Cameron Dillard and his father make the 60-minute drive every Saturday. Steven Elmer and his father drive 90 minutes. The commutes for the 2013 offensive line prospects may not seem that long until considering the fact that they make the journeys down to Auburn Hills, Mich., each week for 60-minute workouts.
But it certainly seems worth it, especially since the workouts are run by 18-year NFL veteran offensive lineman and former All-Pro Lomas Brown.
“You’re talking about guys and parents who are committed,” Brown said of Elmer and Dillard, just two of several offensive linemen he works with. “It’s easy to teach them then, when they’re like this.
“Cameron and Steve are the two best that I’ve had up to date.”
Since Brown’s retirement, the public has had the chance to get a feel for his personality as a regular contributor on ESPN’s First Take. Brown comes across in person the same way he does on television, according to Elmer and Dillard.
“That’s exactly how he is in real life,” Elmer said of Brown’s gentle, fun TV demeanor. “He’s a really great guy. He’s good to be around.”
“He’s very humble,” Dillard added. “He’s out to help everybody. He has camps that are free for kids who can’t afford it. He puts a lot of things on for them, helps them out.”
Brown compared Dillard to another former All-Pro, who dates back even further than Brown.
“Cameron is like what I would call a grinder,” said Brown. “He’s a guy that’s going to grind you to death. He’s one of them big, mauling type of guys that kind of remind me of a young John Hannah.
“He’s a big, strong kid. If he gets his hands on you, he can control you because he’s big and strong. He’s a wide body so he takes up space, but the good thing about Cameron is he can move with all of that. He’s an athletic kid, which is good because at guard, you have to pull and block guys out in space. You have to be athletic at that position. All of that is going to bode well for him.”
Dillard, who makes the drive from Canton, Mich., appreciates the chance to work with the seven-time Pro Bowler.
“Most camps, we can’t be padded, so I can’t really show off my run blocking, which is what I’m known for,” Dillard explained. “When I go to Lomas to work on pass blocking, we do one-on-ones simulated like we do at camps and it helps me prepare for the camps. It also prepares me for the season, getting better and becoming a complete player.”
Elmer, from Midland, Mich., has worked with Brown a few times, but plans on getting to Auburn Hills on a regular basis now that his college camp circuit is completed.
“It’s something you feel very fortunate about, being taught by somebody who has so much experience and so much knowledge about it,” Elmer said. “Your coaches have really good things to say, but you just can’t beat that type of instruction from somebody with real live experience as was one of the best. I think it’s incredible. It’s an amazing thing that he’s willing to work with all of these high school kids to try to make them better.”
Elmer, who was offered a scholarship by Notre Dame last month, made a quick impression on Brown.
“You talk about an athlete, I think he’s a better athlete than I was – I know he’s a better athlete than I was in high school,” Brown said of Elmer. “The guy is so much of an athlete, my problem with Steven is slowing him down. That’s rare when you have to work on a kid slowing him down, but he’s such a good athlete that he has a tendency of doing everything so smoothly and so quickly that he over-sets.
“My thing with him is working on him over-setting and he’s got a lot of herky-jerky, along with Cameron too, there’s a lot of movement. There’s a lot of moving parts and you don’t want to have a lot of moving parts during your set. You want to make it look like one piece when you’re setting. I got to work on both of them, taking some of their movements out of their sets and making it one. Other than that, they are both athletic guys, especially Steven. It just scares me that a guy is a sophomore, going into his junior year, is 6-5, 310 pounds already. In my sophomore year, I was like 6-3, about 250 in high school. It’s scary that these guys are that big and that athletic already.”
Elmer appreciates all of the help Brown provides.
“He helps us focus on a lot of fine techniques…I don’t even know if I’d call it really fine right now, but hopefully eventually, he can help with the really fine stuff,” Elmer laughed. “He’s helping us with our pass sets and trying to work on different angles to keep the defensive linemen away from the quarterback, keeping our pad level low. He’s working with us on our punches, how to time them up and where to strike. He’s working with keeping a wide base, good stances, stuff like that.”
