Longtime Observer

The rules can be clear, but the individual situations not as clear. "Plausible deniability" is a beast. How can a school or coach possibly police the private messaging of one of their fans? It's not possible for John Peacock to peer into the private inboxes of every single person on the planet who may cheer for Venice and may want to send a hotshot recruit a message saying "come play for Venice!". Not to mention rogue actors. I've rooted against Venice in the state title game the last couple of years. What's to stop me from messaging a top recruit and saying "You should play for Venice" in hopes of getting the message reported and Venice in trouble? (I don't message kids or their parents as I personally find it creepy). There are just myriad scenarios where any reasonable person can tell what's going on without having much confidence it can hold up under investigation, in court etc. The other aspect is kids/parents who may receive such messages from a dozen other schools. Do they get to be selective and turn one or two in and ignore the rest? If a Lakeland fan contacts a kid from, say, Bloomingdale and encourages them to play for Lakeland, but the kid goes and plays for Armwood instead (and someone from Armwood had reached out in much the same way as the Lakeland fan), who's guilty? What if the same kid also heard from Sumner and Tampa Bay Tech and ten other schools? It's all a mess. *Every* school is trying to attract as many good players- be it incoming 9th graders or transfers- as possible. Oftentimes, style of play and depth chart are significant factors, and those require conversations of some sort to clarify.

Most of what would be sent is nearly impossible to prosecute. I mean, if a fan direct messages a kid and says "hey, you should come play for Venice. We really need you!", who/what do you expect to be done? It's a fan sending a simple message. Same thing if it's a 16 year-old boy who plays on the team sending the message. Those kinds of messages may or may not be persuasive. But, I don't see how you could justify some sort of penalty. Especially given the fact that some rival schools may use a little photoshop and make up images of such messages. Ultimately, I think it is highly debatable as to whether the above is even wrong morally. As I've said, the picture many have in their minds of "recruiting" often doesn't match reality. Fans may picture a creepy old man hiding in some bushes who pops out and offers a kid a stack of cash if he transfers. That's not reality, at least not in the 2020s.

The biggest factor for Tarpon Springs was the folding of the Clearwater Academy football program. The head coach for CAI was picked up as OC at TS. His QB, who started at TS, followed him back there as did some other good players. This influx made the program much more attractive. And, there really aren't a lot of great alternatives in the immediate area for football. There's no program with such a great resume and such great resources that they can win recruiting battles for players. Many of the CAI players shopped around at a wider range of programs. But, most of the CAI kids needed housing and/or a program near CAI. I believe it's possible some/all of the CAI transfers may still attend and receive housing at CAI. They'd be allowed to play at TS even while not attending the school since CAI doesn't offer football anymore.

Well, I think the result SHOULD influence rankings. BUT, in states where the NFL is king (California being a prime example), people think the KOC is akin to an NFL exhibition. It's a ridiculous assumption in many cases. But, many seem determined not to change their minds.

I'm pretty sure the Armwood-Norland game is a kickoff classic. But, I'm also pretty sure both teams will be playing their best to win. Hopefully the Section 104 boys can give us a stream!

No Booker T? I think a season where Armwood goes unbeaten with most or all games being blowouts is going to be interesting. Their taking of most of Sumner's best players appears to be completely overlooked by most. I don't think people realize this may be the best Armwood team ever, based on raw talent. I just think folks who have no clue about the 2024 team will dismiss that claim out of hand.

As far as the rules and culture go, public schools now have an advantage over private schools in attracting players. Of course, the biggest, best private schools still have an overall advantage when you factor in the wealth of the student body/alumni. And those located right in the middle of dense urban areas have many more players to pick from within a reasonable driving distance. It looks like Venice was pissed to lose their starting RB. So, they turned in Booker. The player in question appeared headed to Lakeland for a time after leaving Booker. But, perhaps had a change of heart and felt the hassle wasn't worth it.

As you probably know, the rest of the state views Dade/Broward as a scary sort of foreign land (and those in Dade/Broward view the rest of the state as a scary sort of country bumpkin place). Most in Gainesville threw up their hands and quit bothering to get involved in Dade/Broward years ago. Public schools in the rest of the state are held to a different standard by many. Though there's no way to be sure how many transfers schools end up with until the school year literally starts.

I think it'll be an ugly defensive struggle with a few big plays in between. No way to predict for sure until we see the actual rosters come August. I hear Lakeland will have many more transfers (central likely as well), but I can't know for sure. Some of the kids themselves may not even know!

It certainly figures to be an exciting year for our team! They should be strong as they head to Traz Powell to take on the Rockets, likely on ESPN.

When they're paying what Georgia pays, you get better products and services. When you offer the bare minimum, you get the bare minimum effort in return.

Schools are struggling to fill their schedules ahead of the end of the school year. Then summer break hits and folks are away, not updating documents etc. The always changing structure of playoff systems also means schools constantly have to reconsider how/who to schedule. Long-term alliances in scheduling aren't tenable, so each cycle amounts to almost starting from scratch. I imagine there's a deadline sometime in late July or early August where everything has to be in. But, before then, there is no incentive to update maxpreps until summer break is over.

Last week in August.

I think the team was Newton from Covington, which I had never heard of. They have a home game with Douglas Co scheduled the week they were supposed to come to Lakeland. Not a marquee team, but much better than no game at all, and being stuck with three home games for the season as L has.

It is my understanding that Lakeland had a good but not great Georgia team lined up for a game, and the GA team reneged with limited or no notice. You hear anything about that?