Milwaukee natives host youth football camp
MILWAUKEE - Dare Ogunbowale and Eric Murray are used to lighting up the NFL.
Now, the Milwaukee natives are taking the football field for a different reason.
What they're saying:
"It's big, you know it's big for us," said Dare Ogunbowale, Texans running back and Milwaukee native. "We've wanted to do this for a long time, ever since we were teammates for the first time in Houston, and we would talk about it in passing and make jokes about it, but today for it to finally happen, you know bring the city out, bring the kids out, it's been a special day for us."
Here at Vincent High School, Ogunbowale and Murray are leading "The Mil", their inaugural youth football camp.
This has been their passion project ever since they first played together for the Houston Texans back in 2022.
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"Just wanted to give back to the people who have given back to us in the city that we were born and raised in, so to be out here with the youth of Milwaukee and just for the love of football, it's a great opportunity, and we're just happy to be here," said Eric Murray, Jaguars safety and Milwaukee native.
The backstory:
Ogunbowale, a running back on the Houston Texans, went to Marquette University High School, while Murray is a safety for the Jacksonville Jaguars and is a Milwaukee Riverside High School alum.
All these years later, their roots have remained in the city that raised them.
"It's the Mil. It's where we're from," said Ogunbowale. "You know it's what we like to rep. Everybody from Milwaukee has a lot of pride in being from Milwaukee. Obviously out in the league, not a lot of Milwaukee guys, so the fact that me and Eric, and we're both teammates, both from the same city, we just had to make sure we paid homage to our city."
The camp featured two sessions for over 250 middle and high school kids from all over Southeast Wisconsin, including MPS schools like Vincent, Pulaski and Bradley Tech.
They got to compete in different position-specific drills, participate in 7-on-7 competition and learn what it takes to make it to the top level of football.
"I play wide receiver, and I didn't get coached it, like none of my lifetime playing it," said Carzale Hughes, a junior at Pulaski High School. "If you see, I got a couple of plays out there, so yeah just improving my skills and getting better at what I do."
It was such a good experience that Jayden Love, an incoming freshman at Bradley Tech, made sure he stayed for both sessions.
"It's great," said Jayden Love. "It actually feels amazing. I actually get to talk to the players, and shaking their hands, it felt so good. The first session was light, but I guess it’s more competition now and I got to work ten times harder."
Seeing how many kids showed up was inspirational.
Why you should care:
"It's amazing," said Murray. "We've got 150 high school kids out here right now for the high school session. Just to be able to talk to these young men with these aspiring dreams and even if everybody can't be a professional, they can learn transferrable skills to push them along further in the future."
That's why this camp is so impactful. They're teaching these campers the technical skills, but they're also teaching them life skills.
"Me and Eric both, we've learned how football has impacted us in other ways besides just on the field," said Ogunbowale. "Being leaders, you know, being hard workers and that's just what we're trying to echo today."
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Moving forward, the duo hope "The Mil" becomes a permanent fixture in the summer.
"We want to do this every year," said Ogunbowale. "We want to do this every year for as long as we can. As long as we're making a positive impact in Milwaukee, we don't want to stop it."
The Source: The information in this post was collected and produced by the FOX6 sports team.
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