8/19 7:00p IMG Academy White Location: Manatee High School (Kickoff Classic)
8/26 7:30p Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel, FL) Location: Manatee High School
9/2 7:30p @ Sarasota (Sarasota, FL) Location: Sarasota High School
9/9 7:30p @ Charlotte (Punta Gorda, FL) Location: Charlotte High School
9/16 7:30p @ Braden River (Bradenton, FL) Location: Braden River High School
9/23 7:30p Port Charlotte (Port Charlotte, FL) Location: Manatee High School
9/30 7:30p @ Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton, FL) * Location: Lakewood Ranch High School
10/7 7:00p Rockledge (Rockledge, FL) Location: Manatee High School
10/21 7:30p Cardinal Gibbons (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Location: Manatee High School
10/28 7:30p Palmetto (Palmetto, FL) * Location: Manatee High School
11/4 7:00p @ Southeast (Bradenton, FL) Location: Southeast High School
Above is the 2022 regular season schedule for Manatee this upcoming season. I like the schedule for the most part, I would have rather seen Cardinal Gibbons & Rockledge at the beginning of the season then at the end of the schedule, but I find it to be a really good schedule regardless! Right now, for Manatee I see 3 regular season game where Manatee should be a clear favorite to win, 4 games as toss-ups and then another 3 where Manatee should be a decided under-dog. My belief in short comings with the current head coach, keeps me from shifting those 4 toss-up games to the favorite column.
In as far as the Spring Jamboree, Manatee lost to Riverview 14-7 in a half of football, with Manatee’s lone score coming on a kickoff return, and then tied Sarasota 13-13 in a rain delay half of football with Manatee’s points coming on an INT returned for a TD and then a Manatee offensive score. Comments I’ve seen about Manatee’s performance indicated Manatee started very slowly and despite the 14-7 set back to Riverview that half of football against Riverview was very competitive. I got the feeling there were several players that did not play, that will see significant playing time come the regular season. So, it all in all looked to be what a Spring Jamboree should have been for Manatee, a chance to evaluate your teams progress as well as personnel in live competition.
Going into spring practice there was a rising junior transfer from Colorado at the QB position. He started for his high school team in Colorado last season (Andrew Heidel 6’2” 185) and from clips I was able to watch looked to be a decent talent, that put up better than average stats. It doesn’t appear he played however in the Jamboree, I know for a fact he was practicing with the team at the start of spring practice, and I’ve seen lots of 7 on 7 clips of him throwing to Manatee WR’s, so I'm not sure if he might have been injured or is no longer with the team (Can't imagine the staff decided to sandbag the competition by not playing him in the spring)? Instead, Manatee started a young man and is a name Sliver should remember Johnny Squitieri a rising junior at the QB position and appears to have played both halves exclusively for Manatee. Squitieri’s older brother started a few years back for Manatee also at the QB position.
Manatee has no elite speed on the team but does have a number of underclass men I would say are high school fast at this point. Over-all I would rate this team as young, with the bulk of its talent being Juniors or Sophomores. Improvements were made in the weight lifting program this past year with a number of football players qualifying for this year's state weight lifting meet (all were sophomores and juniors), whereas last year only a 119-pounder qualified for the state meet. Manatee’s strength should be its d-line where you’ll see 2 rising sophomores and 2 rising juniors, all were starters or saw significant playing time last season. There is also a rising junior that did not play football last season, but qualified as a super heavy-weight for the state weighting meet this past year, and I believe will be playing somewhere along the d-line as well. Collectively this group I believe possess D-1 size and talent, it should be really good! Manatee should have good size and talent at the LB position, as well as good high school talent at the DB position.
On offense Manatee possess really good size along its offensive line, with a couple of kids already getting notice by colleges. I'm going to go ahead a toot the horn for one young man at this point “Nikko Rodriguez 6’2” 290lbs” explosive player on the OL, and was also a state qualifier for the state weight wrestling tournament this past season. He started at the center position last season, but I noticed they had him at the guard position for the spring Jamboree. At the RB position I'm really high on rising junior Corey Sanders, nice speed, with above average moves and vision.....(he appeared to have not played in the spring Jamboree Friday however? As a side note I rate him as also an above average DB talent), instead Jaden Judge (state qualifier for this past year’s state weight lifting meet as a Soph) got most of the carries Friday night. TE is 6’6” 235 lbs kid, that I don’t believe was ever utilized properly last year, but has worked his tail off in the off-season to be better....so I’m intrigued to see what develops with him this up-coming season? WR group has some nice young talent, with rising Junior “Bonshavior Bean” being a potential big-time player!
