Greater Akron/Canton football recruiting notes: Camp season closing in on college campuses

Who didn't love going to summer camp? The swimming, the hiking, the campfires; all sorts of great fun.

For high school football players looking to become top recruiting prospects, there's a different kind of summer camp becoming much more prevalent. That would be the various one-day camps that college football programs host throughout the month of June.

These aren't new things. Colleges have been hosting camps for decades, and the one-day camps have been prominent for going on 15-to-20 years now.

These camps have become much larger in scale, though. More than that, there's been much more cooperation across divisions of college football to have multiple teams at the same camp.

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A smaller school can benefit from being at a bigger school's camp, or draw a higher quality of prospect to their own camp with a bigger school in attendance.

Here's a look at an assortment of those types of camps coming up soon:

Michigan among teams at Lake Erie College camp

Lake Erie College, an NCAA Division II school, is one of many smaller schools which will be having much bigger programs share their campus for one day. In the Storm's case, that day will be June 4 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. when they hold their own "mega camp."

The biggest name that will be among the other schools in attendance will be the University of Michigan. The 2021 Big Ten champions also will be joined by Mid-American Conference members Eastern Michigan and Toledo, as well as FCS Division I member Youngstown State.

Lake Erie also is holding its own satellite camp away from campus on June 17 in Cincinnati. The camp will be conducted at Withrow High School.

Kent State Mega Camp continues to grow with schools from Big Ten and more

The biggest of these "mega camps" to hit Ohio is at Kent State on June 18. That event is expected to draw more than 30 colleges across multiple divisions.

The prime draw is the opportunity for prospects to perform in front of at least 11 FBS Division I college programs. The schools confirmed to be there from that level is Big Ten schools Ohio State, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue and Rutgers, Kentucky of the SEC, Kansas of the Big 12, Syracuse of the ACC and UCF of the American Athletic Conference.

It's more than just those FBS programs that makes it attractive. Everyone from FCS programs such as Youngstown State and multiple Ivy League schools all the way down to NCAA Division III programs such as Wittenberg and Wooster will be at Kent as well.

University of Findlay to hold satellite camp in Massillon

While Division I college programs pretty much close down camps at the end of June, smaller schools can and do continue into July. Findlay, for one, is holding satellite camps around the state during July.

On July 6, the program will be holding a pair of camps in Northeast Ohio. One will be at Massillon, while another will be at Cleveland Heights.

Other locations will be at both Dublin Scioto and Lakota West high schools on July 7, one in suburban Detroit on July 8 and on its own campus on July 10.

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Offers continue to roll in throughout the course of May for various area football players. Here's a list of several of the FBS/FCS Division I offers which have occurred in the last 10 days or so:

• Ardell Banks, Class of 2023, Massillon: Marshall, Miami (Ohio)

• Collin Dixon, Class of 2023, Tallmadge: Akron, Connecticut

• Willtrell Hartson, Class of 2023, Massillon: Marshall

• Ibraheem Kamara, Class of 2024, Akron East: Ball State, Bowling Green, Kent State

• Freddie Lenix Jr., Class of 2023, Massillon: Ball State, Kent State, Marshall, Miami (Ohio), Ohio

• Jas Martin III, Class of 2023, Hoban: Navy

• Cynceir McNeal, Class of 2023, McKinley: Akron

• Marcus Moore Jr., Class of 2023, Massillon: Marshall

• Tommy Ricard, Class of 2023, Hudson: Akron, Ball State, Kent State, Maryland, Toledo

• Ziaire Stevens, Class of 2025, Akron East: Ball State, Kent State, UMass

• Ameer Yasin, Class of 2025, Tallmadge: Akron

This article originally appeared on The Independent: College camp season nears for area high school football players