Longtime Observer

Well, I know that I, for one, can go to bed tonight and rest peacefully knowing that no coaches, assistant coaches, handlers or other representatives of any Florida high school football program will reach out to any of these players or their families to 'discuss their options.'   
 

What is often missed in these discussions is the fact that, almost always, players/families CHOOSE to play for the powers. We see families pick up and move to a new area just so their kid can play for a particular program. Or, they willingly commute a further distance to play for a preferred program. This narrative of there being bad guys at a few programs going out and rounding up all the best players through bribes or coercion is silly.
Players seek the best opportunities for themselves, just like they do when they pick a college to play for. No one expects college teams to end up with equal talent. No one sees Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State etc ending up with a disproportionate share of talent and thinks 'Gosh, they HAD to have cheated. How else would they get all those good players?" Those programs have a proven record of success, and players often seek THEM out. For some reason, when it comes to high school, people get up in arms if a handful of programs end up with the best players. They demand an equal share of talent for high schools. This despite the fact that they do NOT think this way when it comes to other areas like academics or the arts. No one begrudges the parents who seek residency in the zone of top academic schools. No one accuses the top academic schools of "cheating" when they end up with a disproportionate share of motivated and/or gifted students. The logical inconsistency is amusing and annoying. 
 

You gotta admit, they have figured out that the QB is the lynchpin for a championship run.

Their starting QB, Ryan Browne, was the QB for Sarasota Riverview the previous season. Top WR #3 (Hayes) was a top player for Riverview in 2020 as well. That's all that comes to mind without looking. 
You have to go back to 2018 to find a Venice team whose QB didn't transfer from another school.

Eventually, there will be an elite tier set apart from the rest for the purposes you state. Currently, people are in denial about where the game is/is headed.
In regards to the way that will happen, there are some concerns about how best to determine who belongs in the elite tier. There are far too many variables impacting team quality from year to year to use a historically informed model. The 2024 playoffs should feature the best teams from 2024. Not teams who were good in previous seasons or who will likely be good in the future. With transferring being so easy and so common, literally ANY school can go from a nobody to a somebody overnight. For all we know, the private Christian schools in heavily Christian Lakeland, Florida will continue to grow and supplant Lakeland High as the power(s) in the county. If the coaching staff suddenly fell out of favor with parents and the community, Lakeland could be 0-10 real quick. Victory and LCS already are LOADED with Lakeland High legacies who chose to go to the private Christian school over the public school. Some variation of the same story could happen anywhere, any time. 

Technically, I believe he must first be Tampa Gaither's starting QB before Peacock comes calling.

Technically, I believe he must first be Tampa Gaither's starting QB before Peacock comes calling.

K

He's auditioning at Sumner for his real dream to be on the Venice team!

So, hear me out on this.   A QB left Polk County to attend a school in the Tampa Bay/Hillsborough County area as a junior.   That means Venice can go after him next year.  

Just kidding. If they are able to attract talent the same way Plant and Armwood did many moons ago then yeah they could emerge as a true title contender. They do need to beef up their schedule or you won’t know much about them till the playoffs. 

Someone left LG and didn't go to Lakeland!?  I'm shocked! 

Trollbull is gonna troll. It's just part of his shtick. 

lol before I even read this post just going off the topic I was thinking to myself “Hey maybe something we could be good at up here” (Vero). If something like that would happen I do know our boosters have deep pockets. Hopefully though this doesn’t happen, the sport has already been messed with enough.

It's friggin' January. 
You've got the kids who transferred from one school to another prior to the start of this semester.
You've got the kids who will transfer before Spring practice starts. 
You've got the kids who will transfer after Spring practice ends.
You've got the kids who will transfer over the summer because they played 7 on 7 with some kids from some other school. 
You've got the kids who will transfer because somebody somewhere promised to give them or their family something if they switched schools.
In short, it's really hard to predict how good this team or that team is going to be in the fall because no one knows what each school's roster is going to look like come August.  For high school football players, August is a lifetime away. 
But Central and Northwestern will probably both be pretty good.  

And so it begins...
I almost titled this thread "The tragic fall of the Central Rockets", and wrote a post explaining how Dade fans would sell Central out and say they suck now that Lakeland is playing them. But, I thought better of it, figuring y'all wouldn't actually do that. Silly me!

false. best team in miami in 2024 will be the bulls. norland close second. central will competing for third with columbus & booker t. but yes a great matchup awaits!! Ill be in attendance to watch.

I am glad this game is taking place. It should give us a great prelude to November/December. 

I knew Lakeland would let go of Bryant stadium and head to S. Florida once Coach Castle retired.  I love this!  Lakeland was burned by Andrew in 92' and ever since, no regular season game has been scheduled in S. Florida.

I agree.  Peacock doesn't.  

This will be Lakeland's first trip to Traz Powell stadium, known by locals as "The Mecca". It will probably be the 3rd time in the last nine seasons Lakeland will face the best team in Dade county (Carol City in 2016 and Norland in 2023 being the other two.) 
We'll have to keep an eye on the recruiting classes for these teams, as that will make all the difference in how this game goes. Both schools have a solid nucleus returning, but, in this day and age they'll have to recruit well to stay at a top level.  

It's interesting that they would recruit over IMG transfer Downs. Maybe he's going back to IMG, or maybe he's not as good as they hoped.
They're going to need a really strong recruiting class this year as they lose quite a bit from 2023. Of course, the best news for them is that neither STA nor Lakeland stand in their way in the new class.

This will be Lakeland's first trip to Traz Powell stadium, known by locals as "The Mecca". It will probably be the 3rd time in the last nine seasons Lakeland will face the best team in Dade county (Carol City in 2016 and Norland in 2023 being the other two.) 
We'll have to keep an eye on the recruiting classes for these teams, as that will make all the difference in how this game goes. Both schools have a solid nucleus returning, but, in this day and age they'll have to recruit well to stay at a top level.  

This will be Lakeland's first trip to Traz Powell stadium, known by locals as "The Mecca". It will probably be the 3rd time in the last nine seasons Lakeland will face the best team in Dade county (Carol City in 2016 and Norland in 2023 being the other two.) 
We'll have to keep an eye on the recruiting classes for these teams, as that will make all the difference in how this game goes. Both schools have a solid nucleus returning, but, in this day and age they'll have to recruit well to stay at a top level.  

The only football title celebration Celebration will celebrate is their name.