Roughly 150 campers turned out Saturday at Southside High School as Kobe Branham and a few Arkansas football celebrities hosted a youth camp in Fort Smith.
Kobe Branham brought a slice of Arkansas football to his hometown this weekend.
The redshirt freshman for the Razorbacks hosted a youth football camp at Fort Smith's Southside High School Saturday morning. The former Maverick was joined by quarterbacks Taylen Green and KJ Jackson, offensive linemen Caden Kitler and Fernando Carmona, and wide receiver CJ Brown as camp counselors for the two-hour event.
For Branham, Saturday represented a reversal of his childhood and a dream come true. The offensive lineman attended camps at Southside throughout his youth and up until he graduated from the high school in 2024. This was Branham's turn to give back to the community that molded him into an SEC athlete.
"To come back here and put one of these on myself, seeing all these kids show up and compete, it's awesome," Branham said. "Ever since I left Southside I knew I wanted to come back and do something like this. We started planning a few months ago. To see this turnout, it's what we wanted."
Southside head coach Kim Dameron, his staff and some of his players were other counselors.
Campers ran through stations like the 40-yard dash, three-cone drill and shuttle run before moving into individual position drills. They rotated through with Green and Jackson overseeing the quarterbacks and Carmona sticking close to the offensive lineman. Branham rotated throughout the indoor practice facility.
Before things got started, Green told the campers to thank their parents for bringing them out on a Saturday. The quarterback closed the camp with a similar message and enjoyed seeing the success of Branham's camp.
"To do this and to give back and to see all this support, it's pretty cool to see," Green said. "I'm happy for Kobe. He put this together and to see his hometown show out like this, I'm just happy to be part of it."
Roughly 150 kids participated on Saturday. Kobe's father, Jerad Branham, said the plan is to expand in the coming years and even host an elite high school football camp next summer.
Similar experiences are what motivated some of the counselors to make the hour drive down from Fayetteville with Kobe.
"Growing up in Alabama, I always went if an Alabama player had a camp," Jackson said. "I was the first one on the sign-up sheet. Seeing those guys work and how great of leaders they were in the community, it motivated me to take football more seriously. It means a lot to me to now help out these kids now in Arkansas."
All proceeds are going to the Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club. Kobe began his football career there at the age of 5. He also played baseball and basketball and volunteered there, refereeing and working the first-down chains.
Kobe's dad, sister, grandmother and other family members have all worked at the local Boys and Girls Club. Jerad first got involved in 1992, and he has been the club's athletic director for the past two years.
In a couple weeks, Kobe and his teammates will open fall camp with the Razorbacks. Kobe missed most of spring practices after having surgery to repair a torn pec.
He said he only has a few more protocols to accomplish before he is cleared, and Kobe expects to be a full participant when camp begins on Aug. 1.
"I'm ready to get back out there," he said. "It's been too long and I feel great. Just waiting on the word."
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Kobe Branham relishes successful youth football camp at Southside High School
Category: General Sports
