DETROIT — The 2024 NFL Draft will be held downtown this weekend in the glamorous capital of the football world. Just a few blocks away is Ford Field, where the Detroit Lions won two playoff games in January.
Still, if you really want to know why Detroit, long billed as “Hockey Town” and historically a breeding ground for a ton of basketball's elite talent, is now America's football boom city, check out this You need to go to your local neighborhood stadium or high school stadium. A vast city.
The NFL's origins lie there, far from the spotlight and celebrity, and its numbers not only outpace the rest of the country and exceed historic standards, but are set to grow even more in the future, according to local coaches. It is said that there is a possibility.
“Detroit is changing from a basketball town to a football town, completely different than it was 20 years ago,” said King High School head coach, who has produced numerous college and NFL stars, including New York Jets All-Stars. Terrell Patrick said. -Professional cornerback Sauce Gardner.
“We're seeing tremendous growth right now,” Cass Tech head football coach Marvin Rushing said. Cast Tech had five alumni play in the NFL last season, including New England's OL Michael Onwenu and Lions' wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones. “At the youth level there is more talent and a real hunger for the game.”
It's already starting to bubble. On opening day of the 2023 NFL season, Detroit, the 27th most populous city in America, had more high school players (19) on league rosters than anywhere else. The closest one is Houston, with 16. The population (2.3 million) is also nearly four times that of Detroit's 640,000.
Some of this is obvious. Football is a tough sport. Detroit is a tough city.
“It’s about the pillars of our city, the working class, the blue collar people, the grit,” Rushing said.
“You have to work for what you want,” Philadelphia Eagles star Brandon Graham, who played for the Detroit Crocketts and still holds youth football camps here every year, said this week. “Nothing was given to me. [Detroit] You raised me and made me who I am today. ”
But Detroit has always been in a difficult situation. It's not alone. From Miami to Rock Hill, South Carolina is known for producing incredible talent per capita. This is believed to be the first time Detroit has had the most NFL players.
Coaches say the reasons range from changing rules in the youth ranks to encourage bigger players to participate, to improving facilities and funding children's activities to make the sport look special. It is said to extend. The plan includes turning the old Tiger Stadium into a facility for the Detroit Police Athletic League, with baseball as well as football being played on modern turf.
“We now have the infrastructure that other cities, especially cities in the South, have had for years,” Patrick said.
Others point out that the popularity of football in general has diminished the interest of great athletes in basketball. According to the Police Athletic League's latest statistics, 34,944 boys played soccer, but only 18,803 played basketball.
Only two players, Jamal Cain of the Miami Heat and Isaiah Jackson of the Indiana Pacers, are believed to have played in the NBA this season and played at least one season in high school in Detroit. It's a big change for a city that once produced major talent like George Gervin, Spencer Haywood, Derrick Coleman and Jalen Rose.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Detroit's biggest homegrown star athlete is not a basketball player, but Gardner, a cornerback as charismatic as he is extraordinarily talented.
King coach Patrick remembers Gardner as a 140-pound sophomore who attended a youth football clinic held by the Source last year. He was surprised by the reaction of the campers.
“The kids' reactions to him were unreal,” Patrick said. “If I had been exposed to Prime Time at that age, that's probably how I would have reacted.” [Deion Sanders]”
That encourages participation. The recent success of the Lions and neighboring University of Michigan is, or should be, similar. Meanwhile, some city games, especially the annual Casking Game, are expected to be played in large numbers in front of standing-room-only crowds.
Others point to a tradition of NFL stars hosting camps for kids and working with youth coaches to organize college programs.
“There is better coaching at the youth level,” Rushing said. “Michigan, Michigan State and Eastern Michigan all have clinics for coaches and that really helps put kids in a better position.”
Then, 10 to 15 years ago, youth leagues decided to remove weight limits for players, which drove larger kids away from the sport. Almost everyone is now welcome, and linemen don't come in as high school freshmen with no experience.
“Guys in the trenches have been in the trenches forever,” Patrick said.
Patrick also points to a generation of black men in Detroit who are determined to make a difference and are devoting countless hours of coaching and mentoring, including through soccer.
“You often hear about the lack of Black men in their families and communities, but when you look at youth sports here, it's Black men giving back,” Patrick said. “It's fathers and sons, uncles and nephews. Older men giving back to younger men.”
Rushing, for example, grew up in public housing in Detroit (“the rough side of town”) but fell in love with football. He starred at Cass Tech and earned a scholarship to Eastern Michigan. Although his injury ended his chances of playing in the NFL, he remains a district manager for Comerica Bank, overseeing 170 employees. He doesn't have to coach high school football, but he wants to show kids what the sport can do for them.
“Soccer allows them to express themselves,” Rushing said. “When you need to be a leader, be a leader. When you need to be a follower, be a follower. There are so many life skills out there and more and more kids are joining in.” doing.
“As I see it, it's only going to get bigger here.”
