WESTWOOD — Micah Amedee did not have to participate in Thursday night’s Catholic Conference Football Showcase at his high school, Xaverian.
The 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive linemen did not have a necessity for it, as he is already a verbal commit to Boston College.
But the fact that he did, anyway, says a lot both about who he is as a competitor, and the showcase itself.
“Extra work. You can always get better,” Amedee said. “Always improve. Always get faster. Work on your craft. I just believe that extra work helps you to get one percent better every day.”
The Catholic Conference Football Showcase is one of many that have popped up recently. The Hockomock League had one. There was another in the Merrimack Valley that was also very popular. The NEPSAC schools do a three-day run around the region. It allows college coaches to get up close and personal with potential recruits. On Thursday night, over 100 athletes performed in front of roughly 40 college coaches.
It feels like the future of New England college football recruiting.
“It’s inclusive to just the Catholic Conference,” said Xaverian coach Al Fornaro of Thursday night’s event. “It’s one-stop shopping to all those college coaches. Even though they still may visit, they can come here, see all the boys in our league, going out there doing various drills and competing. And they don’t necessarily have to go to perhaps a larger showcase, which helps them a little bit. Also, some of our young men who might not necessarily go to a showcase out in Springfield or somewhere else, they can come right here and get eyes on them early.”
St. John’s Prep coach Brian St. Pierre had a somewhat smaller contingent because some of his players had commitments with other sports. But he was watching his kids compete.
“It’s like a one-stop shop for players and for coaches,” St. Pierre said. “I think the college coaches love it because you get to see a huge amount of athletes from a great conference. You get to see the players in person, and it’s local. You get in front of these guys. I think it’s great. I understand the premise behind all of it. I think you have to be prepared going into this. There needs to be some training leading up to it. That’s where we can help them going forward. I think at my school, having this on the calendar a little earlier and knowing about it would really help us.”
New BC High coach Paul Zukauskas was happy to see every NESCAC program represented.
“It’s incredibly important, and it’s great for kids to understand what type of schools they are,” Zukauskas said. “At Lawrence Academy, we had eight kids who played in the NESCAC. Those were kids that wanted to play at a ‘higher level,’ quote-unquote, and these are like some of the best players in our league, and they’re sometimes better than Division 1 kids, they’re just not as tall and not as fast.”
One player who was popular with coaches was Malden Catholic Edge Ben Howard, who stood at 6-3, 220 and was impressive in drills.
“It feels great talking to different coaches,” Howard said. “A great experience, and thankful for the Catholic Conference to see these schools come together and do this. I did learn about different schools and what they want from my type of player, a d-end. They told me what to work on and what I need to improve on.”
