A football clinic specifically for offensive linemen had well over 100 participants last Saturday from schools throughout the state.

Held at the Lehighton Area High School multipurpose stadium, the 2025 Eastern PA O-Line Clinic was organized by Tom McCarroll, head football coach at Lehighton, and his former college teammate, Kevin Bolis, a 15-year veteran college Division 1 offensive line coach.

This is the second year for the clinic. Last year’s initial event attracted about 75 linemen.

“We were very pleased with the turn out,” said McCarroll. “Over 100 players from over 20 schools attended. Last year, we had about 75 so it was an improvement. Players from as far as Line Mountain, Midd-West, Garden Spot, Penncrest and Nanticoke were in attendance.”

Instructors were mostly college coaches, including Tom Perkovich, head coach at Susquehanna University; Mike Cebrosky, head coach at King’s College; Tom Doddy, former coach at Muhlenberg University; Garrett Bisbing, a long-time college coach and now an assistant offensive coordinator at Saucon Valley High School, and offensive line coaches from King’s and Muhlenberg.

“(Bolis’) model is to have one coach for every 10 players to allow for effective and efficient coaching,” said McCarroll. “That means as the number of participants increases, he works to increase the number of college coaches involved. That being said, there were three college head coaches and seven college offensive line coaches.”

Among the local high schools which had individuals taking part beside Lehighton were Jim Thorpe, Panther Valley and Northwestern.

“The feedback was positive from all parties involved,” said McCarroll. “The college coaches loved to see so many linemen come out, the parents that I spoke with liked that a camp focused on linemen was available, the high school coaches in attendance had great things to say and they were able to pick up new drills they could use with their team, and the players were engaged and exposed to new drills and were able to be coached by college coaches.

“We would like to continue this event as long as we can. There are not many events of this kind, so to make this resource available to local players would be a worthwhile endeavor.”