It was a busy weekend for 15 area high school football players, who went on a camp tour to three Division I colleges.

The tour gave players from five local high schools a chance to see the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Georgia in a three-day span.

“I was just excited to have an opportunity to work with those kids,” said tour organizer Leroy Miles, who also serves as Selma High School’s football coach and a Dallas County School Board member. “I was overjoyed to see how they knitted together and was very supportive of each other.”

While he was impressed with their work on the football field, Miles was even more proud of how the students represented their hometown and bonded together in a hurry. The majority of them began the camp as total strangers, but by the end, many because friends.

“I didn’t talk much at first because I didn’t know anyone but as the trip progressed, we got to know each other and we had lots of fun,” said Dallas County’s Anthony Oliver, who was among the players Miles said stood out during the tour.

The players loaded a bus on Thursday to head for Memphis, Tenn., but didn’t participate in their first camp until Friday at the University of Memphis. From there, they drove to Murfreesboro, Tenn. for a camp Saturday at Middle Tennessee State University.

Miles said it was the Middle Tennessee camp that wore the players down the most and many of them slept during the drive to Athens, Ga. for the University of Georgia camp.

“That Middle Tennessee put a whooping on them,” Miles said.

It was the next morning where Miles probably got to see just how far the group had come.

After a late night, including a scheduled arrival in Athens around 3 a.m., the players had to be up at 9 a.m. to get to the camp at the University of Georgia.

Miles said he had no issues with players being ready on time.

“They had to wake each other and make sure everybody was where they were supposed to be,” Miles said. “There was never a time when we were missing a person.”

Oliver, a rising senior at Dallas County High who plays defensive back and wing back, said he knew how big of an opportunity the camp tour way.

Even at the Georgia camp, where Miles estimated 1,500 players took part, Oliver said he thought the group from Dallas County represented itself well.

“I thought we matched up pretty good,” Oliver said. “We were there for a reason and we took advantage of that opportunity.”

Last year, Miles took five Selma High School players on a camp tour. All four seniors on that trip signed collegiate football scholarships and a fifth, Aderick Moore, is a rising senior with Division I offers.

This year’s camp was funded by a private donor and because of that Miles felt it was important to get schools from all around Dallas County involved.

Although he’s not expecting the same results this time around, he said every player has a shot at playing at the next level.

“Those were some of the best athletes we have, and I think each of those kids is going to have an opportunity [at playing college football],” Miles said.

The players on the tour included Selma’s Moore, Herschell Brown, Quintez Blevins, Lekedrich Rogers, Marquell Moorer, Darrell Edwards and Quentavious Davis; Southside’s Khamari Gibbs and Kentravious Moore; Dallas County’s Paul Daniels, Oliver and Patrick Haskell; Keith’s Brian Crum and Morris Collins; and Ellwood Christian’s Rayford Mitchell.