Four Top PA Prospects Attend The Opening

Tagged under: District 12, District 3, News

Ed Weaver | July 7, 2021

Four of the top prospects from Pennsylvania attend The Opening in Manhattan Beach, California last Friday and Saturday.

Mehki Flowers (Central Dauphin East) along with Keenan Nelson, Jr., James Heard, and Omillio Agard (St. Joseph’s Prep) represented PA out of 96 participants.

“It was good coming out here and competing against the top 100 guys like Omillio. He won one of our one-on-one’s but I got him back. It was great competition,” Flowers said.

“Mehki and I went at it a little bit,” said Agard. “But it was great seeing everybody that you text with on the phone. You don’t know them personally yet but it was great seeing guys you see on social media.”

“There was a lot of great competition and great coaching,” Heard added. “I got to go against a lot of the top running backs in the nation.”

“Definitely great competition and it was even great to see NFL guys that came through here as well. Overall it was a great time,” Nelson, Jr. said.

This year The Opening was a mix of a mini combine and 7-on-7 tournament. On Friday morning athletes put up their best marks in the 40-yard dash, 5-10-5 shuttle run, vertical jump, and medicine ball throw. After that the “fast man” run took place, followed by position-specific instruction led by NFL veterans and one-on-ones.

Each of the 4 PA prospects took away valuable lessons for their respective NFL coaches.

“You want to absorb everything they said because we want to get to where the are at,” Flowers said. “Be a sponge, soak up knowledge.”

What was different about this year’s event was it was invitation-based, which allowed for more to players to participate than in years past. All the players either found out by email, text, or through Twitter, and for all of them it was their first time on the West Coast.

“It was my first time on a plane,” said Flowers.

Agard and Nelson have done a little more traveling to various events. Heard has flown twice.

All four of the young men said they can’t wait to apply what they learned at The Opening with their respective programs as they continue preparations back home for the 2021 season. Flowers and Central Dauphin East open their season at Manheim Township. Who knows, we may even see all four student-athletes competing for a state championship at Hersheypark Stadium this December.

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