Before Emil Eikyor Jr. became a 300-pound, All-SEC guard for Alabama and a Reese’s Senior Bowl selection on the verge of entering the NFL, he was a kid who looked up to Jared Thomas.

Thomas was the All-USFL center for the New Orleans Breakers last year. But back then, he was a standout at Indianapolis’ Cathedral High School on his way to becoming the starting center and team captain at Northwestern.

“I was a middle-schooler, looking up to him and kind of following in his footsteps,” said Eikyor, who also graduated from Cathedral, “and that’s when I first started getting interested in playing college ball.”

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Eikyor understands that football-playing youngsters could be looking up to him the way he looked up to Thomas, and it’s a responsibility he takes to heart.

“I think it’s very important to give back to the community in any way you can and be a positive light and kind of just a positive role model that the kids can look up to,” Eikyor said. “We all need role models. I had my role models growing up, so just to be that positive role model that kids can follow in that same direction means a lot to me and is something I take pride in.”

On Wednesday night, Eikyor had the opportunity to interact with a group of eager youngsters from the NFL flag-football league in Pensacola at a football camp. He and other Senior Bowlers preparing for the NFL at the EXOS pro sports training center in Gulf Breeze joined University of West Florida players to work with the boys and girls, and Eikyor described the opportunity as “very cool,” and he wasn’t talking about the north wind blowing at UWF’s Pen Air Field in Pensacola.

“It definitely feels good because I was in their shoes when I was their age, looking up to guys that played college ball or possibly going to the NFL,” Eikyor said. “I know it meant the world to me growing up. …

“I went to all kinds of camps growing up because my dad was a coach. I was always around football, and I always looked up to the guys running the camp, even the high school guys. Being in this position where I’m going into the NFL and being able to come back and go through a camp like this means the world to me.”

Once he gets his pro career going, Eikyor said he hoped to serve as a host for a youth football camp “in my hometown of Indianapolis, possibly in Alabama, but that’s something I definitely have in my plans for the future.”

The Senior Bowlers signed autographs after the event, and the Senior Bowl had game tickets for the youngsters.

Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, said events such as the Wednesday night football camp gave the all-star players a preview that NFL life would extend beyond a franchise’s football facility.

“That’s a part of the NFL, too,” Nagy said. “Tuesday is the players’ day off, so Tuesday is a big community-service day. A lot of these guys will have their own charities and foundations. This is kind of the first step. As college guys, you don’t have that platform to do it, but they’re getting ready to step into something where that’ll be expected of them.”

Nagy said the Senior Bowl held the football camp at West Florida to build connections in two ways.

“I think nights like this, getting out in the community, it makes them feel more connected than just coming in and having practice and playing a game and getting out of Mobile,” Nagy said. “I do think this is a little bit of a stretch of relief for our players, too, because there’s a lot of anxiety wrapped up in what they’re getting ready to do next week in Mobile, and this is something where they can come out and have fun and be around the kids.”

Nagy thought the camp also provided “just a great connection to the Pensacola community. They’re a part of what we want to be with the Senior Bowl. They’re in our backyard. It’s really a short drive. We say, ‘The draft started in Mobile,’ but it’s really a Gulf Coast game. And that’s been a focal point since we’ve gotten here.”

The 74th Reese’s Senior Bowl will kick off at 1:30 p.m. CST Feb. 4 at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile. NFL Network will televise the game. Tickets can be purchased online.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.