GOLDEN GATE ESTATES, Fla. — For the fourth straight year, football’s future stars have descended upon Southwest Florida. FBU Top Gun has returned to the Paradise Coast Sports Complex in Golden Gate Estates. The showcase event has brought over 2,000 of the country’s best high school and middle school football players to our backyard.

“I consider [FBU Top Gun as] the Pro Bowl for middle school and high school football players,” Collier County’s District 1 Commissioner Rick LoCastro said.

FBU Top Gun began 13 years ago. It started as a small event on the other side of Florida. However, now it is the largest football showcase event in the country and has called Southwest Florida home for the past couple of years.

Throughout the four-day event, high school and middle school players will run through drills and compete against each other. It’s a great opportunity for middle schoolers to be discovered.

“We kind of find the freaks before the freaks are the freaks,” FBU Managing Partner Steve Quinn said.

For high schoolers, FBU Top Gun is their opportunity to drive up their recruitment stock. College coaches are not allowed to come to the event since it is currently a dead zone for recruitment per the NCAA guidelines. However, there are plenty of scouts affiliated with other organizations that come to watch the players and relay the information to schools.

“We have recruiting services here,” Quinn said. “We have the UC Report that goes out to all of the colleges across the country at every level. It’s a great opportunity for them to get college scholarships.”

In addition to the scouting benefits, the players also learn a lot over the four-day event. There are over 100 coaches who run the players through drills and teach them how to improve.

“Adding it all up, it’s over 1,500 years of college and NFL experience that are coaching up these kids,” Quinn said.

The event culminates on Sunday when a handful of players will receive invitations to the All-American Bowl on NBC, the country’s premiere bowl for high school seniors, and the FBU Freshman All-American Bowl, which is also held at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex.

“It would be a dream come true to be in the All-American game,” Naples High School senior and Auburn Football commit Kensley Faustin said.

Faustin isn’t the only local player at FBU Top Gun. Over 75 Collier County players are participating in the event this year.

“It’s a great event,” Faustin said. “It just showcases everything. This is next-level stuff.”