The 2015-16 school year has already brought a record amount of college attention to graduating seniors of Butler County Schools, but one local business is hoping to take the pursuit of higher education even further.

JL Fit, an increasingly popular gym situated in downtown Greenville, is partnering with the University of Fort Lauderdale to bring college attention to the wealth of talent in Butler County and the surrounding areas.

Jeremiah Burnett, co-owner of JL Fit, said that the idea stemmed from a desire to bring not only more attention to promising up-and-comers, but also attention from more diverse areas.

“Basically, you don’t want to step on any of the coaches’ toes, so to speak, so what I did was I made sure I cleared it with [Greenville head football coach] Josh McLendon before I actually jumped the gun on something like this,” Burnett said.

“We’re basically trying to provide camps, or better looks for students who aren’t getting attention from colleges outside of the area.  We’re trying to bring all of that recruiting power to this area in order to get our kids out of here.”

The University of Fort Lauderdale hosts a series of senior showcase events—complete with combines and similar scouting activities—in locations around the Southeast like Atlanta, but relatively few are close to the Camellia City… until now, that is.

“I got in contact with a former Greenville High player named Michael Feagin, who now coaches for the Tampa Bay Storm, an arena football team,” Burnett said. “He linked me up with the coach of the University of Fort Lauderdale, and we just made it happen.

“I presented an idea to him about doing a camp here, because we have so much untapped talent floating around Butler County and surrounding counties. It’s basically giving him first dibs on athletes around here, along with a couple of junior colleges from the Florida area.”

The camp is scheduled for May 14 at the Greenville YMCA football field, which will be split into two phases.  The first phase is for participants ages 8-11, and the second will be for athletes ages 12 and older.

The camp is not only geared for high school seniors, but rather a wide spread of potential athletes.

Burnett plans to distribute flyers with more concrete information in the following week.