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Jaelen Strong, Tom Savage, Will Fuller host Youth Football Camp

"I feel like we're obligated to give back to our community and volunteer," says Strong, a West Catholic grad and Houston Texans wide receiver.

Jaelen Strong (center) poses with Texans teammates Tom Savage (left) and Will Fuller during Strong’s football camp on Saturday.
Jaelen Strong (center) poses with Texans teammates Tom Savage (left) and Will Fuller during Strong’s football camp on Saturday.Read moreAVI STEINHARDT / For Philly.com

As Jaelen Strong prepared for his junior season at Arizona State in 2014, the West Catholic product decided to pursue his own youth football camp, hosted in Philadelphia and free to any player.

Three years later, Strong's "Legends of Tomorrow" camp features his closest friends and teammates — who happen to represent Philadelphia in their own right.

At Drexel University's McGuire Field on Saturday, Strong's staff included his current quarterback on the Houston Texans, Tom Savage (Cardinal O'Hara), fellow Texans wideout Will Fuller (Roman Catholic), teammate DeAndre Hopkins, and all-pro running back Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams.

If you ask Strong, who will play his third season for Houston after the Texans selected him in the third round of the 2015 draft, this camp isn't ending anytime soon.

"I feel like we're obligated to give back to our community and volunteer, or whatever you want to call it," Strong said. "It's a great event, it's our fourth year — we're going for a hundred years. We're just trying to give back in any opportunity that we can. It's a great experience out here, I hope people who haven't experienced it can come out next year."

This was Fuller's second time volunteering at the camp, as the former Notre Dame standout also visited while playing for the Irish. Strong's camp ran past the allotted four hours on Saturday, as high school campers participated in one-on-one receiving scrimmages and 40-yard dashes after the 1 p.m. end time.

"It's big," Fuller said of the camp's purpose. "Helping kids that are growing up in the same city you grew up — and having all these guys you look up to who made it from this city. It gives them hope. When I was younger, I went to a camp and met a lot of guys that were important to my success. I know a lot of us are going to be important to theirs."

Strong, Savage, and Fuller are no strangers to the Philadelphia community — all hail from the Philadelphia Catholic League. Fuller's 2,380 career receiving yards remain a Catholic League record, and Savage and Strong both broke out as high school seniors. With weeks before NFL training camps begin, Strong was able to provide familiar names and faces recognizable to campers in West Philadelphia. .

"This is definitely cool, coming out here and a lot of the kids know who you are," Fuller said. "They're big fans, of either your career in college or in the NFL. You can make a big impact in their lives, and that's real important to me. …

"Jaelen is a good dude. He knows a lot of guys and made a lot of connections. All he has to do is ask — a lot of us are here to help the youth grow. It's really nothing to come out here and help for a day."

Savage is reportedly garnering most first-team reps as Houston's quarterback, despite the Texans' having drafted Clemson's DeShaun Watson in the first round.

Strong said he never had the opportunity to attend one of these camps, or "be around this many pros at one time." Nevertheless, after a junior-college pit stop, Strong finds himself in an NFL offense alongside two other Catholic League products — right where it all started.

"It's fun," Strong said. "We can all relate to each other. It's just ironic that Tom's the quarterback, Will's a receiver and I'm a receiver, and that we're always together. That's just another testament to these kids, that they can get here, too. We have to give these kids something that we didn't have. We want them to have the hope in their heart that they can get to where we are."