2024 STORYLINES TO FOLLOW: New classifications will set tone

What is old is new again for classifications in the FHSAA while the SSAA grows its 11-man Division numbers

Welcome to the 2024 Florida High School Football season with practices getting underway around the state as of today! We will present a plethora of storylines over the coming days that will impact the 2024 season as part of our 2024 Storylines To Follow series and we will update this as we go through the days and weeks leading up to kickoff of the 2024 season!

NEW CLASSIFICATIONS WILL SET TONE

With the dumping of Metro and Suburban classifications last December and a return to the traditional standard classifications in the Florida High School Athletic Association, the saying “what is old is new again” can apply here.

As such, football also shrinks back to eight classifications after having nine classifications in 2022 and 2023. Also, the largest schools will be in Class 7A, while the smallest schools and those not of rural nature will be in Class 1A. The rural classification, which is traditionally called Class 1A, has been renamed Rural classification.

Classes 7A through 1A will consist of four regions and 16 districts each, while Rural classification will be a straight-up classification with regions having been eliminated. The elimination of regions is part of a playoff format that will be tested over the next two years and could eventually be adopted by all classifications in all sports. We will get to that in a moment.

This also marks the first time all the classifications outside of Rural will consist of at least 12 to 16 districts per classification in over 20 years when the state last had a setup like this in the number of districts per classification.

Over in the Sunshine State Athletic Association, the SSAA is going with a straight-up classification grouping of teams in their 11-man private and charter school division, which will consist of nearly 50 teams for the 2024 season. The SSAA Atlantic League 11-man division also added some new programs for the 2024 season while losing a couple of teams in Sebastian River (Sebastian), which rejoined the FHSAA state series, and Cocoa Beach, which is in the transition phase to eventually rejoining the FHSAA state series down the road.

The SSAA’s 8-man football conference will have five divisions once again for the 2024 season, with defending state champion Shorecrest Prep (St. Petersburg) back in the throws once more. However, there was a little bit of retraction in the number of total teams with a couple of programs either retrenching in terms of having a football program or a couple of teams like Sarasota Christian and Old Plank Christian (Jacksonville) rising to 11-man football. Overall though, the SSAA seems to have found solid footing in supporting 8-Man football, something that was not even possible just a few years ago.