I attended First Coast’s spring game Friday night against Baker County and came away very impressed with the Buccaneers.
Many times spring games are sloppy as offenses are getting their first game experience. This was not the case with the Buccaneers. They came out and executed their offense with elite precision. The Buccaneers offense looked like a well-oiled machine, like that of a team in mid-season form which gives Buccaneer fans a lot to look forward to this coming season.
Offensively, the Buccaneers will be very hard to stop this season. They have a solid offensive line that was battle tested against the best player they will probably see this year in Baker County defensive end CeCe Jefferson. First Coast’s line led by North Carolina commit William Sweet was up to the challenge and kept the pocket clean for their star quarterback, De’Andre Johnson.
Johnson, a Florida State commit, put on a show for the Buccaneers, passing for over 200 yards and five touchdowns in one half of play.
Johnson will have a ton of weapons at his disposal for this season.
The receiving core at his disposal consists of Jerad Washington, Tristan Payton, D.J. Matthews, and Kevin Stephenson. Washington, a South Carolina commit was electric in the game Friday night going for over 100 yards receiving and two touchdowns while Payton, a Florida commit, chipped in 32 yards and another touchdown.
First Coast’s running backs combined for 87 yards and a touchdown giving them another element to their high-powered offense for this year.
Defenses will no doubt have their hands full trying to stop the Buccaneer passing attack as each receiver has the ability to torch a defense on their own.
Not to be outdone by a stellar offense, the First Coast defense is also very strong. Led by South Carolina commit Sherrod Pittman the Buccaneers have an aggressive, swarming defense. The Buccaneers held visiting Baker County to 21 yards of total offense in the first half before the starters were done for the night.
First Coast doe have one major weakness that could prove to be costly unless it is addressed soon. They have a very weak kicking game. The Buccaneers missed two extra points Friday night and while against a team that they put 47 points on in the first half is not the end of the world, it could come back to haunt them against another strong team either during the season or in during a playoff run.
There are very few teams in the state that could match First Coast touchdown for touchdown offensively, however if the game came down to a field goal for the win or even for points, I don’t have the confidence in First Coast at the moment that they will be able to make it consistently. Hopefully they will be able to address this issue as this is their one liability. Everything else about this team points to a deep playoff run.
There are only about four or five teams in the whole state that have as many or more elite athletes as First Coast does. At this point, albeit early, I believe that First Coast is primed for a deep run this year.
