Something to Watch: It was announced earlier in the week that Trent Dilfer is head to the Music City aka Nashvegas, but not to play for the Titans in some sort of bizarre move, rather, he’s signed up to become the next head football coach at Lipscomb Academy. The school, (speaking with personal knowledge having family currently teaching there and graduated from) is situated off gorgeous Granny White Pike in the southern section of the city limits and is identical size to Berkeley Prep (in resources and facilities as well) as a K-12. It’s also on the campus of Lipscomb University and a stones’ throw from Vanderbilt. The Mustangs were absolute juggernauts in the small class of AA-D2 back in the early 2000’s with 2 titles and record of 57 games above .500 (65-8) and were grouped in with schools like Franklin Road Academy, who produced Jalen Ramsey not too long ago. The past two seasons the L.A. has won just 3 games, but Dilfer is the PERFECT guy for that program. It will be very interesting to watch him try and turn that program around and makes one wonder if it will start a much needed trend in say, Florida?
LOCAL FLAVOR?: Nice article from Pewter Report’s Mark Cook about the Bucs and their possibility of taking local Armani Oruwariye from Penn State by way of Gaither High School. He tallied 121 tackles, 12 interceptions, and 6 blocked punts for the Cowboys, did work for the Nittany Lions, now could he make opposing teams walk the plank at Raymond James? Check out the article for more: https://www.pewterreport.com/tampa-cb-oruwariye-could-be-bucs-draft-target/
WELL DONE, Mr Griffin!: Another really nice article from the Orlando Sentinel’s Matt Murschel on Shaquem Griffin. The former Lakewood, UCF, now current Seattle Seahawks player is being honored with the NCAA’s 2019 Inspiration Award. For more on that, check out the link as follows: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/ucf-knights/os-sp-shaquem-griffin-ncaa-0124-story.html
WELL DONE, Mr. Griffin(s): There was a picture floating about the Twitterverse via Spectrum Sports’ Chris Torello. The caption reads: “THAT’S AWESOME!!” while the photo is showing the boys from Lakewood High holding brand new cleats and gloves in the Seahawks’ vibrant colors with a thank you going to Shaquill and Shaquem Griffin for their generous donation to their alma mater. Nicely done, fellas.
GETTING CLOSER: Both St. Petersburg and Port Charlotte are striving for perfection this regular season on the boys side of hoops, and they’re getting closer with just 5 games to go each. The Green Devils (19-0) have games remaining against Pinellas Park, who they beat by 33 at Thanksgiving, then Anclote (12-3), Gibbs (12-8), and a test with non-FHSAA West Oaks Academy at the ARS Shootout at Berkeley the day before the Super Bowl. They’ll finish with Osceola at home for senior night. Meanwhile Port Charlotte (18-0) has Cape Coral on the agenda, a team that’s only 5-14 this season, but gave the Pirates a go of it earlier this season. They also have Sebring (14-5), a tough Lehigh squad at 13-5, North Port (9-9) who they beat by 13 earlier this season, then finish with DeSoto County, who in spite of their 9-11 record lost to the Pirates by just 3 points. Good luck to those teams and finish (this part at least) the mission!
