Perspective

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.

Proset, my post wasn't really in response to your post, but more of a commentary about IMG. Having said that, I can't imagine there are too many people that come to this site and read the forum posts that don't already know all about IMG. I cannot argue with IMG's success. In my opinion, however, they are the antithesis of high school football. They have few, if any, home-grown kids. They recruit kids from all over in blatant disregard of FHSAA rules (and, yes, I have the receipts) and the FHSAA turns a blind eye to such activities because of cozy financial relationships, etc. Call it Prep School Football, call it High School Plus, call it anything other than "high school football" and I might even feel proud about having the "national champion" in my back yard. OldSchool, just saw your post: IMG hasn't been around all that long and in some respects I will admit that I'm impressed with what they have built in a short time. They are a true testament to the philosophy that 'if you build it, they will come.' Their facilities are truly impressive. And from the get-go, they (the school and the facilities) attracted the interest of kids who dreamed of playing big-time college football. Like a small college, IMG has had to supplement their collection of 3, 4 and 5-star kids with a handful of "preferred walkons." In the beginning, there were more of these kids than there are now. IMG has had to balance "scholarship" kids with the kids who come from families that can afford the steep IMG bill. In the early years, the kids whose families could pay had more money than talent, which created weaknesses on the team that other really good 'high school' teams could exploit. Now, there are enough families that have money that also have kids who have talent. Maybe not 4-5 star talent, but "good enough to start on virtually any other team in the state" talent. And I guarantee if you compare the IMG roster now to the IMG roster of old, you'd find a lot more out of state kids now. Hey, look, I get it: parents are willing to make an investment in their kids. Spend $50K or more on a kid's senior year of high school in order to get him a full-ride scholarship to a P-5 school could be a smart bet. But if IMG had been the team in the Friday Night Lights series, the show would have been cancelled after 3-4 shows, because it's just not the kind of high school program that resonates with people across the country. And certainly not with me.

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.

So, as oft is the case, the answer can be found in the FHSAA Handbook. Section 8.3.1. allows FHSAA members to compete in athletic competitions with any other member or with non-members in state, so long as 7 requirements are met (things like proof of insurance, eligibility requirements for kids at non-FHSAA school, etc.). If you want to see the whole thing, here's the link: https://fhsaa.com/documents/2020/10/1//2021_handbook_website_1001.pdf?id=292

My belief is that MaxPreps uses the term "Freelance" for any team that is not assigned to a specific classification/region/district. It's a term that MaxPreps can use as a catch-all for all 50 states. This includes so-called "Independent" teams (like IMG and many others in Florida) and teams that are not officially part of the governing body for high school sports in a particular state. Just my belief. My other belief is that now that they are where they are, IMG doesn't give two shirts (without the "r") about the FHSAA. IMG needed them at the beginning, but probably doesn't need them now. Again, just my belief. I'd email the FHSAA and ask them, but they only respond when they have an answer that they're comfortable with.

Proset, see my post from earlier today. "Freelance" seems to be a term that is used by MaxPreps. I don't see it used by the FHSAA. In fact, if you type in the word "freelance" in the search function of the FHSAA website, nothing comes up. Nada. The term that the FHSAA uses for members that are not assigned to a specific classification is "Independent." If you look at the classifications for football, you'll see all the member schools listed. Most are assigned to a Classification (including a region and a district). The rest are shown at the end of the list (on page 4) as "Independents." That's where I would expect to see a school like TRU Prep. But I don't. I'm not in a position to tell you that you're wrong; for all I know, TRU Prep is a member and someone simply forgot to add their name to the list. But . . . I also looked for TRU Prep in the FHSAA Directory. Here's a "copy and paste" of a section of the directory where certain member schools are listed: Trinity Christian (Deltona) (Section 2) Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (Section 1) Trinity Christian (Lake Worth) (Section 4) Trinity Preparatory (Winter Park) (Section 2) True North (Miami) (Section 4) Umatilla (Section 2) Union County (Lake Butler) (Section 1) Universal Academy (Tampa) (Section 3) Again, I don't see TRU Prep listed where common sense suggests they should be (i.e., right after True North and right before Umatilla). So, I'm going to throw the red flag and ask that this be reviewed by the folks in New York.

Proset, my understanding has always been this: If a member of the FHSAA wants to play a team in Florida, that team also has to be a member of the FHSAA. If a member of the FHSAA wants to play a team in or from another state, that team has to be sanctioned in that other state. That's how, for example, IMG (or Central, or Northwest or Armwood) can play an out-of-state game or host an out-of-state team. But, I wasn't aware that a team which is a member of the FHSAA could play an in-state game against a team who is not a member. So, either the rules of the game have changed or I never knew what the rules were (distinct possibility).

Jesse must have been at work behind the scenes.

It's a little confusing to me. There is a school in Miami by the name of True North Classical Academy. It shows up in the FHSAA classifications as an "Independent" and on MaxPreps as a "Freelance." For what it's worth, that's the same way IMG shows up (classified as "Independent" on the FHSAA site and as "Freelance" on the MaxPreps site). MaxPreps also reflects that there is a school in Miami Gardens by the name of "TRU Prep Academy," who is shown as a "Freelance" school. This appears to be the team playing IMG this week. However, this school does not show up on the FHSAA website under Football > Classifications . . . not even among the Independent schools. That would lead me to conclude that they are not currently a member of the FHSAA . . . which makes me wonder how FHSAA teams in the state of Florida have been able to play them. I'm not throwing any mud; just confused.

Yes, I think you have.

Tru Prep sounds like something that your doctor prescribes for you to drink the night before you have a colonoscopy.

I think the Broward School District made the decision on behalf of all of its schools that they would opt out. Miami-Dade, on the other hand, left the decision up to the individual schools. Most opted out; some opted in. Or to phrase that in another way (and generally speaking): those schools that knew they had no chance of playing for or winning a state title opted out, whereas those schools who thought they had a legitimate shot at a ring opted in.

Yeah, plus Joe Pinko's only had NW favored by 38 points. Oh, wait . . . .

Perspective is always a good thing.

. . . with every frickin' post.

Yeah, I think that's the same thing happening with Brandon (vs. Palmetto). I guess that's one of the downsides of letting every team make the playoffs and then randomly (allegedly) picking the match-ups.

Add: Brandon (although this one may not be entirely Covid-related, if Covid-related at all), allowing Palmetto to advance. Rockledge (allowing Desoto Co. to advance)

Starting a new thread so that it will be easier to keep a running tally (perhaps updated each week) of teams who are forced to cancel an upcoming playoff game because of Covid. Here are the teams I know of as of right now: Leto (Tampa) Robinson (Tampa) LaBelle St. John Neumann Immokalee Parrish Community PK Young (not 100% sure this one is Covid-related) Oasis Sickles Feel free to add to it if you hear of others.

Impressive stat line.

Gatorman, I have no idea what the college rule was at the time, but under existing high school rules, that's a close call. In addition to a defender being on his knees or lying on the ground (see Just a Coach's post above), a defensive player can be hurdled if both his feet are off the ground; i.e., he lays out in an attempt to make a diving tackle . . . which arguably is what the defender trying to make the play on Moss did. In real time, it's pretty tough to determine whether the defender's feet are both off the ground at the precise moment of the hurdle. Judgment call, I guess, but I would not fault the officials for not making the call on this play. Oh, and this clip just shows that Moss was a man playing with boys when he was at Marshall.

Already happened . . . 1809. I wasn't around when it happened, but I remember my parents talking about it. But, I digress from the more important issue: did Jesse jump off the Madison bandwagon a few weeks back? What happened?

Covid knocks Tampa Robinson out of the playoffs, allowing Orlando Jones to advance without having to play an improved Robinson team, but clearly one that was not able to finish the season at anything close to full strength. Covid also knocks out Archbishop McCarthy, allowing Miami Central to advance without playing. Miami Central also won their play-in game against Immokalee because of a Covid forfeit. I don't think either Immokalee (0-7) or Archbishop McCarthy (1-6) posed any threats against Central and Central's first on-field game will be against the winner of Ida Baker (4-3) and Lely (2-5), so that shouldn't be much of a contest either. Central won't get tested until the regional semi-finals, if then. Any more Covid casualties?

The kid made a very athletic move that would be OK on Saturday or Sunday, but the officials got the call right.