Springtime Thoughts (10 teams in 3 days)

[MarkECannon]

On Gatorman’s thread about the Ft Myers Jamboree I concur with his synopsis. I’ll add a few points.
* Ft Myers WR Fred Jackson is a star in the making. He will probably be QB Andrezzone’s favorite target. Jackson has very good speed and will be a difficult cover. He looks to have nice hands but what I liked the most is he knows what to do once he catches the ball.
* First time I’ve been to Edison Stadium since the turf was installed. Love the midfield graphic of Sam Siriani Field.
* I’ve told been told the Green Wave has 10 transfers coming in. I hope a couple of them are big OL with mean streaks.

Port Charlotte
* Very impressive. Hard to find a weakness.
* DL is much smaller than last but they are replacing 2 very large human beings.
* This program must find the way to beat tougher teams in the playoffs. Won’t know just how good a team this is until they do.

Lake Wales
*Typical Lake Wales team with plenty of good athletes all over the field.
* The success of this team will depend on whether QB Chad Williams will finally put it all together. He has it all as an athlete to be better than average . Believe it or not I seen Williams play 3 times in one year for 3 different teams. Auburndale in their spring game last year, Lakeland in the regular season and playoffs last year and Lake Wales Friday night.

I really enjoy attending games with the Gatorman. The only problem is get into conversations mostly about football and sometimes forget to watch the game.

 

[MarkECannon]

Thursday night I saw Gainesville Buchholz @ Berkeley Prep.
* Both teams are very similar. Would love to see these teams play each other in a meaningful game. Look for both teams to make deep runs in the playoffs.
* Buchholz QB in their spring game is Head Coach Mark Whittemore’s son, Andrew, who is will be a sophomore. His older brother, Creed, is a RS-Sophomore WR at Mississippi State.
* Berkeley Prep is a very wealthy private school. No charge for parking. No charge if you are part of the Berkeley family to get into the game. I told him I was a Neutral Observer so he let me in for free.
* For many years BP did not have visitors stands. They do now but the right side viewing is blocked by tree limbs. Come on BP!

 

[MarkECannon]

Last but not least was Saturday’s Lakeland Jamboree that was mostly played on the surface of the sun. The public address announcers repeatedly reminded the crowd to stay hydrated and that the Dreadnaughts are 9-time State Champions. Spruce Creek, Orlando Evans and Lake Gibson were the undercard playing a half against each other much like in Ft Myers. The main event was a full game with Tampa Jesuit vs Lakeland. For the record, I was there the whole day but my back told me to go home to Auburndale at halftime of the main event. I watched the 2nd half on YouTube.

Spruce Creek
* If you are a program that is struggling and you have decided to replace your head coach, this coaching staff is worth a phone call.
*Spruce Creek has some talent. The team is in good physical shape. Very little fat.
*Both sides of the ball played disciplined and cohesive. Very good play calling on both sides of the ball.
*DL Freddie Wilson is a stud. Keep an eye out for him.
*The Creek beat Lake Gibson then had to turn around and play a fresh, bigger and more talented Evans team. After some early equal sparring Evans got on a roll and took care of business.

Lake Gibson
*The Braves played lethargic football until the 2nd quarter of their 2nd game where they started to bow up and show some fight.
*Lake Gibson has a new coaching that brought in 2 big OL transfers where Lakeland wanted badly.
*One of the coaches read the riot act to the Lake Gibson players before their 2nd game versus Evans. The coaches salty language could be heard over half the stadium and the people noticed.
*Lake Gibson should be a much improved team by the regular season. Better conditioning and cohesiveness should do the trick. They more than meet the eye test.

Orlando Evans
*Size, speed, skill and no kicking game.
*When their coaching staff found a play that worked they continuously ran it until it was stopped.
*Evans’ talent could match just about any team in the state. A weakness may be at QB where the senior is good but not very tall. The backup could be the starter soon who is a 6’4” sophomore and the son of a former FSU DL.

Lakeland
*Talent all over the field except for the OL. Of the 10 OL’s I saw this weekend I would rank them at 9.
* New QB transfer from Tarpon Springs, Joaquin Kavouklis, is a rising sophomore. There were murmurs in the Dreadnaughts crowd that they are not too happy he is starting. I think he will work out fine but he can’t get down on himself.
*Lakeland fans are clamoring for a new offensive coordinator. The natives are restless.
*The Dreadnaughts were leading going into the 4th quarter but Lakeland fans are used to winning the 2nd half when they play in Bryant Stadium.

Jesuit
*I saw Gator commit QB Will Griffin last year against Clearwater in the playoffs and came away not all that impressed. Yesterday he was pretty impressive. He made some throws that were elite. He also threw for at least 3 interceptions. He runs the ball fairly well. He will definitely need to learn how to slide before he gets in college. He took some shots yesterday.
*I’ve always determined how good Jesuit is by how many quality skill players they have on offense. I think they have enough to do very well this year. No phenoms but enough weapons to keep Griffin with the necessary options.
*Jesuit’s pedigree was evident yesterday.

 

[MarkECannon]

Here are my rankings for the 10 teams I saw play this weekend. The good news is I didn’t see a bad team out of the 10. It won’t surprise me if all of them make the playoffs. Ok, here we go.

The Useless, Way to Early, Before All the New Transfers Take Place Spring Game Poll

1. Jesuit
2. Port Charlotte
3. Lakeland
4. Berkeley Prep
5. Gainesville Buchholz
6. Evans
7. Lake Wales
8. Spruce Creek
9. Lake Gibson
10. Fort Myers

Disclaimer: This poll is very shaky.

 

[gatorman001]

Mark,

Manatee vs Gulf Coast- Wednesday @ Manatee
Although my sources are telling me like so many other schools, alot of student transfer activity remains to be completed during the off season....