MANOA — In just its second year of existence, word of the Maximum Exposure Football Camp has spread like wildfire and not just amongst interested participants.

Coaches from across the nation made the trek to the University of Hawaii's lower campus this weekend for the opportunity to work with high school football players — more than 400 of them, in fact — at the three-day camp, which is put on by GPA Football and the Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance.

In all, there are about 80 coaches representing nearly 40 schools from all levels of college football. Among the notables at Saturday's morning session was Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich, who is fresh off an appearance in the inaugural College Football Playoff championship game.

"We kind of joke, but in a sincere way, that this is our second home state of recruiting," Helfrich said. "The state of Oregon doesn't have as rich a tradition, or as many players on a year-in, year-out basis as Hawaii does and so it just gives us a chance to broaden that."

Helfrich, who also brought three assistants on the trip, is hoping to further solidify an already strong pipeline from the Islands.

"The pride in this place and how hard these guys work is huge," Helfrich said. "Historically the University of Oregon has had a great chain of so many great people and players from the state of Hawaii and it's just great to be back to try to find the next one or more."

Another Pac 12-conference coach, Colorado's Mike McIntyre, said the camp is all about opening doors for the participants.

"This is a great thing for all the Hawaii kids and having all these coaches here to see them and work with them and help them reach their dreams and get better; its exciting," McIntyre said. "There's a lot of coaches from all different divisions and they're all coaching the kids and working with them and helping them get better, so there will be a lot of young men here who will be able to reach their dreams because of it."

As a first-year head coach, UNLV's Tony Sanchez said he relished the opportunity to attend the camp.

"It's great, because you come in and get the opportunity to work with some of these young men and it's really great to just see the passion that they all have and how many kids participate in this event and it's just good for all the kids to create those opportunities and just develop themselves as football players," said Sanchez, who was hired away from Las Vegas prep powerhouse Bishop Gorman and garnered commitments from recent Kahuku graduates Salanoa-Alo Wily and Soli Afalava.

Sanchez would like nothing more than to nab a few more of the state's top talents on the gridiron in the future.

"Well, our nickname is the 'Ninth Island,' so there's no doubt about it," said Sanchez, who brought his Bishop Gorman team to Hawaii two years ago for a game against Saint Louis. "We've got some really good players on our team currently who are from Hawaii and obviously there's a lot of kids that we're going to continue to recruit, but this is a great place, the kids come from great families, they're hard working and they love football as much as any place in the country."

While Las Vegas may be a familiar place for a lot of locals, Hanover, New Hampshire probably isn't. Despite the distance, Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens jumped at the chance to attend the camp.

"We talked as a recruiting approach, you know, why not Hawaii?," Teevens said. "The quality of schools here is great and a lot of these guys are high achievers, academically. People ask if they're hesitant to leave and I think, given the opportunity, guys will go, so we're just opening their eyes to what the possibilities might be. If I looked at the Ivy League rosters, just about every team has a kid from Hawaii or two, so why don't we make a bigger push and get some more?"

Teevens said he's liked what he's seen so far from both the camp organizers and the participants.

"I'm very, very impressed with the quality of coaching here — the high school coaches here, the camp instruction — and to draw guys from all over the country from all levels," said Teevens, who has coaching stints at Stanford, Florida and Illinois among others on his resume. "The kids compete, they pay attention and it's one of the most friendly places I've ever been. It's been very, very productive for us."

While it was Teevens' first visit to Hawaii, the camp provided BYU running backs' coach Mark Atuaia a chance to return home.

"For any opportunities that can come about for our young people, I'm all about it, and for myself and my boss — our offensive coordinator, Robert Anae — we made a conscious effort to come out here," said Atuaia, a former Kahuku standout. "We have our own things going on at our university, but we feel it's important as people from Hawaii to not only give back, but to provide opportunities and we stand in a position where we can do that and I think that's what we're all about right now."

Atuaia said Maximum Exposure has quickly blossomed into one of the top camps he's participated in nationwide.

"I was here last year, in it's beginning, and now it's almost doubled in size," Atuaia said. "We're trying to give these kids a good look through repetitions and that way we can give them a good evaluation and they can come out here and get the best of their parents' money."

The camp concludes Sunday at the UH lower campus.