Proseteye

Even during the times when the FHAA limited transfers to specific circumstances only I don't believe that those rules were enforced by either the FHAA or the school administrations themselves. Evan back then the students would simply use a relative, a friend, or even invent a guardian in the district where the school, for which they wanted to play, was located. School administrations were very lax on checking the validity of the transfer, or did not want to get into the legal aspects of checking the validity, or looked the other way as the transfers enhanced their football team. The Coaches, parents, and players themselves were certainly not policing transfers for illegitimacy. I'm not sure what the solution to this problem is or even if there is a solution. If the Coaches, Parents, and Players don't care if students transfer at will, some players suffer because of it, and the team that they are cheering on every Friday is a team filled with mercenaries, then who am I to correct the situation. IMO it is truly very sad what has become of the high school culture that I used to be part of when I was growing up.

Unfortunately, and sadly, you are probably right.

They must have missed the hundreds of other ships heading in the same southern direction. Or, maybe they have already sunk.

The positives are that maybe some of those players, parents, and coaches will read this forum and get some perspective on how their actions affect others and high school football in general. Although, I don't really expect much of it to sink in with people that already have their self interest tunnel vision path forward already mapped out.

I Second the Motion.

I'm sure that this is exactly what the lawmakers planned when they implemented this legislation to allow transfers. Previously the lawmakers had been trying to get a voucher program that would allow any student to attend any school in Florida Public, Charter, Private, or Parochial and use the voucher as payment or partial payment. Not able to accomplish that they opted to allow transfers to any school in Florida so that students could get out of badly performing schools academically to better performing schools. I'm quite sure they never intended for it to expressly include transfers from schools with badly performing football teams to schools with good performing football teams.

Are they upset with the program or are they just opportunists that will transfer to any school as long as they are the center of attention? Self gratification these days trumps everything else. I'm really surprised, or maybe not surprised at all, that parents are knowingly approving of this behavior. When I was in high school during the Napoleon campaign, the only transferring there was if and when the family moved to a new city or state, which was usually rare. The teams in those days had such comradery and esprit de corps. When a team was good it was good because of local coaching and hard work by the players. Not because of groups of mercenaries that acquired the school's gridiron in the dead of night. I know that there are fans, even on this forum, and supporters of schools that accept an unprecedented amount of transferring and even recruiting to make their football team winners. You cheer when your team runs the gamut every Friday night and when they go undefeated and deep into the playoffs or even to the championship. Stop for a minute to contemplate what would your team be like if they did not accept predatory players. What would they be like if the team consisted of players local only to the school district? Then decide whether your current team, with its group of transfers, truly deserves the praise it gets from mowing down every opponent on the way to the finals. This analysis does not pertain to all schools that happen to be exceptional in football. Only the schools that find it expedient to load up their teams with the best players they can find in order to win most if not all of the time. High school football is not College or NFL football where this stuff goes on routinely and has a purpose to it. 14-17 year old's are not college or NFL landscapes. Their main purpose is to educate and formulate young minds in academics and physical attributes and not to teach how to manipulate the system primarily for self gain only.

And, IMO, why unrestricted transfers should not be the flavor of the day. Hallandale is only one example of this misguided policy, How many other schools in Florida have their rosters wiped out due to transfers? Remember, many of these schools have only one or possibly two exceptional players on the team. Take away that and a fairly good team becomes an also ran. If this is going on with the sport of football I'm quite sure it's going on with other sports. The effect is that out of hundreds of high schools in Florida only a very few become nearly unbeatable except by another unbeatable team. I don't believe that this was the original intent of institutions that help to mold young minds in their formative years.

Stacy Gage, only a Sophomore. Not quite as fast as Kaytron Allen but he has the moves.

A J Duffy, a 4-star QB out of a California HS, has enrolled at IMG for his Senior year. He has 35 offers and committed to FSU. https://www.hudl.com/profile/11674647/AJ-Duffy https://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/aj-duffy/6ffmpmS8EeuAzqREozo6lw/football/stats.htm https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2022/a-j-duffy-239024

Anyway. Allen is now on the roster for 2021. Guess it took him some time to make up his mind. One of the top RBs in the country who has many offers including Florida. . https://www.hudl.com/profile/11029525/Kaytron-Allen https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2022/kaytron-allen-234021#school-interests

IMO every town, city, state, and country has their good places and their not so good places. Columbia Fan used to be, and maybe still is, an incredibly dedicated fan of the football team the Tigers. A few months ago something must have happened, and possibly over a period of time, to make him upset with the team and possibly those people involved with the team. He obviously knows football and is highly dedicated to the sport. Makes me think that he does a lot a research as he can produce facts and figures that I can only guess at. This being said, maybe Columbia Fan can share with us some of his frustrations in the environment with the team today and how things might have changed for the worse. A high school team cannot afford to lose a fan who is so loyal that he lived and breathed their every game.

I'm going on 81. When I went to school for the most part everybody was well educated equally. The schools were disciplined and the parents backed the schools 100%. The teachers were qualified and dedicated. They usually stayed at one school their entire career. If any student failed a subject they were mocked by the other students until they came up to par. It was an embarrassment to get a failing mark in any subject. These days, not only are the schools not teaching effectively there is absolutely no discipline and the parents, if you can find them, could care less. I know first hand that most minority students are not being educated in the public school systems. I'm sorry to say this but they are not being taught any of the basic subjects so that they can effectively matriculate in society. The reasoning behind doing poorly in high school and college, if they are lucky enough to get in, is that they are not being forced to learn in elementary schools. Without strong elementary learning there is little chance of success in high school and further on. I feel so damn bad and am angry as can be that the school system is failing many students to include a great deal of minority students. This is probably why I am so adamant that students concentrate on academics instead of primarily football. Academics is the only real key to success. The more academics the better the success. And, I am including skilled trades as academics.

Thank you, Ray, for the heads up. I need to adjust some figures that you provided in order to reach a totally realist figure. Let's focus on football. There are 1,093,234 high school football players in the United States, and 6.5% of those high school players (or 71,060) will play in college. The drop off from college to the pros is even more dramatic: only 1.2% college-level players will get drafted to the NFL. So, the actual percentage of high school players that make it to the NFL is 1.2% of 71,060 players or 853. That percentage is .007% of all high school football players that make it to the NFL. When you figure there are only on average 279 players drafted into the NFL each season the chances of a high school player making the NFL is a lot lower than chances of being hit by lighting once in your lifetime. In other words your chances are somewhere between zero and not at all. A high school student, if applying themselves and doing well in high school academically, can go on to attain a college degree in any one of a million different areas of specialization. Upon graduation one is basically set for life simply by applying your knowledge and being dedicated. Football as a profession is basically an unattainable goal for all those but the very very few.

Bringing facts to a conversation is not politics, my friend. Most high school football players will never even attend a college, either one that they play football at or a college they achieve academically at. The few that do attend colleges, primarily to play football, will never make it to the NFL. The very few that do make it to the NFL may play very little or not at all. There is extreme competition for positions and also injuries to consider. Only a small fraction of the college players that make it to the NFL ever have successful careers. The average length of an NFL career is 3.3 years. Add up all of the high school football players in the state of Florida. How many play football at the college level and especially at the D1 level. Then how many of those college players ever see an NFL stadium except from the bleacher seats. As for minorites that rely exclusively on football in high school as their path forward in life are deluding themselves. Without strong academics there will be no solid path forward. I think life itself has taught this.

Just once I would like to see a couple of these kids say that they are transferring to another school due to the other school having a better academic rating with the fans praising them for declaring it. Something that was the main intention behind the legislature passing the transfer ruling.

7A Buchholz @ 3A Trinity Catholic 8/27. A quality Buchholz team will be a measuring stick to see where the Celtics stand going into the season. We lost a bunch to graduation.

I'm aware that it's legal, in accordance with legislative rules. I'm basically referring to a person's character. These coaches know that bringing in a top flight "recruit" from as far away as California, will undoubtedly supplant one of their local players. Bringing in a half dozen or a dozen destroys the moral of a team even though it boosts the team's winning record. As coaches they are also teachers and mentors to young boys 14-18. As such, they are molding future citizens. This is one hell of a way to mold future citizens. Emulating college or NFL coaches is not the duty of a HS coach. Just my opinion but I think a very plausible one.

Can you imagine any coach agreeing to this?

From what I've seen Gage will be the top RB at IMG this season. That is if Kaytron Allen is not on their roster for his Senior year. I have yet to see him listed on IMG's roster for the 2021/22 season.

I seriously doubt that the legislature would cut off funding to the FHSAA if they implemented their previous policy of waiting 1 year to play sports after transferring. We are talking about a previous policy that was in place for quite some time and the legislature never interfered with FHSAA rulings. How do you know what the legislature would do or is this just your opinion? Show me where it states any type of language in the rulings that would prohibit the FHSAA from simply implementing such a policy. Once again, I believe the legislature made the at will transfer policy for academic reasons and never thought that it would apply to anything but.

The Florida legislature approved transferring at will. However, I believe they meant transferring from a failing school academically to a preforming school academically. I don't think they ever intended transferring at will for sports only. Besides, the FHSAA controls all school sports in Florida and not the Florida legislature. The FHSAA could have simply reverted back to the prior ruling wherein a player had to wait out one year in order to play sports at a school they are transferring to. It worked in the past, for the most part, and it would work again.

Why can't we all just agree that a transfer in will probably replace a local although in theory I would imagine that every player has to tryout for the team before the season including the transfers. I don't think it matters to the kid sitting on the bench whether his parents are paying for the school out of their own pocket or the school is taxpayer funded. All he knows is that he gave his all for the team and some guy who comes in off the street and is somewhat more talented is a starter and is replacing him. High school is supposed to be a place where young people are being molded into adults academically, physically, and psychologically. How does this behavior advance that goal? All it seems to show is that a person with specific talent for a game overcomes hard work and dedication. I do realize that out in the real world much of the time fairness is not in play. But, when you are 14 through 17 being a part of unfairness on purpose can be devastating.

In HS football the QB makes or breaks a team. IMO a mediocre QB can destroy any team no matter how many D-1 talented players they have otherwise. And, an exceptional QB can carry a team with only half way decent players into the playoffs and beyond. The years that we had exceptional QBs at Trinity Catholic we won or were an opponent in the championship games. In the seasons 2016 thru 2019 our QBs were not very good at all. As such, the team did not do well against the better opponents. Our current QB, who was a standout at Oak Hall School in Gainesville in the 2019 season, came to the Celtics in the 2020 season. Last year we went to the third round of the playoffs with him behind center.