Cameron Blair was first and foremost a football player growing up.
“I always played football since I was a little kid,” Blair said. “I started with track in middle school.”
Blair knew that football and track had a correlation.
“I knew that there were good football players who ran track,” Blair said.
One of those was Savon Huggins, the former St. Peter’s Prep All-America running back who went on to Rutgers and will attend training camp next month with the Green Bay Packers.
Blair and Huggins grew up in the same town of Jackson in southern New Jersey.
“When I was young, I always looked up to Savon,” Blair said. “Then I finally met him. When I found out that he went to St. Peter’s Prep, then that’s where I wanted to go too.”
Blair knew that there was going to be a major commitment to commute daily from Jackson to Jersey City. It meant a 5:30 a.m. wake up call to get to another person’s home in order to drive daily to Jersey City. At night, there’s a 5:45 p.m. bus from downtown Jersey City back home that arrives around 7:30 p.m.
That’s a long 14-hour day for a teenager.
“But it’s worth it,” Blair said. “I knew it would take a lot of sacrifice, but I knew it could work. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my friends from grammar school as much. The transition was tough at first, but I knew what was expected. I talked a lot with Savon. He told me a lot about the school, about the discipline you have to have in the classroom and in sports.”
Blair showed a ton of potential right away to both of his coaches.
“He has a lot of potential,” said Prep head football coach Rich Hansen. “He’s a good athlete. He competes every day and has good ball skills.”
Blair is a wide receiver/defensive back for the Marauders in the fall.
In the spring, he’s a sprinter on the track.
“He impressed me last year with his dedication,” said Prep head track and field coach Chris Caulfield. “Because he has to leave to catch the bus home, it’s really tough to coordinate schedules. He wasn’t as available as others, so we had to dedicate ourselves to get a schedule to accommodate him. He was able to get more involved this year and you could see that he caught the track bug. He really got into the sport.”
Blair admitted that he became more interested in running and cutting times this season.
“During the offseason, I knew of workouts that could help my strength, speed and stamina,” Blair said. “I did a lot of work on my own.”
Caulfield said that he could see the difference in Blair.
“What we saw in the first few competitions was that potential, that talent,” Caulfield said. “Cameron’s pretty tall, so one of the things we were working on to use his height to his advantage. We wanted him to use those long legs, increase that stride. We want him to get that technique down and maybe he would see his times to start dropping.”
Last week, at the NJSIAA Non-Public A state championships at Egg Harbor Township High School, Blair showed his best and his immense potential. The sophomore ran a 11.3 in the 100-meter dash, good for seventh overall, and was clocked at 22.73 in the 200-meter dash, good for fifth overall.
The two times enabled Blair to qualify for the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at Central Regional High School in Bayville. The meet was scheduled to be run Wednesday, but might have been postponed until Thursday due to the threat of heavy winds and rain.
However, Blair was the first Prep athlete to qualify for the two sprints at the M of C since Minkah Fitzpatrick, currently a defensive back at the University of Alabama. There’s another example of a football player who ran track.
It’s not known whether Blair’s future is in football or track.
“It’s a good question,” Caulfield said. “At this stage, it could go either way for him. Give credit to Rich [Hansen]. He opened up his camp to me and encouraged his football players to run track. Every single sprinter is a football player. I think there’s good chemistry between the two sports and teams and enables us to come together and do some great stuff.”
Blair is looking forward to the coming football season.
“I think now is the time that I get a chance to prove myself as a football player,” Blair said. “I definitely have the potential to start, if I just stay focused.”
As a track athlete?
“I think looking ahead, my hope would be for him to become a county champ,” Caulfield said. “He was third this year as a sophomore. My hope is for him to win the 100 and 200 meters next year. If he can go a little faster and break 11 [seconds] in the 100, the rest will come. He’s going to get a little bigger and stronger. My hope is that he continues to improve. He makes it a priority to be at practice. I think his level of maturity and level of dedication will pay off. He’s more serious about the sport and that’s a very good sign.”
Blair had no glories of grandeur about the Meet of Champions.
“I just hope I can get a personal best in the two events,” Blair said. “I’m just blessed. I have been praying to God and my prayers have been answered. I watched Savon and Minkah play and it’s great to be in that class.”
“He’s a real good kid,” Caulfield said. “He’s a fun loving kid who is one of the few jokesters on the team. He makes the other guys laugh. But he knows when the time is to get serious.”
And competing in the state Meet of Champions is very serious stuff. – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.