Class 3A, Post Spring 2016 Thoughts

[SPCjessica2004]

With Spring 2016 in the books and teams getting ready to head into the weight room and prepare for 7-7 season, I wanted to present my post Spring 2016 thoughts and rankings. Please note, I don't care how many D-1 kids a team has or how much hype they get. I take things into consideration such as graduating classes, returning talent, coaching, general know how.

1) Jacksonville Trinity Christian-  JaxTCA isn't just #1 in 3A, they maybe #1 in most classes in Florida. This will be the #1 small school in America until somebody not named IMG beats them. They dismantled Jacksonville Raines in Spring and really showed a flashy offense with their in-your-face defense. Ranking JaxTCA #1 is a no-brainer.

2) Clearwater Central Catholic-  CCC is the 4x defending Class 3A Region 3 Champion and brings their roster from 2015 back almost entirely in tact. CCC knocked off a very stout 6A Clearwater High School football team on the road without 3 starters (Sr. WR/DB/S Dillan Scargle, CB/WR Jaylen Jones, OL/C Aeromis Gonzales).  Last year, I felt that CCC could go blow-for-blow with American Heritage but would come up a few plays short because they lacked maturity. American Heritage was senior loaded, CCC was Junior/Sophomore loaded. CCC lost 31-24 in the final 4 last year. The team went down to Heritage as boys, but came back men. This year- I see the Marauders winning the South especially because they would host the final 4 game this year in Clearwater where they've compiled a 28-3 record since 2012. CCC is a senior loaded team that features a plethora of players who played on their 2013 State Runner-Up team.

3) American Heritage Delray-  The Stallions once again are loaded. They beat Titusville 3-0 and Palm Bay Heritage 14-7. I do think the Stallions will miss Devin Singletary, DJ Davis, Greg Benoche and that was before Lamonte McDougale transferred out. Still, with Alec Sinkfield and a host of transfers (and maybe more..more on that in a moment) this is a team still very much in contention for the south. The defense is still as good as even, but there are concerns about the offense. Never underestimate the Stallions, especially when it comes to crunch time. This will be a potent team this year.

4) Chaminade-Madonna-  I'm aware of the talent the Lions have compiled and have returning. I'm also aware of the overwhelming hype and media coverage the Lions have received. I said last year the Lions are going to be a formidable team this year; however, I can't, in good conscience, put Chaminade into the top 3 when 1) They didn't play a Spring game 2) They consist mostly of transfers that haven't played a game together yet 3) The 3 teams ranked ahead of them have all played in a state championship game in the past 3 seasons and 4) The team hasn't won their district in recent memory and 5) The team hasn't won a playoff game in recent memory.

It may sound like I'm poo-pooing on the Lions, I'm not- these are cold hard facts I'm presenting. Despite all of that, this is arguably the most talented team in class 3A..JaxTCA included. They currently have 19 players on the roster with 1 Division 1 offer or more and I've no doubt they'll make a strong run. Starting week 10, they face a gauntlet of very strong teams including Flanagan and IMG.

5)Oxbridge/Tampa Catholic-  We all know what happened with Oxbridge Academy, it's everywhere. I don't want to touch that from a non-football perspective. With Doug Socha no longer in charge and the AD being let go- what happens to the roster?  For now, I'm keeping Oxbridge at #5 but the cold reality is, with the school clearly wanting to downplay football it's expected the players will transfer to Dwyer, STA, American Heritage or their zoned public school (Does that even mean anything anymore?).  Because of that, I'm going to say it's a tie between Oxbridge and Tampa Catholic for the 5th spot going into the season. Tampa Catholic has quietly put together a strong program that returns the likes of superstar RB Devan Barrett, Darius Corbett and Austin Sessums.

As always, things will change. I forsee all of these teams adding and losing pieces over the next few months. I see Oxbridge losing some pieces and CCC/American Heritage gaining some major pieces to the puzzle. Chaminade has gained a lot of pieces and lost some key pieces, Tampa Catholic will most likely add a few more pieces as well.





 

[Joshua Wilson]

So glad we have Jessica on here!

 

Value thoughts and she is pretty spot on about what is going on with 3A football. 

 

This is just awesome stuff!

[Zoe Boy]

I wish TC can play at least 2 teams down here a year.. I honestly think there's 2 teams down here that can beat them and a possible 2 others that would be a 50/50 game... But good stuff Jessica! I agree what Josh is saying about your 3a input...

[BrowardHandicapper]

Great breakdown .  3A is appears to be a pretty clear cut 6 team race.  I believe there is a big drop off after these 6.

[nolebull813]

3A might have the most top 25 teams than any class. I can see all 6 of those teams having big years down to the end.

[nolebull813]

NM