Observations from the past few weeks…
Calvary Christian has top-notch facilities, but a wayyyyyyyyys to go to reach the same elite status on the field.
The private schools in the Class 3A and 2A districts in the Tampa Bay area have a great collection of skilled players. The following set of players could easily start for many, if not all, of the larger schools:
Berkeley — Nelson Agholor, Reggie Barnes
CCC — Justin Goodloe, Michael Stevenson, Blair Vaughn
Tampa Catholic — Chivarsky Corbett, Jordan Rich-Rogers
St. Pete Catholic — Ryan Green
Canterbury — Brent O’Neal, Dasean Thomas, P.J. Franklin
Indian Rocks — Sean Culkin
Cambridge — Demarcus Faison
Carrollwood Day — Robert Davis, Deuce Gruden
Admiral Farragut — Rayshawn Jenkins, Alvin Cunningham, Todd Macon, Cortavious Givins
Systems win games not athletes.
No matter how good you are (QB/RB/WR) you are nothing without an OLine (see King)
CDS has the best field. (Not stadium, field)
King press box is legit.
Anyone can run behind a good OLine. (See Sickles)
Girls can play with the boys. Steinbrenner starting kicker Jessica Weatherman, has missed only 2 extra points since opening night against Sickles.
In a school known for basketball, football begins to turn heads (Sickles)
A few unnamed Sickles assistant coaches should receive the “Louder than the crowd” Award! Joke, don’t kill us.
King has the best BCP hookup at the concessions.
Alonso’s speed is unbelievable and it’s not just Brandon Holloway.
Everyone thought LaMarq Caldwell would be TBT’s leading rusher, but currently it’s Clunder LeCount and he is killing.
Keller Powers looks to be picking up where his brother, Conner Powers, left off. Tops in the county for rushing yards.
King was the talk of the summer. But, has not met the big expectations thus far in the regular season.
Bloomingdale is like Charlie Sheen they are winners but let’s wait to see if Lee Corso comes out with a “Not so fast my friends”!
6A-8 isn’t what we thought it was. Suddenly Jefferson & King look pretty pedestrian.
Pound for pound best district is Plant City, Newsome, and Durant.
Boca Ciega is once again gets us excited, then lets us down.
Pinellas County is not the redheaded stepchild people make them out to be.
Corey Moore has stood beside the “All In” motto.
Diomi Roberts: This Pinellas guy already knew he was the real deal what he didn’t know was that the little guy could carry countryside on his 170LB back while bailing out his Division one QB. Diomi Currently has 69car, 565yds, 8TD’s
7 on 7 DOES influence perception and rankings #BUTITSHOULDNOT. 2 teams right now were ranked pretty high because of lofty expectations set based off of 7 on 7 and a good passing combo IE King, Windham to Murray, and East Lake Dinivo to Scott. These teams have under achieved greatly based off of those expectations but really should they have had those expectations to begin with? Something to ponder.
CDS needs to put in some light poles… Seriously John Gruden donate the 40K to get that rolling.
CCC is good and will be better next year but PLEASE get some field turf that field is a pit and any rain turns it into a mud bog.
Small School Ball for the 2 counties has some very good football and games coming up. CCC vs TC vs BP any of these combinations will make for some excellent games. Canterbury and Brent the Machine O’ Neal (60car, 728yd, 10td’s) are now the front runner in that 2A district and hold the keys after upsetting Admiral Farragut. Canterbury vs CDS vs IRC and AFA vs IRC vs Cambridge vs CDS are some very interesting matchups to come.
Palm Harbor running back Ryan Myers is no fluke. He gets the tough yards. Not flashy but give him a hole and an assignment and he will make you proud. 75car, 432yds, 2TD
Tarpon Springs, another possibly overrated team. Possibly the best QB in Pappas 60% 978yds 10TD 1int but their Oline and defense are atrocious. Not sure if they have what it takes to make the playoffs.
Lakewood! Tracy Johnson 698 yds 10tds 1int to Rodney Adams 12 rec, 286yds, 5TDs has burst into the limelight. This team is a legit contender in their 9 team district.