Sought-after accomplishments on football “bucket lists” run wider than high school hash marks.

These may include playing pro football, helping coach a player to a Heisman Trophy or leading a college program to a National Championship. Others may aspire to be a “Power Five” conference head coach or sign a recruiting class that earns a Top 25 national ranking for the first time in a university’s history.

Carl Franks can claim all of the above.

Franks will serve among the more than 20 instructors at the upcoming U.S. National Team Regional Development Camp in Orlando, Fla., this weekend (Feb. 18-19). The running backs coach at Bethune-Cookman University will teach and train young athletes throughout the two-day, non-contact camp, as part of their initial step to earn a roster spot on a U.S. National or Select Team in 2018.

“Athletes coming to these regional camps are eager to learn, they want to get better,” said Franks, who served as the head coach at his alma mater Duke University from 1998-2003, where his program earned the 2003 Academic Achievement Award from the American Football Coaches Association. “And I don’t think there’s any greater honor in sports than to play for your country.”

The Regional Development Camp in Orlando is the first of 30 to be conducted in 2017 by USA Football, assisted by top high school and current college football coaches like Franks. All 8,000 athletes who compete at Regionals this spring will train to advance their skills and roughly 500 of them will be selected for a 2018 U.S. National or Select Team.

Franks will coach the Orlando Regional’s running backs and also present an educational session for parents and athletes on college recruiting. The NCAA permits coaches from its member schools to assist the U.S. National Team program in developing athletes to represent the United States.

“You get to spend a great deal of time with these guys (at a Regional),” said Franks, who assisted at two Regional Development Camps in 2016. “You get to know them over the course of two days and it’s fun to get into football with them, interact with them.

“I have three daughters, and through coaching, I have hundreds of sons.”

After his pro career as a running back with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League, Franks was hired as the Bandits’ running backs coach for a season under head coach Steve Spurrier. Spurrier went on to hire Franks for his staffs at Duke (1987-89) and the University of Florida (1990-98) where he was part of five SEC championship teams.

Franks was Florida’s assistant offensive coordinator in 1996 when the Gators won the National Championship and quarterback Danny Wuerffel earned the Heisman Trophy.

Following his head coaching tenure at Duke, Franks joined the University of South Florida staff from 2004-13, working as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator (2004-10) as well as director of player personnel (2010-13). He assembled a nationally ranked Top 25 recruiting class at South Florida in 2009, the first nationally ranked freshman class in the school’s history. Franks joined Bethune-Cookman University as its running backs coach in 2014, where he continues to help lead the Wildcats.

Among the NFL running backs that Franks coached in college are Fred Taylor and Errict Rhett. From 1998-2010, Taylor rushed for 11,695 yards, primarily for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and retired as the NFL’s No. 15 all-time leading rusher. Rhett became Florida’s career rushing leader under Franks’ tutelage (4,163 yards) and went on to a seven-year playing career, highlighted by a pair of 1,000-yard seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For all of his accomplishments, assisting the U.S. National Team program is an experience Franks savors.

“When you put that U.S. jersey on, your name takes second place to the name on the front of it,” he said. “That’s something to be immensely proud of. Contributing to that and developing young players is something that all coaches take seriously.

“When it comes to its National Teams, USA Football wants the best players, but also those with the best character to represent our country the right way. That’s part of what makes this program and this training experience different and exceptional.”

To sign up for a U.S. National Team Regional Development Camp, click here.

Photos courtesy of Bethune-Cookman University