Student athletes from five schools within Dallas County left Wednesday on a football camp tour that will take them to Division I schools in Tennessee and Georgia.

Fifteen total players are taking part in the tour, which was organized by Leroy Miles, who is the Selma High School football coach and a Dallas County School Board Member. The tour will take players to the University of Memphis Thursday, Middle Tennessee State University Friday and the University of Georgia Saturday. If all goes well, several players will find themselves on the radar of Division I football programs by the time the weekend ends.

“It’s a great opportunity for these kids,” Miles said. “I’ve met with them and had an opportunity to meet their parents and that was very pleasant. For their kids to have an opportunity to go to several camps and be away with this kind of football atmosphere with guys that they don’t know, guys that they are going to have to room with, it’s kind of simulating what it’s going to be like when [they] go off to college.”

Players from Selma, Dallas County, Southside, Ellwood Christian and Keith are taking part in the tour, which is being funded by a private donor. The players’ hotel rooms, food and camp attendance were all paid for. Miles estimated the trip’s total cost to be around $10,000.

This is the second year Miles has done a football camp tour, and he’s hoping it’s the beginning of an annual tradition. In the near future, he’d like to help start a county coaches association that would, in part, oversee a college summer tour.

Last year he took five Selma High players — four of them seniors — and all four signed to play college football. The fifth player, Aderick Moore, is a rising senior and is on this year’s tour, but he’s already attracted attention from Division I programs. Miles would love to see the same results this year, but more importantly he’s focused on how the tour can increase sportsmanship within the county this fall.

“When you know somebody on the other team, it just seems to enhance sportsmanship and that’s the main thing,” Miles said. “My kids will know kids from Dallas County and they will have relationships with them because they are about to go work with them for four days.”

Players said they are looking forward to competing and seeing how they compare with other athletes from around the country.

“I’m looking forward to getting exposure, seeing how I stack up against other athletes and improving on decision making and accuracy and all that,” said Keith’s Brian Crum. “Just learning more stuff about the game.”

Dallas County’s Paul Daniels is also hoping to catch the eye of some college scouts.

“Try to get some exposure, learn some things, have some fun,” Daniels said when asked what he was most looking forward to about the trip.

The players on the tour include Selma’s Moore, Herschell Brown, Quintez Blevins, Lekedrich Rogers, Marquell Moorer, Darrell Edwards and Quentavious Davis; Southside’s Khamari Gibbs and Kentravious Moore; Dallas County’s Daniels, Anthony Oliver and Patrick Haskell; Keith’s Crum and Morris Collins; and Ellwood Christian’s Rayford Mitchell. A second invited student for Ellwood Christian was unable to attend.