Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Mark Barron will hold his second annual free football camp at Sage Park in Mobile on July 13. Barron is preparing for his eighth NFL season, and when he was the age of his campers -- 8 through 16 years old -- that future wouldn’t have surprised him.

"Crazy as it might sound, as far back as I can remember I always believed that I was going to play in the NFL," Barron said. "That's why I feel like it's so important to let these kids see myself because I always believed in myself. Regardless of what I was surrounded by, I always believed that I could do whatever it was I put my mind to, and I feel like that's probably one of the main reasons that I've done what I did. I always believed in myself, and I want to make sure that these kids coming up after me have that same belief in themselves."

Barron realizes he "didn't grow up the easiest way" in public housing in Prichard, but he knows that played "a big part of what I am today."

Back home during his break between the end of the offseason program and the start of training camp for the Steelers, Barron hopes he can "affect the kids" with his football camp.

"I feel like it's so important for the mindset of these kids for them to see me, somebody who made it out of the inner-city," Barron said. "I think it's very important for them to see me and just to be around them."

Before starting his free football camp, one of several held by Coastal Alabama’s NFL players, Barron came up with a plan to give away turkeys for Thanksgiving. At his third annual turkey giveaway last year, Barron sponsored the distribution of 1,500 turkeys split between Figures Community Center in Toulminville and Prichard City Hall.

"I'm just trying to find ways to make a difference in my community," Barron said. "The turkey giveaway, when I was coming up -- not to say that you didn't have a turkey, but we didn't have a lot, and I felt like that would be something that would help the people that may need the help. …

"The football camp, I just felt like it was a way I could do something for the kids."

While youngsters in Mobile and Baldwin counties also have access to free football camps sponsored by Ryan Anderson, Eric Lee, AJ McCarron, C.J. Mosley, Jamey Mosley, Captain Munnerlyn, Michael Pierce, Sherman Williams and T.J. Yeldon this summer, the oldest of those camps is Munnerlyn's, which will be held for the 10th year on July 20.

"That's the thing. That's one of the reasons I feel like it's important," Barron said, "because when I was coming up, I had never seen nobody that made it. I don't know if there was a camp, but I never heard about it, so that's one of the reasons that I think it's important."

Barron’s camp for youngsters 8 through 16 years old will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 13 at Sage Park in Mobile. Youngsters can register online.

"It was good," Barron said of last year's inaugural camp. "I even had my little brother out there participating in the camp. It was my first one, so I'm most definitely looking forward to it getting bigger, having more kids."

Before his NFL career, Barron was a three-time All-SEC safety and two-time national champion, including his All-American 2011 campaign, at Alabama after starring in football and track and field at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.