The KB Bonds Football Camp will be at Oglethorpe County Patriot Stadium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 28 for boys ages 6 to 16. Registration closed June 13.
KB Bonds, defensive lineman for Shorter University and former Oglethorpe County High School football player, said he wants to help his community and allow kids to grow their knowledge of the game.
To that end, Bonds is hosting a free youth football camp June 28 at OCHS.
“I just want to give back, basically,” Bonds said. “I want to teach and learn while doing something I love.”
Sixty-five kids have registered for the camp, where they will join Bonds, OCHS football coach Mike Holland, other coaches and a few former players to run drills, compete in games and learn new football skills.
This fall, Bonds will be entering his junior season at Shorter and plans to play on the defensive line for the Rome, Georgia, university for the next two years.
However, at 285 pounds and 6-foot-2-inches, Bonds said he is undersized compared to his D-line teammates and opponents at the college level. Coming from OCHS, he said college was a bit of a shock because he wasn’t the biggest player on the field.
“I didn’t really have to incorporate (the coaching) a lot because I was that bigger kid,” Bonds said.
Over the past two years, Bonds said he’s matured. He stressed the importance of every player putting in effort for a team victory, and he’s realized technique and IQ are more significant than strength and power.
Holland, who coached Bonds in his last two OCHS seasons, said he’s impressed. He remembered Bonds as a crucial player on the defense and offense, but he’s definitely seen a change since entering college.
“He’s really turned into somebody I know that his college can count on, and somebody that we can definitely be proud of,” Holland said. “We’re all pulling for him.”
Bonds hopes to play in the NFL after Shorter, but said coming from a smaller, Division II school like Shorter will require him to put in 10 times more effort.
As an education major, Bonds said he also dreams of teaching and coaching football, possibly at OCHS.
“I’d hire him tomorrow if he graduated tomorrow,” Holland said. “I would love to have him back.”
For now, Bonds will continue playing football with the hope of making it to the next level. But in addition to working on his own skills, he wants to help Oglethorpe County kids for years to come through this camp.
“Some of these kids, they’re not super into football,” Bonds said. “And I want to put it into their heart, grow them and build them.”