MORGANTOWN - No matter what direction he looks in his family tree, Noel Devine sees kids.

There were his older brothers growing up in Fort Myers, Fla., and now there are the three - count 'em, three - children of his own, two born while he was still in high school and a third last fall during his freshman year at West Virginia.

Oh, and then there are the 53 others who showed up for what Devine hopes is the first of many annual youth football camps in his hometown.

"It was fun to see little kids with great talent,'' Devine said Thursday.

The occasion was the 239 Future All-Stars Football Camp that Devine and a handful of his college football friends staged at a community center in Fort Myers last month. In the brief time that WVU's sophomore tailback had between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of summer school and summer conditioning, he held the free, one-day camp and attracted 53 kids between the ages of 7 and 14.

"It was just [a chance] to go out and hang out with little kids and let them know that even though they look up to us we're still giving back to our community,'' Devine said. "[It's about] showing love to my hometown and the little kids that look up to us and let them know to pursue their dreams. I know there are a lot of kids who look up to me now that I'm on this level and probably want to be like me.''

Others involved in the project included South Florida cornerback Quenton Washington, a Devine teammate at North Fort Myers, and Iowa State cornerback Chris Singleton, who went to a rival high school.

Devine said the idea came "from my heart.''

"I've had plans on doing it and guys to help me do it,'' said Devine, who also had help from a cousin, LeDondrick Rowe, who is involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Lee County. "Being up here I learned a lot working with little kids, going to the hospital, seeing kids who are sick, mentally retarded kids. I realized I'm so blessed and I wanted to work with kids.''

MORGANTOWN - No matter what direction he looks in his family tree, Noel Devine sees kids.

There were his older brothers growing up in Fort Myers, Fla., and now there are the three - count 'em, three - children of his own, two born while he was still in high school and a third last fall during his freshman year at West Virginia.

Oh, and then there are the 53 others who showed up for what Devine hopes is the first of many annual youth football camps in his hometown.

"It was fun to see little kids with great talent,'' Devine said Thursday.

The occasion was the 239 Future All-Stars Football Camp that Devine and a handful of his college football friends staged at a community center in Fort Myers last month. In the brief time that WVU's sophomore tailback had between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of summer school and summer conditioning, he held the free, one-day camp and attracted 53 kids between the ages of 7 and 14.

"It was just [a chance] to go out and hang out with little kids and let them know that even though they look up to us we're still giving back to our community,'' Devine said. "[It's about] showing love to my hometown and the little kids that look up to us and let them know to pursue their dreams. I know there are a lot of kids who look up to me now that I'm on this level and probably want to be like me.''

Others involved in the project included South Florida cornerback Quenton Washington, a Devine teammate at North Fort Myers, and Iowa State cornerback Chris Singleton, who went to a rival high school.

Devine said the idea came "from my heart.''

"I've had plans on doing it and guys to help me do it,'' said Devine, who also had help from a cousin, LeDondrick Rowe, who is involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Lee County. "Being up here I learned a lot working with little kids, going to the hospital, seeing kids who are sick, mentally retarded kids. I realized I'm so blessed and I wanted to work with kids.''

Devine's own kids - girls 3 years and 8 months and a boy who is 2 - are in Fort Myers and don't see him much, although he said he does talk to the two older ones on the telephone.

"Now that I'm out of the dorm they might come and visit and catch a couple of games,'' he said.

The mere fact that he has fathered children of his own, though, makes him look differently at children than he might have otherwise.

"Yeah, I think I look at it differently,'' the 20-year-old Devine said. "Being a young dad is hard, but I know my kids look up to me. And I feel like if they look up to me, other kids look up to me, too. We don't realize it sometimes that we're a big factor in little kids' lives and they want to follow and be like us.''

Scott Kilhefner is a world history teacher at North Fort Myers and took his 7-year-old son, Micah, to the camp, where the participants went through drills and then were divided into teams led by the college players for a flag football tournament.

"It makes me proud. I'm proud of Noel and Quenton,'' Kilhefner told the News-Press of Fort Myers. "From when Micah was 4 or 5, Noel always has been so good with Micah. Noel would always play with him. Noel made such an impression on him.''

Devine said the camp really wasn't the first experience he had with older kids teaching younger ones. He went though it all the time as a kid himself.

"Every day was like a camp to me,'' Devine said. "Being the youngest brother was tough. You always got beat up. But the outcome, I thank them for that now that I'm the toughest. Whenever my big brothers made a mistake, I learned from their mistakes.''

To contact Dave Hickman, use e-mail or call 348-1734.