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The question of whether the FHSAA should regulate recruitment... the simple answer is yes. They should. When the punishment is found though (which is rare), it shouldn't go to the school or to the players (unless the player wanted $$$). Instead, the punishment should be the removal of a coaches' teaching certificate by the State Board of Education. You want coaches to take it seriously, threaten their livelihood. If it is an outsider or players, can't stop it. Don't try, but the coaches should not be doing any of the recruiting. As a matter of reality, I have suggested for over 10 years that the FHSAA basing their classifications on population was idiotic (in all sports). Teams should be grouped based on their previously shown success. You are already seeing teams doing this by choosing to go independent rather than compete in the FHSAA playoffs. Start with classifications based on population, in today's FHSAA world, use the RPI points with the top 8-10 teams in the final poll over a two year period moving up one classification and the bottom 8-10 moving down. Do this every year and slowly good teams will be facing off against good teams in districts and size of school won't matter. Do Bolles, Trinity Christian, and University Christian really need to be playing in the 2A, 3A, and 4A or should the be playing in bigger classes. Should a Stanton or Interlachen really be playing at their current classification or should they be lower? At the same time do some of those Miami-Dade schools that have populations in the thousands, who don't want to play Northwestern or Central, allow them to move down to a lower classification where they might be competitive. Could you have the random 3A team that all of a sudden recruits some studs and runs through everyone, sure. But that is like winning a Division 3 national championship instead of an FBS championship. Sure, you won, but does anybody really care?

Unfortunately it's a unfortunate downside that I really can't fix without trying to manipulate the numbers While it won't exactly make Madison get a comumpance it does put a larger school like Marianna and Taylor County into their region and it also puts Pahokee in the opposite bracket which may force that matchup at states and going by recent history Pahokee has been able to hang with them in the games but it would be a state matchup instead of state semifinals matchup North Blountstown High School Northview High School Franklin County High School Port St. Joe High School Wewahitchka High School Holmes County High School Graceville High School Marianna High School Baker High School Bozeman High School Sneads High School Jefferson County High School Liberty County High School Madison County High School Jay High School Taylor County High School Freeport High School Chipley High School Vernon High School FAMU High South Dixie County High School Hawthorne Middle/High School Newberry High School Fort White High School Trenton High School Bell High School Moore Haven High School Hamilton County High School Lafayette High School Bronson High School Chiefland High School Williston High School Hilliard High School Pahokee High School Wildwood Middle High School Branford High School Fort Meade High School Union County High School

The ability to tweak allows you to address participant's concerns and also assures them that they are part of the process. Allowing for input makes change an easier sell.

My thought is to have teams play themselves into a Division and Classification over time where they can be competitive, whether that's up or down. I think it would be good for student and fan morale to see their team playing competitive games week after week rather than being blown out or having to watch a 2nd half with a running clock. It would probably be safer for the players also.

By PC, I'm just trying to say "make everybody happy". No political discussions implied or desired.

The question is not whether we should have hs recruiting or not. We already do. The question is to what extent we should try to regulate. If it is unhealthy for grade school kids to be solicited by hs coaches, what are we doing as a society from a regulatory standpoint to protect the kids from college coaches and scouts?

Johnny Jones, a 7th grader at Eisenhower Middle School, recently picked up his fifth offer to play high school football. The offer came from Westside High School, the only remaining school in the city that had not previously offered the 12-year old athlete. Westside Coach, Herman Boone IV, told reporters: "Jones is a stud. He's a foot taller than everyone else in his class. We were worried that perhaps he had topped out; that's why we hadn't offered him yet. But we had our doctors examine Johnny last week and they tell us that he has plenty of room to grow. That was good enough for us. Johnny's second cousin's great aunt on his mother's side was an Eagle way back when, so we're hoping that family tie will give us an edge over the other schools in town." Boone was overheard talking to Johnny's mother on the phone last night and promising that Johnny's family wouldn't have to pay another dime for his public high school education. Jones has had a strong season playing for his middle school flag team, playing on both sides of the ball. Coach Boone indicated that he was hoping to get Jones to make the 3.5 mile trip over to Westside to visit the campus and "see what high school life is all about." Boone got into trouble a few years back when he was accused of arranging recruits to shadow with Senior cheerleaders who 'knew their way around more than just the campus.' Boone has assured Westside administrators that he will assign Jones to "a certified 10th grade nerd . . . probably a band member, but we haven't ruled out a member of the drama club quite yet." Westside's rival, Central High School, first made an offer to Jones when he was in the 3rd grade at Roosevelt Elementary. Central Coach Bull Spellacheck told reporters at the time that he "could just tell Jones was going to be a beast" and that he wanted to be like one of the coaches on the Voice and be the first one to turn his chair around for Jones . . . something he has reminded Jones of once a week for the last four years. "Hey, it's worked for Kelly Clarkson, so it should work for me. I even got Johnny a cool 'Team Bull' jacket to wear once he picks us." Jones is expected to announce his decision next month at a signing ceremony that ESPN88 will cover live. The exact time will be determined once the Jones family can actually find baseball hats for each of the five high schools in town to use for the ceremony. HIgh school recruiting??? Um, no thanks.

I'll go with Fernandina Beach (beating West Nassau 34-22). Bolles then stopped the Pirate playoff win streak at one.

I know we've probably beat this topic to death over the last year or two, but I believe you have to make a distinction between "transfers" and "recruiting." Certainly the FHSAA treats the two differently (at least on paper). I'm not going to repeat the whole ordeal that led to the legislation a few years back, but the bottom line is that state legislature changed the law so that a kid can go to any school in his county so long as he lives in the district or there is capacity at the school that he wants to attend. And even if that school is at capacity, there are still a couple of ways for a kid to attend that particular school. So, if Johnny is at West Springfield and he decides, for whatever reasons, that he wants to attend East Springfield (assuming ESHS has capacity), Johnny can transfer. This is legal and expressly allowed by the FHSAA (because the legislature forced them to make it legal). And there are schools and coaches across the state that have created attractive destinations for kids who play football, just as there are schools that have established a reputation in a particular sport such that kids in that county or moving into the district would want to go there instead of another school in the same district. And for some kids and some sports, the academic side of the schools might even become a factor. Recruiting is different. Recruiting is the action to 'pressure, urge or entice' a kid not currently at a school to attend that school to play sports. The solicitation can come from the head coach, an assistant coach, a parent, a player or anyone else that fits the definition of "a representative of a school's athletic interests" in the FHSAA handbook/administrative policies. Recruiting is expressly prohibited by the FHSAA. So, to borrow from the hypothetical above, if Johnny is at West Springfield and a coach from East Springfield sends him a text message encouraging Johnny to transfer over to East Springfield, that's recruiting and that's against the rules. But it happens. A lot. Usually in more subtle ways, but it happens all the time. So, sometimes the one (recruiting) results in the other (transferring). Sometimes a kid just makes the decision on his own that he'd be better off at another school. But when the kid is being urged or enticed by someone associated with a school, that's when it's wrong.

Even all of broward county was forced to opt out the FHSAA playoff tournament, there is something special building at Dillard. my panthers have now won 20 consecutive regular season games for the first time in SCHOOL HISTORY, they have finished their short lived regular season undefeated which now makes it two seasons in a row we finish undefeated in the regular season. It still feel so surreal doing this without coach Frazier, but one thing I can say this is NO MORE the Dillard or Old, & if we had a choice to opt in Dillard Would MOST DEF would have a real shot at state. #GoPanthersGo!!! @ColumbiaHighFan2017class @OldSchoolLion @561_Fan @muckboy561

Cannot speak for this year, but in the past I did deep dives on the IMG roster at the time. If I remember correctly.. There were a number of elite players. There were out-of-shape lineman who had great potential and IMG was likely asked by one or more Power 5 schools to get them in shape so they could play his freshman year in college. There were a number of 3-star players. There were some very marginal kids on the roster who saw regular playing time. I am guessing that some of these players came from families of privilege trying to fulfill their son's dream of playing. My point is that the IMG teams I looked at were not stacked with 4 and 5-star players at every position. Sure, they are much better than your average hs football team. But they were not some world-beaters good enough to beat a Power 5 school. Some years they seem better than others.

Amazing. Seriously, who would have ever thought that if you bring in a large group of some of the best high school football players in the state/South/country and let them train together year-round in facilities that equal, if not surpass, the facilities of many of the smaller and mid-size colleges and universities across the nation, you'd end up with a team that wins all of its games? It's totally mind-blowing.