HornetFan

So, "they lost to Winter Park 20-14 and had the ball at the 1 yard line"; coming close usually only counts in horse shoes and hand grenade throwing. A loss is a loss. Osceola finished 3-2 at the UCF 7v7; you're happy with that performance? If "they don't put much stock in touch football", why were they playing in the UCF 7v7; nothing else to do that day? I may be wrong, but it seems that these kids would be trying to impress the folks at UCF in hopes of gaining some positive exposure. I don't doubt they'll be ready to play football when the season starts; I just don't think they'll beat West Orange.

I wouldn't have much confidence in most programs picking honesty over winning, people are too desperate If the people who are running the athletic programs are so desperate that they would sacrifice their integrity in order to win a football game, they are cheating the kids on their own team by promoting dishonesty as an acceptable alternative to doing the right thing. That type of person should not be coaching or mentoring kids.

the only caveats being that if it is not your zoned school it must not be at capacity And, if the school is at capacity, they use a phony home address, either a relation's, a teammates, or a friend's home in that school's zone, to avoid having to go through a lottery for available slots. The sad part is that it is often done with the coach's knowledge.

Won't happen because then you will see kids having addresses listed with 2nd or 3rd cousins or uncles to team up This is where coaches have to have some integrity and put a stop to allowing transfers to use phony residences. An individual that knowingly allows cheating does deserve the title of coach. It will only further the gap between metro and rural schools who will have the flexibility to do what they want If you separate public and private schools and base public school classifications strictly on student population with residency requirements, you'll have schools playing on a more equal footing. Having a few powerhouse private schools keeps the cheating public schools from having an easy path This doesn't make sense and it also allows private schools an unfair advantage if you're actually going to enforce residency requirements for public schools. You're calling the public schools cheats at the same time you call the private schools powerhouses. In this example, the terms "cheats" and "powerhouses" are interchangeable.

"I'm just tired of people blaming the privates and not saying anything about the publics who do it" You're never going to be able to stop parents from putting their kids in private schools if they can afford the expense. Where Florida is missing the boat is allowing private schools to play in Districts with public schools. I originally come from Long Island. The Catholic schools in the NYC area play in the Catholic High School league. They have their own playoffs and champions. This puts them on equal footing because kids can go to the school of their choice as long as they pay the tuition and supply their own transportation. Florida could set aside a Classification or two strictly for private schools and then clamp down on the public schools when it comes to transfers by requiring kids to play for the school where you family actually lives and pays real estate taxes or have a lease on a home or apartment; no exceptions.

What about the players who had been with the school for many years and find themselves sitting out every game because some transfer dropped in from wherever in his Junior or Senior year This is the biggest injustice in the transfer rules. Unless a student's family moves to the new district, they should not allow athletic transfers. But, for most fans and too many coaches, there is very little loyalty to the local kid. Winning is more important than every student in a school district being given a chance to participate on their local HS team.

HS football is supposed to be about the kids. I'm sure that, if asked, the players on almost every HS team would tell you to schedule the 10th game. If the only available opponent is weak, play your starters sparingly and give your other kids a chance to get some game time. You can't worry about the RPI because you can't control how well other schools perform from one season to the next. If you have a good season, you'll make the playoffs.

Academically superior students can't get fans to fill an 85,000 seat football stadium, and a million people won't pay for cable TV to watch them do their homework. Athletic scholarships for football and basketball players bring revenue to a university. I imagine that there are very few people who would pay to watch kids take a political science or sociology class. It's more important that these student athletes succeed in the classroom than on the football field. The education will hopefully enable them to secure a career that lasts 40 years and allows them to support a family and secure their future. .

Well said!

I did say "Less than 1% of HS football players go on to NFL"; you actually took the time to research the numbers and show it is far less than a fraction of 1%. Your figures offer a stronger case for what I was trying to point out. I enjoy watching a great player excel on the football field, but it's far more important that we prepare these young men to succeed in the world.

Not trying to be funny, just stating the obvious. Loads of kids in South Florida transferring for football and none of them ever seem to mention better academics at the new school. It's about priorities. Less than 1% of HS football players go on to NFL, and for those that do, the average career in the NFL is less than 3 years. Instead of pushing a state championship as the ultimate goal, these kids should be getting advice on career goals that do not involve playing football. Reality is often a cruel master!

You assumed that I meant that the South Florida schools would all fall in a low rated academic classification. I keep seeing loads of transfers in South Florida and no one ever mentions it's for an IB program or going to an "A" rated academic school. It's almost always to play football in a dominant program.

So when you spend that much money, you don’t want to ruin the trip with an ass beating. Lol. Exactly!!!

They're all relieved that Jones has moved up to 6A.

Maybe only one of them should be a state champ. Here in Central Florida, the vast majority of teams are in 8A and 7A; there are a few in 6A and 5A. I don't hear complaints about classifications. Classifications are supposed to be based on student population, not on who has a chance to win a state championship. Maybe they should re-classify based upon academic rating; but then again, most of the South Florida schools may fall in the same classification and still only play for one state championship.

I think we have to cut most people some slack when it comes to this past school year. It's been a long year with many kids having to school remotely, others like sports teams being isolated in clusters from the rest of those students attending classes. I imagine it has been tough on coaches trying to sort things out and keep their teams healthy. Publishing Fall schedules for football probably wasn't their top priority. They didn't even know if there would be Spring football or a Fall season; some schools went deep into the Spring trying to finalize their schedules for the Fall. Listing the Spring game on the schedule, even if it's after the game was played, is not a problem for me. I applaud these coaches and AD's for giving us a 2020 Fall season, Springs games this year, and hopes for a great 2021 Fall football season.

They should like it. Appears that Florida is teeing up some early victories for the teams from Colorado and New Jersey. This doesn't represent an accurate image of Florida HS football.

I won't be surprised if Jones is there. As for NW, I'm not that informed as to how the South Florida teams will stack up for this Fall. For the most part, I follow Central Florida.

8A DISTRICT 2, led by Seminole (Sanford), last season's defending 8A state champion is comprised of teams that have the ability to hang on a loss on most teams on any Friday night. Oviedo will probably be down having lost their starting QB to Seminole through a transfer; the rich get richer. DeLand, Flagler Palm Coast, and Lake Mary are also good teams.

Jones moving up to 6A is a gift to 5A teams hoping to go deep in the playoffs. I expect that Jones will be a force this year in 6A. If I'm not mistaken, Lake Minneola doesn't have the stud QB transfer back this year. This will be a tough District for any school not named Jones HS.

Not necessarily, but as long as they identify it as the Spring Game or Jamboree and update the result, what's the harm? Spring practice and the Spring games are actually the start of everyone getting ready for the next regular season. Seniors have moved on and it's the first look at what will comprise most of your team for the Fall season. More information is better than not enough information and most fans enjoy some Spring football,.

I don't think STA will lose in the regular season, but if it does happen, I expect it would be either Dillard or Gibbons. Edgewater should have beaten STA in the playoffs the past two years, but found ways to lose those games. I don't think Edgewater has the team to beat them this year; Edgewater lost too much talent to graduation this year. They still have a big question mark at the QB position. I fully expect STA to hoist the 7A trophy again this year.

The Spring game was the 1st game played by '21-22 team without the graduating seniors.

I don't know much about First Coast, Belen Jesuit, and Wakulla, but Freedom, University, and Windermere are three of the weakest teams in Orlando area.

I didn't say that Osceola should be counted out of their District race. I said that I won't be surprised if West Orange wins that district. Chad Mascoe is a good QB and he usually played well this past Winter in the 7v7 contests that I attended, but he wasn't playing for Osceola HS. He was on one of the many all-star type teams. His supporting cast at the UCF camp on June 5th was the Osceola HS team and they weren't overly impressive on offense or defense. They had a few losses including their game that I watched with Winter Park.