Legion37

Well I am not one who ever criticized private schools or their successes and I am enjoying Lakeland's success, and have for many years. If they have a superteam, time will tell on that, so be it as long as it was assembled within the rules. I cannot control what the parents do with their kids but once they are enrolled at LHS, then they are Dreadnaughts at that point, the (Red) devil where they came from. West Point, the Naval academy and the Air Force Academy recruit players, private colleges as well, why shouldn't private high Schools recruit? Why shouldn't a public school kid be allowed to transfer? With charter schools, magnet schools, Culinary Programs and the like... they days of going to a school you are zoned for is becoming something of an archaic idea anyhow. In the former LHS parking lot sits Harrison Center for the Arts, whose students can play sports at Lakeland. My friends son went to George Jenkins as that was where he was zoned for but his daughter goes to Lakeland because it offers an Audio Visual Arts Academy, which Jenkins does not.

But in a way all private school kids are "recruits" whether they play a sport or not. All students at a private school choose to go, usually for lots of reasons other than sports. Private schools are in the business of getting students to attend, period. Private schools need to make profit in order to survive. Some are established enough to have a core of "legacy" families but they still need full numbers and thus actively recruit both the local area and sometimes around the nation. When I was leaving Southwest Jr. High (now Middle School) to go to Lakeland High, 1/3 of our team went to Lakeland High, about 1/2 to Kathleen High (depending on which side of US92 you lived on) and the remaining to Santa Fe Catholic HS, including our really good QB. Santa Fe has never been much of a Football power but his parents wanted him to go to Santa Fe for academic reasons. Santa Fe, Admiral Farragut and Bolles all had booths set up at our Jr. High at one point or another and were offering up info on their schools, sports etc... to be honest if I had lived closer to Admiral Farragut I might have pressed my parents to go there.

Apparently my analogy went over your heads. Sorry you don't like the rules of current hs fb... on to Strawberry Crest

A victory is a victory if it is done within the rules. And a student who attends a school is very much not an outsider, those transfers will be receiving LHS diplomas, just as I did. Military kids sometimes attend 2 or 3 different highs schools due to the nature of that life style. If a transfer comes in and pushes some one out of a position, be it in sports, band, student government, Jrotc, drama...whatever, then it is as it is. Life is not fair. Despite attempts by some to make it so, it just isn't. Nothing unethical at all working within the rules.

Wouldn't students at a school be automatically classified as diehard fans? And I can tell you that not every student at a school has either pride or cares a hoot about FB. Most but not all.

I certainly do give everyone the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. And if you aren't happy with superteams picking on totally outclassed teams don't watch the Lakeland/Strawberry Crest game this Friday. I have noticed that Lakeland tends to go through the motions with inferior opponents, which still results in running clocks eventually. That said this could be a running clock before halftime if Lakeland comes full bore. And it's a district game I think...

Well it was the only relevant statement.

Well that is basically true of any High School program. Nobody but diehard fans care if any high school wins a championship. LOL

I stand corrected on the requirement to have space available. So I will amend my earlier post, If the rules allow for transfers then everyone could be adding transfers. Everyone could be creating "superteams." But in order to get a transfer to come you need to have something to offer. A winning program, a winning coach, a chance to compete for a title and the capacity available to take on the student/athlete.

As a fan I would cheer my team's success. There would be no asterisk next to the title in the record book. I don't hold it against my College teams for taking transfers nor my Pro team picking up free agents as that is how the system works. Right now transfers in HS football can play and are allowed. Lakeland won its title in 1986, in no small measure, by the transfer of the Kathleen QB his senior year (Shane Willis IIRC), a kid I booed the year before, I cheered his success a year later at Dunedin for the 86 state title. Unless evidence (and not one text from a teenager) could be shown that coaches were directly cheating, false addresses etc... or buying players, then yes that would be a problem. But coaches are paid to win football games within the rules. And that means playing the best starting 22 that gives you the best chance to win. Ultimately it is still up to the parents to decide what is in the best interest of their child. And if they are willing to make the effort to make a legit transfer, it seems unlikely that there is much that can be done. And unless the kid transfers back after the season, it would be real difficult to prove it was for athletic purposes only. I had friends from Junior High who lived in the Kathleen zone but attended Lakeland because of some legit transfer reasons that had to do with music, so it is allowed for other than athletic purposes too. As far as legislation, sometimes it is the only thing that will change things. Perhaps a team like Lakeland will go too far and it will force the hands of some governing body. I wish the game was like it was in 1984, but it's not, not at any level.

I recall your post but as for me I didn't find your observation compelling enough to respond too. Again if you don't like the current rules then there are mechanisms to change them. Contact the legislature and express your self. Lot's of reason why no one responded to you. Right and wrong may have nothing to do with it.

If the rules allow for transfers then everyone could be adding transfers. Everyone could be creating "superteams." But in order to get a transfer to come you need to have something to offer. A winning program, a winning coach, and a chance to compete for a title. Lakeland has all 3 boxes checked. Ultimately if the student's parents decide to transfer their kid, who am I to decide what is in the best interest of that kid? Lakeland's success is not recent, a overall winning program since 1979. That said as a Lakeland fan I cannot control who transfers to LHS or why. Nor can I make the schedule for the program. Not sure many fan bases wouldn't take Lakeland's 1979-2019 success and be happy to have it.

I don't see Mater Dei on their schedule. How many regular high schools have a set of options to see a game like this... a hotel and a spa for your weekend game visit. https://www.imgacademy.com/2019-football-schedule

Well Lakeland leads American Colligate 49-0 at half time. I'm not sure why this game was scheduled or who wanted this. American has a total of 30 players. But there it is...

High School football will be college football light. A few power teams consolidating the talent. IMG is ahead of the curve I suppose. I know they recruit all over the world. Most can't pay the $70,000+ tuition a year. But exceptions can be made financially. If kids want to transfer and the parents can pull it off, and it is allowed then it will be difficult to stop. I imagine that players want to go to Lakeland to play football and STA and Armwood et al.... Unless HS football institutes some sort of transfer rule about not playing the next year then it seems this is a trend that will continue. Even college with the new transfer portal isn't the hindrance to transfers it once was. I doubt everyone is doing it but everyone could be doing it if they had something of value to offer. A coach or a program like the powerhouses have. So unless it is against the rules and those rules can or will be enforced, then everyone can do it.

IMG is a professional sports academy. I know, I worked there. Lakeland is a public high school. I know I went there. How many out of state players transferred for Lakeland? How many that lived out of Polk County? How many Florida kids at IMG? If transfers are allowed then that is what it is. High School will eventually simply be college light. IMG is just way ahead of the curve at $70,000 tuition a year.

My bad...the scoreboard I looked at had it wrong, or I read it wrong.

Florida was very sloppy, Miami a bit more so. Florida's D-Line was the difference. Not sure UM will ever get back but I like how they played hard for Diaz. Florida will be in the SEC East mix but can't be that sloppy to many more times.

Armwood stopped being a wannabe a long, long time ago. 3 state titles and 7 runner-up finishes (10 total trips is really good given how young they are as a program!) While a "newer" high school (1984), they are a perennial powerhouse. They did get toasted in the KOC this year 28-0 by Jacksonville Lee. But I wouldn't discount the Hawks.

Call him what you will. He was named the starter before his injury.

Well it showed up in my desk top...lol But not my phone... Well now you know why Lakeland was upset

IMG isn't in many ways a Florida High School, certainly not in the sense like a Bolles is a private prep school. It is in the state of Florida but its recruiting tenticles are generally far more vast than the transfers many public and private Florida school's get. They recruit from every state and overseas. And many of their football recruits can't afford the $75,000 annual tuition. But ways are found. Losing to IMG isn't shameful and Venice may still be very good and should simply move on to the next game. I remember a Venice state championship season they lost only one game to IMG!

I worked at IMG for 2 years. I am aware of their operations. And I wasn't surprised by the SAT fixing scandal. Nor that they field a great team year in and year out. But their games are boring, more like a small college game than an exciting HS game. No band that cares, no cheerleaders from the school and a student body that mostly doesn't care, they have their own sports to work on. They have way more practice time than regular HS players, they live on campus and coaches can be in their ear and face almost at all times. Some students practice in the morning and go to school later in the day. Others go to school in the morning and practice later in the day. Allows for real individual coaching of units. Some of the coaches live in the dorms with them. So they are not like any other HS in that regard.

It is not so memorable because eventually that penalty led to a bigger loss followed by another big penalty forcing the Dreadnaughts into an eventual 3rd and 25. Which they converted by a long pass leading to a FG. So ultimately Lakeland overcame the hurdling penalty in the same drive. The long pass to get the first down was memorable.