Boys in grades six through eight are invited to try out for the East Mississippi Elite 7-on-7 travel ball team this Saturday at Q.V. Sykes park.

Kevin Roberts, who is one of a handful of coaches for East Mississippi Elite, said middle school age boys can come out to Q.V. Sykes’ football field to try out beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday. They are asked to bring cleats and athletic gear, and tryouts are expected to last until approximately 8 p.m.

Reggie Rhone is the director for East Mississippi Elite, and former Ole Miss running backs Cordera Eason and Derrick Davis — both Meridian High School graduates — will be just some of the coaches helping coach the kids. Roberts said everyone involved has a track record of building great relationships with youth.

“We want to give them an opportunity to learn from college-experienced coaches and players to teach them the game, where they can hone those skills and take it with them to the high school level,” Roberts said.

Roberts, a Meridian alumnus himself, said he and the other coaches are looking forward to working with middle school boys and hope to make them better prepared for future football success than they would have been otherwise.

“The team is full of coaches with a lot of knowledge who want to give back to the kids,” Roberts said. “When I was growing up, a lot of kids didn’t have the opportunity to have interaction with college-based teaching before they got to college.”

As a 7-on-7 travel team, the squad is geared toward skill players: quarterback, running back, receiver, defensive back and linebacker. 

“Our hope is, once they get to high school, they have a good grasp of the skill positions,” Roberts said.

In the past, Roberts has worked with high school and college-level athletes, but he said there’s a special opportunity to reach middle school athletes, since they’re a little less polished and more open to instruction.

“I enjoy working with kids who are raw who may not even know what a certain coverage or route is,” Roberts said. “Those are the kids who you get to reach out to and really impact, because you can really teach them and mold them into great football (players). If middle school kids are athletic enough to play in college one day, this will hopefully make them better prepared than the average kid who goes off and plays college football.”

For more information, contact Rhone at 601-227-1897, Eason at 601-934-6360, Davis at 601-604-2018 or Roberts at 601-880-9382.