Longtime Observer

Ok I was gonna say. I had talked to my lil brother & he said they was still heading up there despite rumors. Good stuff, the T aint ducking no smoke

Football isn't the kind of sport where you can just walk the halls and assemble a team. You can get a couple decent kids maximum that way. The rest of the student body would be putting their health at risk if they decided to "go out" for football.

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There are zero coaches on campus, every single coach left 

Lakeland will have one of the toughest early schedules in the state. At Miami Central, at Sumner, At Lake Mary, hosting Miami BTW. Sumner is much better than their (lack of) history suggests. Lake Mary has a top Qb prospect and a solid program. And we know- despite the predictable sandbagging- that the Miami schools are going to be fierce.

Wow so BTW is traveling to both Vero and Lakeland this year that's nuts

Rebuild mode. Lost alot of talent to graduation & transfer portal. A bit of gentrification also as overtown is being turned into Miami beach jr. 

What is the feeling on the upcoming season? (I figure I better ask this question NOW, as the answer figures to change in a few days )

As great as an Open division COULD be, it is likely to be very poor given the grotesque incompetence of the ranking systems they've used previously. 

That claim requires evidence. It may or may not happen in some places. You can be certain that a school like St. Frances in Baltimore pays good money. Why else would kids pack up and leave somewhere like Central Florida to live and play in the 'hood of Baltimore for a "school" that doesn't have a home stadium?

ALL programs wish to attract as many good players as possible. Yes, even including your team(s). Some are more appealing, and thus more able to attract players than others. 

I've watched high school football all across the southeast up to Northern VA, and in terms of community/fan support, Florida is dead last. I'm guessing that the large transient population that doesn't have community ties is part of the reason. The high school back in my old podunk Virginia hometown with a population of around 4.5K will draw 3K or more for home games, and most of those fans have been supporting the school for decades. Most of my Florida game attendance has been in Volusia, Orange, Brevard, Broward, Palm Beach counties and here with the Treasure Coast schools from Sebastian River to South Fork. With few exceptions over the years, the crowds have been mostly students and parents/relatives of players, cheerleaders and band members. 

Often unspoken in this debate is the matter of fan support. The states paying much better than Florida also have much better/more substantial fan support. This makes paying coaches much higher salaries or stipends possible. The fan support in Florida is underwhelming to say the least. The state doesn't have a single program- anywhere- whose fan support would be considered impressive or even comparable to the top programs in Georgia, etc. Lakeland has long been considered one of the best in this area, but the program has undeniably been weakened by the emergence of private schools Victory and Lakeland Christian. It's not just that some good players pass on playing for Lakeland to instead play at  a Christian school, but also families and thus fan support that previously went to Lakeland have ended up at one of the privates. The big dawgs in Miami sometimes get huge crowds out to Traz Powell, but financial contributions to programs are inconsistent at best. The Panhandle is more similar to Georgia and Alabama in culture, but they haven't produced a true state power in decades. The relatively new Sumner program might be one of the best bets to become a true power in this area. But, I'm not sure of the scale of success that is possible for them.

Yet you and your buddy Shyster Joe demand teams consistently play these very expensive, and very time-consuming games. If they don't, you call them p*ssies and talk about their coaches not having "the chest" to "challenge" his boys. 

The difference that I see is that colleges and universities can recruit (in fact, they have to in order to be competitive). More importantly, the local car dealership can be loyal to a particular college or university and under new NIL rules, it can pay a student-athlete.     As it stands now, that same car dealership can be loyal to a particular high school football team, but as soon as they start providing payments to players, they run afoul of the FHSAA rules prohibiting "impermissible benefits."  This whole section would have to be changed:
"37.2 IMPERMISSIBLE BENEFIT
37.2.1 General Regulation. No school employee, athletic department staff member, representative of the school’s athletic
interests or third parties, such as an independent person, business, or organization, may be involved, directly or indirectly, in giving
an impermissible benefit to any student or any member of his/her family for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics,
or to any student-athlete who already attends a school.
37.2.2 Specific Prohibitions. Specifically prohibited arrangements, assistance or benefits include, but are not limited to,
the following:
37.2.2.1 School-based financial assistance of any kind that exceeds the amount for which a student has been approved
by an independent financial needs assessment company that is recognized by the FHSAA or otherwise is in excess of any supplemental
assistance provided by a school to each and every student who qualifies for financial assistance.
37.2.2.2 Cash or like items, such as credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, gift certificates, coupons, or vouchers. . . .."
 
What's wrong with keeping high school sports purely amateur?  Unlike colleges and universities, no one (including/especially the high schools) is really 'profiting' from the name, image or likeness of a high school athletes, are they?   My kids played with some pretty high-profile guys, but I don't recall Dick's selling jerseys with their names printed on the back.  Are high school football players from Florida going to start fleeing to other states to pick up a few grand?   Perhaps a kid from the panhandle or Jacksonville might get pulled north to Georgia or Alabama for a few bucks, but I can't see any south Florida kids making the move north unless the money was huge (like a once-in-a-generation kid).    Let NIL screw up the college game, but keep the high school game as pure as possible. 

We can look to the college game for ideas on how to work around rules. A little creativity, along with clever use of euphemisms, goes a long way.
Businesses like car dealerships have long been free to enter into sponsorship deals with local football programs. The businesses can choose who to sponsor or not. Then, with such an agreement in place, commercials and promotions can be held featuring players from the sponsored program, which can be called an "NIL" deal.
Of course there is ample room for debates around the "spirit" vs. "the letter" of the law. You're not wrong; there are just ways around the issues you raise. (None of which are for the betterment of the game.)

CAI was such a farce program.  The school only has 70 or so students so you know at least some of those 40+ football players probably weren't even required to attend class or were "attending" virtually.  No tears from me seeing them fold up shop.  I guess football didn't grow the stature of their strange scientology school like it was originally intended.

NIL is going to kill HS football

Never mind I just looked his hudl up. He is from Canada, like most of the team was. I do see he has an Auburn offer. If he stays in the U.S. it will be a great "get" for someone. 

Antwan Raymond from Clearwater Academy. Ultimately, it's all about who's offering the most money. Venice will offer a nice compensation package, as will others. If you know some of the boosters for top programs, check who follows them on Twitter etc. That will offer an indication of who's been making offers. Mind you, the programs aren't "recruiting", as that is illegal. Instead, they are offering "NIL" deals in the event that it becomes fully legal in the state. Decisions aren't being made until clarity around "NIL" is clear.

Even back in the mid 70's when they took hold in our county I resisted joining due to the political nature of the organization rather than as you rightly point out the lack of focus on the betterment of the students.

Teachers' unions should be vehemently opposed until if/when they demonstrate that their purpose is to benefit and push forward education. Has any teachers' union pushed back against the sort of bullshit pushed by, for example, the Chicago teacher's union? CTA said that the push to reopen schools was an example of white supremacy. If you can't call that out for the complete and utter bullshit that it is, you deserve to be opposed. (For the record, I left my union this school year).

I as well as the majority of parents are happy our state legislature isn't pushed around by unions like other states otherwise our school aged kids wouldn't have even been back in the classroom for almost an entire year.  So you have a right to bash our lawmakers while I have the right to cheer them on.  

Teachers are sometimes their own worst enemies.

This is a bit of an incoherent mess. The matter of parents' rights is separate from teacher/coaches pay and teacher certification. All are valid, but distinct, concerns.