PINELLAS COUNTY PLAYER ZOOM

Jeremy Kerr: Hunting for success at St. Pete

St. Petersburg's Jeremy Kerr. Class of 2013 TE (6-6, 241lbs)

It’s fairly easy to intimidate people before you even have to show them what you’ve got when you’re standing at 6’6” and weighing-in at nearly 245lbs. Then again if you’re into fishing and hunting in your downtime you’d know that the animals don’t seem to care who or what size you are.

Your reward for extreme physical exhaustion, mental patience and perseverance is usually found mounted on your wall at some point, except these aren’t the trophies made of gold mounted on a platform and captured in some sort of athletic pose. Nope; defeating something the size of an 11-foot Bull Shark or 8-point Buck represents the true essence of survival to folks that appreciate and respect the outdoors.

One member of St. Pete Football’s Class of 2013 Jeremy Kerr (TE/OL) is someone that uses all of those tools physically and mentally to make himself a better player, as well as using the skill-set needed for his hobby as metaphor for life especially as it pertains to patience and strategy.

Kerr is currently a part of a St. Petersburg squad experiencing their best run in school history (which happens to be over 110 years.) and sounds completely content with his schools’ run and their newfound role in the Tampa Bay prep football scene.“It’s awesome. We’ve had great leadership; even better since St. Pete kind of always has been the underdog.”

One of the hallmarks upon arrival to the next level is the expectations of moving beyond just a winning season. The Green Devils finished 3rd in their District 7A-9 competition at 3-2 with losses to Countryside and a tough 3-point defeat to runner-up Pinellas Park. They eventually finished the season at 7-3 following a forfeit victory over Gibbs even though the final score showed it 12-7 in favor of the Gladiators.

As mentioned though, it a good thing to finally have to worry about it not being good thing just to finish with more wins than losses. St. Petersburg was 29-6 before this past campaign including the schools’ first back-to-back 10-win seasons in history.  Kerr is cool with all that of course, but he’s pretty clear what he’s NOT cool with and that’s last season.

“(We’re) very dissatisfied with last year’s performance; this year’s going to be different. We’ve had a strong showing for winter conditioning. A lot of kids are out here working.”

Kerr also understands there’s an issue that needs to be resolved when it comes to turning around a certain part of Pinellas’ prep football landscape and shift the balance of power team-wise from north to south. I asked for his reaction to the comments Boca Ciega’s Brandon Dillard made about the team chemistry needing time to get its roots into the program and for their own players to want to be a Green Devil or a Pirate or Spartan from day one as a youth player.

“Makes a lot of sense,” (regarding Dillard’s assessment) “I think it all comes down to experience too. We (teams from the south county) don’t have that yet, but it’s going to change. So many of those kids playing for those teams grow up in that system and want to play at that school too from the beginning. ”

 

As the case has been throughout the conversations with the good folks in South Pinellas, the common theme to turning these programs into winning cultures has been about consistency. From coaching to discipline and beyond it’s been about seeing the same faces day-in and day-out that are able to give the players the routines they need. Something that Kerr explains a little more in detail.

“It’s huge that we can spend time with our coaches (throughout the day). They have our days mapped out for us. I mean, every minute is planned out. We have somewhere to be always whether it’s study hall or conditioning (when we’re not in class). That helps so much. The coaching staff is awesome.”

As far as his current role for his coaches and his program, Kerr couldn’t be any happier with what he’s been tabbed to do.  Putting his frame (6-6, 241 to be exact) with some of the film from this past season, it’s quite apparent he has a feel for playing the same position that another Pinellas County guy of similar stature (Sean Culkin at Indian Rocks Christian) just made a name for himself at.

“I love playing TE. I’m happy where I’m at right now. A lot of people have been talking OT and I’m open that too. I love the game of football; whatever it takes.”

Jeremy attended Junior Day at USF and was supposed to attend Miami’s, but a scheduling conflict saw him in Tallahassee for FSU annual event. He will attend the Hurricanes Scrimmage at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers in a week on the 30th.  He also said he plans to attend UCF’s this weekend and was of course quite adamant that his school choice will come down to the right fit regardless of BCS or FCS.

With his obvious interests are hunting and fishing, Kerr says he would love to go to college and try to enroll in a degree program that would prepare him to become an FWC (Fish and Wildlife Commission) Officer  or the equivalent of once his playing days are done. In fact, those examples at the beginning were actually his best accomplishments in the hunting and fishing arena.  He said he likes to spend his time hunting outside of the Tallahassee Area in the Big Bend Region along with some other spots in Southwest Georgia.  He fishes whenever he can, wherever he can. (Editor’s Note: An approach I can wholeheartedly endorse)

The right fit really is important to him though and he re-emphasized it by pointing to soon-to-be St. Pete Grad and recent University of Richmond Commit David Jones.  “He found the absolutely perfect school for his talents” and that Jones was “The most overlooked player in the Pinellas and Hillsborough Area.”

If Kerr is going to find the right spot for his interests and talents while playing top-notch ball, he won’t have to look very far. A quick search revealed that schools such as Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi St, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas Tech all provide opportunities to earn degrees in the fields that Kerr loves.

Being recruited and/or getting the opportunity to play at schools of that caliber can certainly cause the heart to race, the adrenaline to pump and can lead to careless mistakes along the way; something that goes against what it takes to be successful at hunting and fishing.  If you think as Kerr is teaching himself to do in the outdoors, then those offers can be mounted alongside the shark and the deer if he so chooses.  For now, he’ll just settle for (insert the name of mascot here) on their schedule this fall.  Those W’s will outweigh any trophy.