Welcome home: Historic 2019 Tygers reunite to teach game at Nike Skills Football Camp

MANSFIELD — Mansfield's historic Arlin Field may have been the site of the Nike Skills Football Camp this week, but it housed another major event.

A family reunion.

Four members of the historic 2019 Mansfield Senior Tygers football team, along with numerous members of the coaching staff, returned to Arlin Field to tutor young campers during the Nike camp and, in the process, reunited on the field for the first time since that fateful run to the state title game.

“It is great,” Mansfield Senior coach Chioke Bradley said with a smile. “The fellowship with my former players and the bond we share is amazing. We got back to the good stuff we were doing before and we get to talk about the good times. We have the grill going, music going, kids playing football and the sun is shining. God is good.”

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2019 quarterback Cam Todd along with teammates Angelo Grose, Ty'Lheir Grose and Clay Caudill sported Nike Skills Football Camp shirts and put campers through three days of drills and fun.

And when they weren't teaching, they were catching up with each other.

"When we all come back during our breaks we try to get together, but this is the first time we all got together and did something like this," Angelo Grose said. "It feels really good to be back with them and giving back to the community at the same time."

Angelo is a star safety at Michigan State, Caudill is a tight end at Toldeo and Ty'Lheir recently signed a Division I scholarship at Western Kentucky. Todd is a quarterback at Division II Ohio Dominican, but all of them are still Tygers.

The week provided the guys an opportunity to kick back and remember the good ol' days of playing at Arlin Field. After their 2019 season, the pandemic struck, preventing them from really getting together for a reunion. Then, life came where the commitments of being a college athlete took the majority of their time and energy.

So, they took full advantage of being in the same place during the Nike Skills Football Camp.

“After our season, COVID hit and we all went off to school, working or playing football so this is the closest we have been since then,” Todd said. “We are here, embracing each other, because we don’t know when the next time will come around.”

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The 2019 Tygers might go down in history as the best football team to ever come out of Richland County. They joined the 2019 Lucas Cubs as the only teams to make a state championship football game in the county's history.

That team went 9-1 in the regular season with their lone loss coming in Week 8, 18-17 to Wooster. They earned a playoff spot easily as the No. 2 seed in Division III Region 10.

That is when the magic started happening. The Tygers cruised to a 28-0 first-round win over Bay and beat Parma Holy Name 45-30 in the regional semifinals. The Tygers then played three overtime games in the next three weeks, beating Sandusky 15-9 for the regional championship and topping Aurora 27-21 in double-overtime for a trip to the state title game.

There, the Tygers fell 14-7 to Trotwood-Madison in overtime and had a shot to tie it with a pass in the end zone that fell to the turf. Still, a flood of great memories remain from their historic run to the state title game.

Those memories hit Caudill hard when he set foot on Arlin Field for the Nike Skills Football Camp this week.

"It is bittersweet," Caudill said. "I miss playing at Arlin Field a lot. This place has some of my greatest memories in football along with those guys I played with in 2019. They are some of my best friends. It brought back a lot of those memories of playing here in the first round of the playoffs and just practicing out there in the hot heat. It is bittersweet. I love being back here, but I miss it."

How did the guys celebrate the reunion? By teaching the game they love to young campers.

"It is what it is all about — giving back," Caudill said. "We were in their shoes at one point, too. We had goals and aspirations that we were fortunate to achieve. To show the kids the fundamentals and give them the framework to achieve their own dreams is a true honor."

Todd agreed.

“It is so cool,” he said. “We were just sitting here talking about it. We were talking about all of the ‘remember whens’ and it is crazy to think that we used to just go out on the field and just train and have fun. Walking the field and remembering some of the plays we ran.

"This was something we talked about, too. Ask any of them. We vowed to come back and initiate change through the game of football. It sends chills down my spine walking out, seeing my teammates and seeing the kids we were about to teach.”

Caudill was thrilled to catch up with his teammates while also having the opportunity to spread his love and knowledge of the game.

"It is awesome and a great feeling to just reminisce on those days," he said. "It brings back a lot of really good memories. We hang out a lot when we come home, but we don't always get to be around football together like we used to be. So to be able to coach football together and be around these kids is a great feeling."

Six players from the 2019 Tygers football team will play Division I college football during the 2022 season. Possibly three more will sign Division I scholarships when their high school careers are over.

For Bradley, that was the plan from the beginning.

“It was always the plan when they were middle school kids,” he said. “The plan was for them to be very successful and to see the pinnacle of it come true with them giving back to the kids at a high level after playing on Saturdays on major TV.

"It is special. To be here today and see the guys having a great time with the kids and pouring their hearts into giving back to the kids is a great experience for me. I get to sleep good at night.”

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Tygers Cam Todd, Angelo Grose, Ty'Lheir Grose, Clay Caudill reunite