Another IMG Academy on the rise in South Carolina?

By Mitch Stephens May 2, 2016, 12:00am

The 100YDS Football Academy gets big booster and hopes to follow in footsteps of 22ft Academy basketball program with 48-man football team in the fall.

Video: highlights of IMG Academy 4-star lineman Cesar Ruiz
Ruiz was one of 20 players offered scholarships by the University of Tennessee in February.


An aspiring IMG Academy-type football program may take the field this fall in Greenville, S.C.

The 100YDS Football Academy will be loosely modeled athletically after IMG and certainly like 22ft Academy, a basketball program that houses elite players from throughout the world and has been around for three seasons.

Last November, 22ft Academy beat storied Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).

Former Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd has signed on as a mentor and advisor, according to WSPA.com.

CEO Mike Rawson told the CBS affiliate that the football program plans to open this fall and field a team with 48 players from ninth through the 12th grade — and recently graduated high school seniors who haven't secured college plans.



Rawson hopes to schedule against other top prep schools and even junior colleges. Academics will be provided by the SC Whitmire Charter School via a virtual high school program.

Rawson said what he's trying to develop in 100YDS Football Academy is comparable to IMG Academy, the much talked-about program in Bradenton, Fla., which has come under scrutiny for luring elite players from other states.

IMG currently boasts 11 of the top 200 senior players in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. In February, Tennessee offered 20 IMG players scholarships in a single day.

Approaching IMG's state-of-the-art facilities, training and on-campus education will be no easy task for any academy. IMG has been training elite high school-aged athletes for more than 35 years, though its football program starts its fourth season in the fall. See its website.
  • Program fields Varsity and Junior Varsity teams with our Varsity team competing within a national schedule 
  • Physical and Mental Conditioning with performance classes in other disciplines to facilitate total development
  • Position-specific instruction and drills, 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 scrimmage and classroom film work 
  • Nation’s top high school football coaching staff, led by Director Steve Walsh, 13-year NFL veteran quarterback, and 5x state champion, and Head Coach, Kevin Wright
  • Customized training available for players preparing for an upcoming collegiate season
  • State-of-the-art, professional-quality football stadium 
  • 40,000-square-foot field house with multiple professional-grade locker rooms and strategy rooms
  • College-style A/B schedule that involves school in the first half of the day and sport training in the latter, or vice versa depending on sport and individual schedule. This allows for an ideal environment that enhances improvement in all aspects of academics and athletic
- See more at: https://www.imgacademy.com/sports/football/boarding-school#sthash.dWDpg6lT.dpuf