Gridiron Football Puts On Final Elite Camp of Spring at Rayville High School

This past weekend, Gridiron Football held its final elite camp of the spring at Rayville High School. This marks the fourth camp that Gridiron Football has put on and just like the others, it was a success. 55 players decided to put some work in on an early Saturday morning with only 11 of those players coming within a 30-minute radius of the camp. Players came from all over including representatives from Madison Prep Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Madison Prep, which is one of the top football programs in South Louisiana, decided to bring 15 of its top players to get some work in at the camp.

The camp started with a media session as the Gridiron Football staff interviewed the players during the registration process. A lot of the interviews can be seen below.

The camp started as always with CEO Andy Bryson giving the kids advice on how to approach the recruiting process and how to put themselves in the very best position as possible. After the pep talk, it was time for the players to show off their athleticism in the combine as they were timed in the 40, shuttle, and were also measured in the broad jump.

The fastest 40 was a tie as it belonged to one of the top running backs in the Baton Rouge area in Episcopal 2024 RB Braeden George and also Madison Prep 2025 WR Calvin Spears, who both ran blistering 4.53/40s. While George and Spears led the pack, there were times that were not far behind as Leesville 2024 ATH Izaiah Farley ran a 4.59/40, Catholic High School (B.R.) DB Robert Kasongo ran a 4.59/40, North Caddo 2025 WR/MLB Antonio Nelson ran a 4.6/40, River Oaks 2024 QB/WR Wesley Payne ran a 4.61/40, and Madison Prep 2024 WR/DB Darius Durham ran a 4.65/40 to name a few.

Making the complete camp sweep, Bolton 2025 QB James Lucas IV was rewarded by once again having the quickest shuttle run with a 4.13 time. Even though he was trying to hit his record time of 4.07, Lucas still continued to show his incredible lateral quickness leading the pack for the second camp in a row. Other standout times included campers that managed to run in the 4.3’s such as Bolton 2024 safety La’Tavion Bullitts (4.31), Westlake 2024 LB Joshua Parr (4.34), Izaiah Farley (4.35), Robert Kasongo (4.35), Braeden George (4.38), and Calvin Spears (4.38).

Finally, in the broad jump, Pine 2024 RB James Owens not only had the longest jump at the Rayville camp, but he had the longest jump in the entire Gridiron Football Elite Camp Series with a 10’2 broad jump. Another running back was not far behind as Bolton 2024 running back Nathaniel Francis had a 10-foot jump. Four other players managed to jump at least nine feet in James Lucas IV (9’6), Darius Durham (9’5 1/2), Calvin Spears (9′), and Izaiah Farley (9′).

After the combine, players got the chance to compete against each other in 1 on 1s and 7 on 7s. The two quarterbacks Peyton Odom from St. Frederick and James Lucas got a lot of reps while learning a lot under former LSU quarterback Marcus Randall. They were able to showcase their arms quite a bit during the hour period throwing the football to receivers. Some of the standouts happened to be running backs. Braeden George showed his ability as a receiver along with his quickness coming out of his break and with his top end speed, made it tough for any opposing defensive backs to put a hand on him. There were also two incredible diving grabs by two other running backs in Nathaniel Francis and James Owens. General Trass High School 2025 ATH Ahmoniee Williams, C.E. Byrd 2025 RB Desmond Simmons, and Antonio Nelson also were very impressive during the competition part of the camp offensively.

It was not just the offense that won its fair share of battles as both Catholic High School (B.R.) 2024 defensive backs Robert Kasongo and Colin Coates showed a lot of physicality as well as a high I.Q. Then, there was Madison Prep 2026 DB Zakarri Hogan, who never backed down from a challenge and held his own against some of the talented offensive players from the camp. Finally, a linebacker that was long, rangy, and covered a lot of ground quickly was Joshua Parr.

In the trenches, Dunham 2024 defensive lineman Laramie Guidry stood out the most as his twitchiness, length, and quickness dominated opposing offensive linemen throughout the camp. His performance will help catapult him even further as one of the top defensive linemen in the Baton Rouge area. His younger brother Lawson Guidry went up against some talented defensive linemen and held his own. Some of those defensive linemen that proved to be tough to block throughout the camp are Union Parish 2024 DT/DE Tytravious Wallace, Madison Prep 2027 DE Darius Mack, and Sterlington 2025 DT Eliah Logo. On the offensive line, the Madison Prep Chargers really represented as 2024 OG/OT Henri Bell and 2025 OT Robric Walker were pancaking players to the ground and made it very tough for any defensive linemen to go through. Parkway 2024 OL Dolan Williams looks the part of a standout tackle and played like one having a good outing in the one-on-one period.

At the end of the camp, Andy Bryson asked players what they learned the most throughout the camp and then, surprised some upcoming seniors with invitations to play in the Gridiron Football All-American Bowl Game. La’Tavion Bullitts, Nathaniel Francis, Robert Kasongo, Colin Coates, James Owens, Braeden George, Dolan Williams, and Laramie Guidry.

It was a great way to wrap up the Gridiron Football Spring Elite Camp Series. A lot of players got to show off their skills while getting to learn new ways on how to improve their game and also getting promoted by Gridiron Football. At Gridiron Football, the motto is All Football. All the Time and this summer, we will be very busy as always. For everything that we have going on at Gridiron Football, make sure to visit our website and follow us on social media!

For more pictures and analysis from this camp, keep an eye out for our digital magazine, which will be released soon!

Check out our previous camp articles below!