Way to early Class 3A 2018 thoughts

[SPCjessica2004]

I'm going to be signing off for a bit to focus on other life responsibilities after this post; however, I wanted to give some general thoughts on 2018 since questions are already being asked. Who are my personal top 5 teams going into 3A for Spring 2018? Keep in mind that these are just random thoughts BEFORE these teams get their transfers..which we know are coming.. it's really to early to have this discussion until we know who is playing where, but when has that ever stopped me in the past? Well.. never!

Here you go:

1) Chaminade-Madonna:  Despite the graduation loss of some key offensive (and defensive) players- this is still the best team in 3A until a 3A team beats them. They could have the best secondary in the state and they're just bigger than everybody else in 3A next year on the lines. The offense will need some tweaking without the game breaker WR's and Shaun Shivers- but there's enough still here to be the best team.

2) Oxbridge Academy: The Thunderwolves have a lot of talent to replace and it remains to be seen if the administration will let transfers come in to ease the burden of replacing some amazing athletes. The north of 3A will be competitive, but I don't see any stellar teams thus even an average Oxbridge team should find their way back to Orlando unless one of the teams in the north picks up some transfers and hits their stride. Gio Richardson has really made himself a household name and James Meeks will push for top RB in 3A next year.

3) Clearwater Central Catholic: The Marauders did what they needed to do in 2017. They survived a huge graduating 2016 class and also survived a mass exodus of talent. On paper, last year's CCC team should have been 4-6 with running clock losses in 5 of the 10 games. 2018 will be far more kind to CCC, first- I don't see them losing any players to Calvary Christian and second, they have an amazing core group of players returning.

4) American Heritage Delray:  Chaminade ran all over AHD last year, but with the horses the Stallions have returning in addition the coaching staff they're rumored to be assembling is there any doubt this will be one of the most improved teams in 3A. The Stallions have taken their lumps in previous years, but I think 2018 is the year this team finally puts it together and puts their name back into the state championship conversation.

5) Tampa Catholic: Tampa Catholic will have a very explosive offense, maybe push for the top offense in all of 3A next year. TC brings back their entire offense except for 2 offensive linemen in tact. Arhmeran Brown, Jalen Bussey and Joseph Hodge alongside QB Charlie Dean make up a terrific group of offensive athletes. TC has the athletes, linemen and coaching to challenge Chaminade. Actually, TC beat Chaminade in 2009; so, there is history there if the two teams meet. I have it on good authority that TC should be picking up multiple transfers from local teams and even dip into Pinellas county for a few transfers.

Teams that were good in 2017 that I think may take a step back in 2018:

1) Calvary Christian (Clearwater): Calvary Christian finished with the best record in school history and was a regional finalist in the highly competitive region 3. But, what do you do for an encore? With Amari Burney, Deandre Ferguson, Jacque Sarnoff, QB Alex Laccube and a host of others graduating it's hard to see where this team will end up without significant assistance.  The Warriors do have a couple of solid offensive linemen returning, but who will they be blocking for? The top RB on the team, River Wood transferred out. Calvary won 7 games in 2017, but right now it's hard seeing them duplicate that performance going forward.

2) Melbourne Central Catholic:  The Hustlers finished 2017 with a 7-4 record, but they played a very difficult schedule. In 2017 MCC was briefly in the state championship discussion and had a loaded roster with high expectations from 2016's state final 4 finish.  MCC graduates a bulk of their talent including QB Joaqun Collazo and WR Lorenzo Hardy.  So. running back LaAnthony Valentine will see a significant increase in minutes as well.  MCC was a stout, solid and fun team to watch for the past few seasons- there are a lot of questions about where the team goes from here as they will need to rebuild.


Outside of the teams listed above- I think Florida High (FSU School) will win a bit more consistently next year. Jarrod Hickman's program took some lumps early, but found themselves in the state final 4. This is a team that only graduates 6 seniors and brings a bulk of their talent back.  Berkeley Prep is an enigma- they bring back some really good talent, but also graduate a lot of talent. I'm not sure where they end up right now. I'm not sure where Taylor County (Perry) ends up either. Ft. White is a team I plan on keeping an eye on a bit more in the off-season. The Indians need to replace some key talent on the line, but this is a quality program that just fell shy this year. Orlando First Academy went undefeated in the regular season to finish as the top seed in region 2, but ran into a tough MCC team. What happens to them? They have a small senior class, but the seniors they need to replace are key names.

Lastly, the question that I'm really interested in is scheduling. Scheduling is done mostly in 2 year intervals, but many 3A teams chose to only do 1 year agreements from the coaches I've interacted with.  I can see Oxbridge and Chaminade picking up out-of-state games. Tampa Catholic I believe is in talks with a team from the north as well.  Curious to see if MCC continues to play out of state. 

Alright, I'm done! For my brother and husband, have a Merry Christmas and happy new year!  :-D

 

[OldSchoolLion]

1 hour ago, SPCjessica2004 said:

I'm going to be signing off for a bit to focus on other life responsibilities after this post; however, I wanted to give some general thoughts on 2018 since questions are already being asked. Who are my personal top 5 teams going into 3A for Spring 2018? Keep in mind that these are just random thoughts BEFORE these teams get their transfers..which we know are coming.. it's really to early to have this discussion until we know who is playing where, but when has that ever stopped me in the past? Well.. never!

Here you go:

1) Chaminade-Madonna:  Despite the graduation loss of some key offensive (and defensive) players- this is still the best team in 3A until a 3A team beats them. They could have the best secondary in the state and they're just bigger than everybody else in 3A next year on the lines. The offense will need some tweaking without the game breaker WR's and Shaun Shivers- but there's enough still here to be the best team.

2) Oxbridge Academy: The Thunderwolves have a lot of talent to replace and it remains to be seen if the administration will let transfers come in to ease the burden of replacing some amazing athletes. The north of 3A will be competitive, but I don't see any stellar teams thus even an average Oxbridge team should find their way back to Orlando unless one of the teams in the north picks up some transfers and hits their stride. Gio Richardson has really made himself a household name and James Meeks will push for top RB in 3A next year.

3) Clearwater Central Catholic: The Marauders did what they needed to do in 2017. They survived a huge graduating 2016 class and also survived a mass exodus of talent. On paper, last year's CCC team should have been 4-6 with running clock losses in 5 of the 10 games. 2018 will be far more kind to CCC, first- I don't see them losing any players to Calvary Christian and second, they have an amazing core group of players returning.

4) American Heritage Delray:  Chaminade ran all over AHD last year, but with the horses the Stallions have returning in addition the coaching staff they're rumored to be assembling is there any doubt this will be one of the most improved teams in 3A. The Stallions have taken their lumps in previous years, but I think 2018 is the year this team finally puts it together and puts their name back into the state championship conversation.

5) Tampa Catholic: Tampa Catholic will have a very explosive offense, maybe push for the top offense in all of 3A next year. TC brings back their entire offense except for 2 offensive linemen in tact. Arhmeran Brown, Jalen Bussey and Joseph Hodge alongside QB Charlie Dean make up a terrific group of offensive athletes. TC has the athletes, linemen and coaching to challenge Chaminade. Actually, TC beat Chaminade in 2009; so, there is history there if the two teams meet. I have it on good authority that TC should be picking up multiple transfers from local teams and even dip into Pinellas county for a few transfers.

Teams that were good in 2017 that I think may take a step back in 2018:

1) Calvary Christian (Clearwater): Calvary Christian finished with the best record in school history and was a regional finalist in the highly competitive region 3. But, what do you do for an encore? With Amari Burney, Deandre Ferguson, Jacque Sarnoff, QB Alex Laccube and a host of others graduating it's hard to see where this team will end up without significant assistance.  The Warriors do have a couple of solid offensive linemen returning, but who will they be blocking for? The top RB on the team, River Wood transferred out. Calvary won 7 games in 2017, but right now it's hard seeing them duplicate that performance going forward.

2) Melbourne Central Catholic:  The Hustlers finished 2017 with a 7-4 record, but they played a very difficult schedule. In 2017 MCC was briefly in the state championship discussion and had a loaded roster with high expectations from 2016's state final 4 finish.  MCC graduates a bulk of their talent including QB Joaqun Collazo and WR Lorenzo Hardy.  So. running back LaAnthony Valentine will see a significant increase in minutes as well.  MCC was a stout, solid and fun team to watch for the past few seasons- there are a lot of questions about where the team goes from here as they will need to rebuild.


Outside of the teams listed above- I think Florida High (FSU School) will win a bit more consistently next year. Jarrod Hickman's program took some lumps early, but found themselves in the state final 4. This is a team that only graduates 6 seniors and brings a bulk of their talent back.  Berkeley Prep is an enigma- they bring back some really good talent, but also graduate a lot of talent. I'm not sure where they end up right now. I'm not sure where Taylor County (Perry) ends up either. Ft. White is a team I plan on keeping an eye on a bit more in the off-season. The Indians need to replace some key talent on the line, but this is a quality program that just fell shy this year. Orlando First Academy went undefeated in the regular season to finish as the top seed in region 2, but ran into a tough MCC team. What happens to them? They have a small senior class, but the seniors they need to replace are key names.

Lastly, the question that I'm really interested in is scheduling. Scheduling is done mostly in 2 year intervals, but many 3A teams chose to only do 1 year agreements from the coaches I've interacted with.  I can see Oxbridge and Chaminade picking up out-of-state games. Tampa Catholic I believe is in talks with a team from the north as well.  Curious to see if MCC continues to play out of state. 

Alright, I'm done! For my brother and husband, have a Merry Christmas and happy new year!  :-D

 

Thanks for the nice report.  There had been talk of Chaminade playing in the Battle of the Border next year in Louisiana.  If they do go, they should get tested.  There was talk of Deerfield Beach and Carol City going as well.  If all three went, that would be a nice showing for south Florida.