HS FOOTBALL: Cordelli to host seminar for parents, coaches and players; LFC athletes receiving offers
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Pete Cordelli Jr., along with the Lackawanna County Commissioners, is hosting a coaching seminar this week as part of its youth sports initiative.
The former assistant coach to the late Lou Holtz at the University of Arkansas, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Notre Dame, who has local ties and is the author of the book “Making the Grade,” will hold the event from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The seminar will be held at the University of Scranton’s Brennan Hall, Pearn Auditorium, Room 228.
Cordelli’s goals will be to enlighten parents, coaches, and athletes as to the recruiting process.
“I want parents and coaches to understand that with the book, it is a way to see how players are being evaluated through academics first and then athletics,” Cordelli said. “It starts when a boy or girl enters ninth grade. Coaches have to look at transcripts starting in ninth grade. I want them to understand that it starts early, and they can qualify for financial aid or scholarships.”
In addition, Cordelli will use his decades of experience as both a coach and a scout for the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns to explain talent evaluation and how players can improve.
He emphasizes the Kaizen philosophy, a Japanese philosophy meaning “continuous improvement.”
“With the football, I will emphasize the position-specific manual,” Cordelli said. “It is a compilation of things that, through my time in college coaching and scouting, I learned and used. There is a grading scale for the specific things that you need to be good at in each position. I wrote the book for parents, youth coaches, high school coaches, and the players. Parents aren’t getting enough info on how their child is evaluated, starting with academics and then athletics.
“I stress that when the kid runs that first 40-yard dash, that is a starting point. Nothing is finished. You set a baseline and make progress from there.”
Cordelli also stresses what he calls the POD (Point of Development) method.
“In athletics, you have so many things to do. I want you to pick out one thing that you are getting better at,” Cordelli said. “When I was coaching, I never asked what that one thing was, but I would ask if they met their goal. When you focus on one thing, it’s fairly easy to correct and get better. I want to improve people’s confidence and belief in themselves. I want them to take the talent they have and make themselves better each day.”
Cordelli’s father, the late Pete Cordelli Sr., played with the Blakely Bears and George Washington University and was an assistant coach with John “Papa Bear” Henzes. Cordelli Jr. was born in Blakely. His family moved to Neshaminy, where his father had an outstanding coaching career as an assistant to Old Forge native John Petercuskie and as the head coach and is a member of the Scranton Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
During his career at Notre Dame, Cordelli coached Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown and runner-up Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail.
In high school at Neshaminy, Cordelli was an all-state quarterback. He played at North Carolina State for coach Holtz.
The cost of the seminar is $10 per person. For more information, contact the Lackawanna County Parks & Recreation Program manager, Ryan Runco, at runcory@lackawannacounty.org or 570-335-6675.
The seminar is part of the Champions Quarterback Camp that Cordelli will also host on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The quarterback camp is for athletes in grades 9 through 12. There are four sessions each day. Each session is limited to 20 attendees. Sessions 1 and 2 are for athletes in grades 9 and 10. Sessions 3 and 4 are for juniors and seniors.
Registration for Session I is at 8:30 a.m. The session lasts from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Registration for Session II is at 10:35 a.m. The session is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
In the afternoon, registration for Session III is at 12:35 p.m. The session lasts from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration for Session IV is at 2:35 p.m., and the session runs from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Each session and player will get half an hour of classroom work and an hour of on-field work.
College Talent
Riverside rising senior Brayden Rose is receiving a lot of interest as a football player. His listed position on 247sports.com, a recruiting website, is linebacker. The 6-foot-4. 205-pound All-Region defensive back jumped on the recruiting radar after collecting 50 total tackles, seven for loss, three sacks, three interceptions, and three forced fumbles. He contributed four kickoff returns for 296 yards and three touchdowns, and had 137 yards on punt returns with a touchdown.
He is also an outstanding quarterback who completed 76 of 146 passes for 1,111 yards and 17 touchdowns. A dual-threat, Rose ran for 724 yards on 102 carries and scored 14 touchdowns.
His offers include Temple, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Duke, Minnesota, Syracuse, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Army, Liberty, Old Dominion, Dartmouth, Fordham, Lafayette, and Lehigh.
A multi-sport athlete for the Vikings, who was an all-state selection in basketball, announced on social media that he will officially visit the University of Pittsburgh this weekend.
Dunmore Stars
Rising seniors Weston Yannone and Jake Costanzo recently received scholarship offers from NCAA Division I programs.
Both standouts, who are coming off state-medal-winning track and field seasons, announced their first offers on social media.
Yannone, a two-time All-Region player in the secondary, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds at the Lehigh Football Mega Camp. He received his first scholarship offer from the University of Maine and a second from Army. He had an official visit at Army last weekend.
Costanzo, a wide receiver, also received an offer from Army.
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