There’s programs popping up all over the state and they’re trying their best to create a footprint here in the Bay Area through recruiting. Stetson has been the newest 1-AA or FCS team to be added to the mix joining Jacksonville, Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M who were already in that division, but a couple of D-2 squads are going to be looking for talent–and it’s talent they will find.

The University of West Florida will play its first season up in Pensacola joining the Gulf South Conference while FIT (Florida Institute of Technology) is already into their fourth season as a program in Melbourne. They are also members of the Gulf South Conference that includes powerhouses such as Valdosta State, the University of West Georgia and the University of North Alabama. While the schools may not be first-choice for those with dreams of being in a BCS program, they have quite a bit to offer and they’re trying to prove that.

When Stetson resurrected their program in 2013, the school was a looooong way from the days of playing the University of Florida–before it was the University of Florida–in 1906. It is the state’s oldest private university and played the first collegiate football game in the state. One of its final games in the 50’s was a victory over a Lee Corso and Burt Reynolds-led FSU team–so a “new” history had to be made–and they tried to use the Tampa Bay area as a foundation.

The Hatters signed 67 players from the state their first season, with 19 of those players coming from the BCP coverage area. Juxtapose that with West Florida starting with 59 players from the Sunshine State last season. The Argonauts signed three players last season from the Tampa Bay area, and signed notables JJ Lewis and Chris Schwarz out of Pasco County this year. The Hatters signed ten players from Tampa in ’15 while adding four from the area this past National Signing Day. Although FIT hasn’t hit on as many as they’ve probably wanted to, they’ve managed to still get three quality prospects from the area the past two years and are quickly becoming one of the GSC’s best programs already at 7-4 and tied for second place at the end of the season.

All three have something in common even though Stetson currently leads the group in terms of the amount of prospects from the area overall. You’ve got to have grades–and you’ve got to have GOOD grades. While all three are poised to setup pipelines from the area for the future, the players in this area better have a good understanding of what it takes to get there. Trust, all three schools love finding talent in this area, but it’s not exactly easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy to get accepted and keep the dream alive.

For example, next to the University of Miami, Stetson is the most-expensive school in the state of Florida to attend coming in at a few pennies shy of $50,000 per year. They dish out money similarly to an Ivy League school a la grant-in-aid–so things better be on-point in the classroom. The same goes for the D-2 schools with FIT being just under Stetson in terms of cost, so grades are STILL the number one priority. While the physical talent may be more-than-enough to land on one of their rosters, they can’t do anything for you and your career if you’ve done nothing for yourself during the times when nobody was watching. The numbers prove they want kids from here, it’s time to show-and-prove.