete's ability to perform in drills and on the field.

But the athletes are also measured for height and weight and are given the chance to participate in optional combine-style drills: 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle, bench press, and vertical jump. Times are recorded for distribution, unless an athlete asks to have his marks "scratched," in which case they're not recorded.

Add to that the presence of college coaches from the region, and a Nike camp, like any summer football camp, serves not only for instruction but for evaluation of players. Coaches will get an up-close look at some of the best football players in the region and the nation, and be able to evaluate things that can't be seen readily on high school films: body frame, footwork, attitude, potential, etc.

Sure, Virginia Tech holds their own football camp every summer, and in recent years, the camp has grown to the point where there are 500-700 campers, or more, in any given year. But out of those hundreds of campers, only a handful will be Division 1-A prospects. 300 athletes will attend this Saturday's Nike camp, which is only half as many people as a regular VT football camp, but the difference is that out of those 300, scores of them will be not just Division 1-A prospects, but some of the top prospects regionally and nationally.

A Nike camp is obviously a golden recruiting opportunity, because not only do the host coaches get to see the players, but the players get to see Virginia Tech's campus and athletic facilities, without VT having to pay for the trip as an official visit.

So a lot of evaluating gets to happen without VT coaches having to travel, and a visit by the prospect to the campus happens without the VT athletic department having to pay for it or use up official visits, which are limited by the NCAA.

So what are the VT coaches allowed to do, and more importantly, what are they not allowed to do?

First of all, the VT coaches are not allowed to talk to the players or their families. If a player's high school coach is present, the VT coaches can talk to the high school coach.

The VT coaches are only allowed to get as close as any other spectator, but not closer. Nike camps have defined areas where spectators can gather, and the VT coaches are free to get that close, but no closer. So they can't, for example, stand right at the finish line of the forty yard dash and time players, and they can't stand right there while a player runs a shuttle drill.

If the drills are held in Lane Stadium, you might find the VT coaches sitting in the stands. Or if the drills are held on the VT football practice field, maybe the VT coaches will cluster in the tower and watch from there.

If any one of the VT coaches -- from whatever vantage point they choose -- watches a player perform a drill, then that counts as an "evaluation" of the player. That's important, because college coaches are only allowed to evaluate a player three times: twice during the spring (specifically, April 15th through May 31st), and once in the fall. That's it.

Only seven VT coaches can be present at any given time. This is not a camp-specific rule, but rather an NCAA rule. If another coach wants to watch, one of the original seven must first leave.

Since it's a free country, any prospect that attends the camp is free to check out VT's facilities and even wander around campus, but again, the VT coaches are not allowed to talk to the prospect.

Okay, so what if a camp attendee is roaming through Merryman Center, checking things out, and VT recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh comes around the corner and finds himself face-to-face with the athlete? Cavanaugh can either (1) turn around and walk the other way; (2) walk by without saying anything; or (3) if the athlete speaks to him, Cavanaugh must inform him that under NCAA rules, he's not allowed to talk to him.

What if a player is walking around and decides he wants to speak to VT's coaches and learn more about VT? Here's where the rules get a little odd. In order to do that, the player must depart campus and return the day following the last day of the camp -- in this case, Sunday, May 18th -- if he wants to speak to VT's coaches.

Note that if a player does that -- leaves on Saturday, comes back on Sunday, and talks to the VT coaches -- then that makes it an unofficial visit (an unpaid visit) for the prospect to Virginia Tech. Assuming that the camp attendees are made fully aware of the rules at the start of the camp, it's possible that some of them may exercise that option of returning Sunday and using it as an unofficial visit.

So the Nike camp is beneficial for recruiting in three ways:

1.) Recruits see the VT facilities and possibly the VT campus at no cost to VT, and without VT having to use official or unofficial visits.

2.) VT coaches get to evaluate athletes as they go through combine-style drills.

3.) Recruits who otherwise might not have considered VT might return Sunday and make an unofficial visit out of it, establishing a relationship with the VT coaches and becoming a recruiting target.

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