Enlarge John Blake, Sun News Colt McCoy talks to the young kids before his annual football camp at Strongsville. Colt McCoy football camp gallery (4 photos) STRONGSVILLE Young, aspiring football players received some quality top-of-the-line instruction over the weekend.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy held his first annual youth football tournament from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on July 16 and 17 at Strongsville High School. Along with camp director Rod Huber and around 30 of the areas top high school coaches, McCoy spent some quality time with over 300 young athletes.

For the first time having a camp here in Cleveland, thanks to Strongsville High School, they were great to cooperate with us to do this camp, said McCoy. We had a great turnout. For me to come here and do this and for the parents to send their kids out here is pretty special. Theres lots of Browns fans out here.

It couldnt have been a better day for football. With the sun shining and temperatures in the upper 80s, kids ages 7-14 worked their way through various stations in the morning. The campers were first separated into groups of about seven or eight to work on position-specific skills. They practiced the three-step drop and caught short slants from their group coach.

Kids even experienced the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of catching a pass from a Browns quarterback. Several of the campers parents, friends and family were in the stands and around the track taking in all the action.

We had over 300 kids and thats pretty neat, said McCoy. To be able to spend some time with these guys, they only see me play on Sundays so to come out here, work with them, throw with them is great. I had a lineup of 50 kids earlier just throwing go-balls and letting them dive. Its a blast.

The campers enjoyed the morning working on their skills and finished the session on June 17 with several simultaneous touch football games. Before all the fun started, McCoy took some time to offer some candid advice to the young kids.

With all the campers gathered in the middle of the Strongsville field just after 9 a.m., McCoy delivered some important words of wisdom. His message to the kids? Listen to your coaches.

Youve got some of the best coaches in this area. Listen to them, said McCoy. Theyre going to teach you some things about football, teach you some fundamentals, teach you things that you can take back to your football teams and as you get older, youll always remember. Listen to them and learn.

McCoys father, Brad, was also on hand to work some of the older boys in a combine-style workout session. The Browns signal-caller introduced his dad and praised him for the impact he had on him growing up in Austin, Tx.

My dad, he was my coach in high school, McCoy said to the campers. When I tell you to listen to these guys, when I was your age, thats who I listened to and who I learned from. Every day at football camps or during practice he would teach me things that I would constantly remember and work on. Those are the things that got me to where I am today. So use these coaches, theyre going to be good for you, theyre going to help you. Theyre the best around.

While throwing some slants to a group of kids, one camper dropped a pass. McCoy then paused to teach the group about responsibility accountability for the quarterback. He hinted that even though it was a decently thrown ball and it was dropped, the outcome is always on the quarterback.

The definition of a good ball is one thats caught, said McCoy. The quarterback always takes the blame.

About 250 participated in the camp, with 85 more signed up for the combine workout. The older group, ages 15-23, was put through a pro-style workout which included the 40-yard dash, shuttle run and vertical jump evaluations used by NFL general managers when they scout college players.

The campers concluded the event on July 17 with an up close and personal question and answer session with McCoy. Each camper also received a T-shirt and autographed camp team photo with the Browns quarterback.

As much as McCoy enjoyed working with the young kids, hes hoping to return to work with his Cleveland Brown teammates as soon as possible.

Were all just anxious to get back to work, he said. Certainly were ready to get this over with.

Director Huber is the head coach at the College of Mount St. Josephs.Old Spice was the title sponsor for the camp, which was presented by Fifth Third Bank. Premier partners for the camp were Bridgestone Tires and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital.

ProCamps, Ltd., was the event administrator. Founded in 1998, the Cincinnati-based company specializes in planning and executing youth athletic camps for some of the most notable professional athletes, including Adrian Peterson, Philip Rivers, Reggie Bush and Wes Welker.

Verizon Wireless, Muscle Milk and Jimmy Johns also had promotional tents throughout the stadium.

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