Purdue football joins satellite camp trend

Penn State and Iowa did it last year. Michigan and Nebraska are doing it this year.

Add Darrell Hazell to the mix of Big Ten football coaches who are working a satellite camp away from West Lafayette.

Although details haven't been finalized, Hazell and his coaching staff will help serve as instructors during a camp in the Nashville, Tenn., area in early June.

"It's a good area for us," Hazell said. "We think that's a hotbed of talent down there."

Hazell signed one player from Tennessee in his 2015 recruiting class – tight end Brycen Hopkins.

A loophole in the NCAA rules allows football programs to serve as guest coaches or work another school's camp to bypass the existing bylaw that states camps must be staged within a 50-mile radius of campus.

The Big Ten permits its football programs to serve as guest coaches at camps, but coaches from the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conferences are prohibited.

Penn State's James Franklin and his staff were involved in camps at Stetson and Georgia State last year, causing SEC and ACC coaches to take notice. Michigan first-year coach Jim Harbaugh is taking his staff to nine destinations across the country, including Indianapolis.

Nebraska has partnered with Georgia State and is involved in a one-day camp on June 15. The next day, Penn State comes to town.

If the talent won't come to you, Big Ten coaches are going to where the talent lives.

Understandably, Alabama's Nick Saban and Clemson's Dabo Sweeney want the loophole addressed.

"If we're all going to travel all over the country to have satellite camps, you know, how ridiculous is that?" Saban told al.com. "I mean we're not allowed to go to all-star games, but now we're going to have satellite camps all over the country. So it doesn't really make sense."

Even NCAA president Mark Emmert said Thursday the issue will be discussed by the football rules oversight committee.

"I think they have to address it nationally," Emmert said at The Associated Press Sports Editors meeting in New York City.

The satellite camp doesn't replace Hazell's summer camps regularly held at Purdue. They're scheduled to take place June 7-10 and June 19-20.

Hazell said the costs of working the satellite camps are not significant to partner with another college or high school.

"I think the return will be much greater than the cost in the long run," Hazell said.

Hazell considered the Chicago area this year, but couldn't work out the details.

"We're trying to go where it's not too flooded with other major universities but a high population of good players," he said.

With all the attention these camps have received and the push by the powerful SEC to stop the influx of Big Ten programs in its territory, who knows how long the loophole will remain in place.

"You know the rule is going to change," Hazell said.