What are The Opening Finals? Explaining Nike’s recruiting Super Bowl in a 2-minute read

There are college football recruiting camps all over the country all summer. Every FBS team has one, to take a look at recruitable talent in person in a relatively controlled environment. But none has anywhere near the concentration of talent that Nike’s The Opening does. The full roster of star recruits is below.

It used to be televised on ESPN, but in 2017, only Monday, July 3rd’s 7-on-7 championship will be aired, on the NFL Network. You can also follow along with all of the action by following @SBNRecruiting on Twitter, and our live blog for the event, which begins Friday afternoon ET.

This will be the seventh year of the competition, and it’s technically a few different events rolled into one. In order to score an invite, recruits must qualify by attending and performing well in one of the numerous regional Nike recruiting camps throughout the spring. The component containing the players’ testing numbers is now done in an app.

In total, 166 players made the cut in 2017 and get to go to Nike’s massive Beaverton, Ore. campus with expenses paid by the apparel giant. They’ll receive instruction and guidance from an experienced group of trainers.

And of course, there is swag.

The first two days are QB-centric. The best signal-callers in the nation made the cut at the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles earlier this month. At The Opening, they receive more unique training.

When the rest of the players get there on Day 3, the Nike Football Rating Championship takes place. Think of this like the NFL Combine for the top high school players. You can count on the testing numbers being legit as well as eye-popping. This replaces the SPARQ testing system that you might have heard of.

There’s also a lineman challenge, where the best OLs and DLs go up 1-on-1, many of them wearing pads to give the most realistic assessment of skill. (Players from some states aren’t allowed to strap up, due to restrictions by their high school athletic associations.)

While the linemen do their thing, the skill players do theirs in a 7-on-7 tournament. It culminates with a final on Sunday to close the event.

These players will join players like Ezekiel Elliott, Derrick Henry, Jalen Ramsey, Leonard Fournette, and many other recent top college football talents to “get open.”

This is about players and their families in a showcase of the best talent in the country. The goal at this specific event isn’t to secure a scholarship offer, and again, these players are already the best of the best, with suitors all over the place if they’re uncommitted. College coaches are not allowed, unless their sons happen to be competing in the event.

The point is to compete against the best from all across the country, and many players form bonds here that last even if they don’t end up playing college ball together.