Some Reflections from this past spring
Lakewood
The Spartans took one on the chin vs Lakeland. But, the spirit of the Spartans still lives. Credit Lakeland; the one thing that Lakeland has that Lakewood does not, is a Bill Castle experienced staff. Lakeland is not as talented as years past, but the attention to details, the sideline adjustments and the coaching of the Lakeland staff was evident. The Spartans are still talented and as hard as the lose was to Lakewood, the best thing the Spartans took away from that night was the film. EVERYTHING the Spartans did wrong is correctable. The coaches expected a better result. The fans wanted more and the players were clearly upset! Those are all good signs. The expectations placed on Lakewood are high and from the outside looking in, the program is willing to meet those expectations.
East Bay
Are the Indians BACK? East County sure hopes so. When the Indians are good, football on that side of Hillsborough County is so much better. The win over Spoto in the spring game had to be a big boost for the Indians. Second year head football coach, Frank LaRosa seems to have the ship pointing in the right direction.
The QBs
The top dog is still Pete Dinovo (East Lake, 2013). From what I’m told he is the QB that all the colleges like, but no one loves. Well fine! Dinovo will just take that, ball it up, pocket it and show the colleges after he rips off a 2500 yard season and leads his team to face up Plant.
If we HAD to, no way around it, gun to our head…forced to rank the top QBs no matter Pro Style or Dual Threat, it would probably go like this:
2 Will Worth, Newsome 2013
3 Chase Litton, Wharton 2013
4 Tracy Johnson, Lakewood 2013
5 Juwan Brown, Largo 2013
6 Aaron Banks, Plant 2013
#4-#6 could go either way. Tracy gets the #4 spot due to him throwing for 2000 plus last season. Juwan is finally healthy. Not good for the QBs ahead of him. Banks plays for Plant. History of Plant QBs tells us that Banks will probably be pretty dang good!
Will Worth is all guts! I’ll take a QB any day who is gonna lay it on the line no matter the situation. Litton will be very highly recruited. A strong summer will have college coaches sending flowers, boxes of chocolates and lots of cards.
Most Talent
Armwood, Jesuit, Jefferson, Lakewood, Plant, East Lake, Chamberlain, Largo, Tampa Bay Tech.
1 Lakewood
2 Largo/Jefferson
3 Armwood
4 East Lake
Jesuit had lots of big name players and Plant is right up there with them. Chamberlain is quietly sitting pretty with some good players and TBT keeps some horses in the stable. But the teams listed above have kids drawn out in each class that will keep college scouts coming back for the next few years.
Pasco County
Pasco football is not as deep as Pinellas and Hillsborough. Pasco High, Anclote and Zephyrhills are the most talented teams in the area. Fivay and Sunlake will compete. Mitchell showed a little something; organization and good coaching for the most part. While Gulf and Hudson will have another long season.
Anclote is the surprise out of the bunch. A number of college prospects with a passionate staff.
What we learned
1 If there was a National Emergency, Plant High football may get called in before the National Guard – Sooo Many Players
2 We thought the 2013 class could be better than the 2012 class. Now we think the 2014 class could be better than the 2013 class. Don’t sleep on the 2015 class. Lots of young talent across the Bay.
3 College coaches are afraid to be the first to offer. Example: Pete Dinovo
4 CCC is not just good on paper; they will get past both Berkeley Prep and Fort Meade this fall.
5 Discovery: Tyrail Hawkins (Hernando High), RB, 2013, is a special talent and should have more than 2 offers (GA Southern, D-1 Ball State)
6 Robert Davis will run wild again this year for Carrollwood Day School.
7 Jefferson’s 2014 class is crazy talented.
8 Plant and Armwood have a great shot at competing for the state title again.
9 Mike Depue, Robinson head football coach still has the best hair in the county.
10 As expected, this spring has not disappointed with dozen of college scholarships offered to 2013 and 2014 prospects.
11 Bruce Hector, Robinson 2013 OL/DL has some of the best feet in the county for a lineman.
12 Plant head football coach (We will leave his name out) is one of the worst golf cart drivers we have seen.
13 Sunlake has a great set up. Lots of practice space and a beautiful stadium