Derrick Tatum, CEO and Founder of Elite Talent Football Academy, has quickly developed into one of the best defensive back coaches in the country. After asserting himself as one of the top cornerbacks in college football at the University of Kentucky, Derrick went on to play in the National Football League for the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks. Derrick understands what it takes to be successful at the college level (and beyond) and that is why he brings his high school athletes to the Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy.
The Sound Mind Sound Body Academy is well revered as the only camp in the country that spends more time on in-classroom teaching than on-field training. As a result of this training, athletes find themselves learning valuable life skills which includes social responsibility within the community, making sound decisions on and off the field and the mental approach necessary to carry high school success to the college level.
It should come as no surprise that the Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy produces more scholarship offers than any camp in the country.
Sound Mind Sound Body launched twelve years ago out of Detroit, Michigan. Their purpose was to provide high school athletes from the under-served surrounding communities increased exposure at the college level with the opportunity to get a college education. Since their launch, Sound Mind Sound Body has expanded to Atlanta, Houston, Tampa, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.
Derrick and his team of athletes have been attending these Academy’s regularly for the past five years. As Derrick explained, “Sports bring communities together. This program is designed make players better members of the community and help them realize their dream of getting a college education.”
The results speak for themselves. When speaking with Playbook Athlete in 2014, Derrick and his team of ten athletes picked up forty offers worth $6,000,000. What’s most impressive of all? For most of the athletes, these were their first scholarship offers.
Fast forward to 2016 and Derrick’s athletes continue to prosper. Only two weeks into the 2016 Sound Mind Sound Body tour and the Academy has already produced 95 scholarship offers. “For a lot of these athletes, it’s about getting exposure – the offers won’t all come in on one day. We expect those numbers to rise over the next several weeks.”
Derrick’s team has already attended the Sound Mind Sound Body Academy in Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa and Los Angeles. Each Academy location has been attended by well over 100 college coaches. The Detroit location was attended by more than 400 college coaches and yielded forty Elite Talent scholarship offers alone.
“What has been most impressive for me is seeing so many coaches and players with the same goal. They want to develop their life skills too, not just football,” said Derrick. This aligns with the Elite Talent motto that “The Elite Athlete is the Complete Athlete.”
Derrick has been particularly proud of Javan Hawes, a wide receiver from Sandy Creek high school in Tyrone, Georgia. “Javan didn’t have any game film before coming on this tour. He had 7 receptions for 89 yards last year and that was it. Now he’s getting in front of college coaches and showing them who he is and what he’s got. [Javan] already has 15 scholarship offers.” Also worth recognizing is Julian Bolt, a wide receiver from New Manchester High School in Douglasville, Georgia and John Samuel Shenker, a tight end of Deerfield-Windsor High School in Albany, Georgia who have really stepped up since the tour began.
The next stop for Derrick and the Elite Talent Football team is in Los Angeles, California on June 16-17, 2016 before their final trip to Washington D.C. on June 23-24, 2016.
