UTEP legends Aaron Jones, Will Hernandez team up for big, free camps

This was always going to be a huge weekend for youth sports in El Paso.

Aaron Jones, the star running back for the Minnesota Vikings and a UTEP and Burges alumnus, has made an annual event of returning to his hometown to conduct a free clinic with his A&A All the Way Foundation and by last year encompassed both football and basketball and more than 1,000 campers.

The A&A All the Way Foundation picked Saturday, June 21 for its big event.

Also, last year, Jones’ former Miner teammate, who paved the way for him, NFL veteran guard Will Hernandez, brought his own free Mijo Things football clinic to El Paso, which debuted with 500 campers. He couldn’t wait to come back and do it again.

But when?

“We were planning it out this year again, and it turns out we were going to do it on the same day” as the A&A camp, said Hernandez, who had a standout season with the Arizona Cardinals last year and is a free agent at the moment. “‘Why don’t we get together and make this thing happen?’ Do it big. We got around 500 last year; he got more than 1,000. We might as well bring them all together.

“Two heads are better than one. We can cause a greater story, we can affect a lot more kids when we work together. The power of collaboration is crazy. It’s something, not only do I not take it for granted, it’s something I try to do in every aspect of my life.”

The result will be on display Saturday, June 21, when the re-dubbed A&A The Mijo Way Football Camp, which now includes a soccer clinic to accompany the football and basketball, will draw 1,300 campers to the SAC2 (football and soccer) and Coach Wally Hartley PK-8 School (basketball).

With 1,300 campers expected to attend all three camps (registration is now closed), Jones and Hernandez called it the biggest youth camp in El Paso history at the promotional press conference.

“I feel like it was long overdue for us teaming up, the same way we teamed up in college,” said Jones, who left as UTEP’s all-time leading rusher behind many holes made by the second-round draft pick Hernandez. “We made a name for ourselves, now we felt like it was time to do it together. Put bigger eyes on what we’re doing, a bigger scope on what we’re doing.

“I’m excited to be doing it with a guy I went to battle with and now playing at the highest level.”

As always, they’ve brought some of their NFL friends with them, including former Miner star and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrise Knight. Among the notable helpers at the soccer camp are former El Paso Locomotive and FC Juárez stars Leandro Carrijó and Eder Borelli.

Both Jones and Hernandez say putting on this camp is a highlight.

“It means everything, these full-circle moments,” Jones said. “This is why I do this, this is why I put my jersey on and go out and play, so I can use my platform, so I can give back. At a young age, I found out giving back was my joy. That fills my heart.

“El Paso means the world to me. Not too many people knew about me (when he was at Burges in 2012), not many people talked about me, but now we leave them with no choice but to talk about us and El Paso.”

Hernandez said the best part for him is being with the campers.

“It’s the chance where they don’t just see me through a video screen or a phone screen, they see me live, in person, in front of them, eye-to-eye,” he said. “To me, that’s where we make the biggest impact. There’s a psychological thing that happens when they see you and you’re in the same room as them.

“Unconsciously, they think the goal is a lot closer than they thought. We bring to life the dreams they have. That’s the coolest part of it, we know we have that effect on them. We’re there wholeheartedly.”

They will be there wholeheartedly with 1,300 campers Saturday, June 21.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.