Football

Offense-Defense Sports started from relatively humble beginnings, with one instructional football camp in the summer of 1969. The mission was simple: deliver football training and instruction the way it was meant to be delivered—that is, at full contact and at full speed.

Those early years weren’t without star power, by any means. Legendary athletes such as Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Gene Upshaw, and Roger Craig provided instruction to young athletes from the start.

Prolific coaches were no strangers to the formative years, either: Mike Shanahan began his fabled career coaching at Offense-Defense, and a number of other high-profile NFL coaches have spent time within the O-D ranks as well, such as Mike Holmgren and Steve Mariucci, among others.

In addition to offering world-class instruction, Offense-Defense football camps are used to evaluate the best high school athletes for inclusion in the end-of-year Offense-Defense All-American Bowl Week.

Bowl Week, currently in its tenth incarnation, is a week-long series of events including awards dinners, press conferences, the ODFL National Tournament, the Youth All-American Bowl Games, a youth football convention, a coaches clinic, and many other exciting events.

For the crown jewel itself, 80 of the top high school athletes across the country are invited to play in showdowns that have seen offensive showcases, defensive stalemates and, overall, a showcase for the greatest football players in the world to show their stuff.

Athletes who have participated in the Bowl include such luminaries as Cam Newton, Dez Bryant, Joe Haden, Rolando McClain, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, Carlos Dunlap, and many more.

The influence and guidance don’t end there, however. We spoke with every pro team’s PR or community relations department and discovered that there are hundreds of former O-D campers in the NFL. As our number of camps has grown, so too has the number of NFL athletes.