Move Over IMG and St Thomas - A New Sheriff Is in Town

[OldSchoolLion]

Imagine this.  One of the richest men in Miami, who is also a football junkie with a penchant for helping the underprivileged, becomes a benefactor of tiny Archbishop Curley High, a predominantly minority school not too far from inner city Miami and the wealth of hs football talent there.  He pays full tuition for 40 students to attend each year.  He is gifting the families with nice housing.  He wants to help the kids and he also wants to have one of the best hs teams in the country...and money is no issue. Kids from Central, Northwestern and Carol City are knocking down the doors to get in.   Parents from around the Southeast are calling him up and saying, "Please help my son."    

It could never happen in Florida, right?  Well, it has in Baltimore.  And it caught all of the old, storied private school programs of that talent-rich area by surprise.  St Frances Academy is a traditionally Black, Catholic school with 180 coed students.  90 are on the football team.  19 starters from last year got football scholarships.  Imagine...about 1 of every 6 boys walking the halls, if not more, is a future FBS football player.   Within 2 years they have risen from a losing program to one of the top 10 ranked teams in the country.  And it all started with a very rich man who was crazy for football, Biff Poggi.  There just might be a few such guys in south Florida, huh?

And the part about parents calling? In 2016, St Frances accepted 23 transfer players, five from out of state. In 2017, there were 15 transfers, five from out of state.  I made up the part about Curley because of the parallels with St Frances from a size and demographic perspective.  Local schools in their league refused to play them this year, and it has raised quite a fuss.  St Frances had to schedule several teams from Canada. 

Poggi was the head coach at Gilman High, and built that program into a national powerhouse.  Even while a coach at Gilman, he was donating money to St Frances.  After leaving Gilman after the 2015 season to focus his energy on St Frances, Gilman's program has tanked, and they have only won 5 games over the past 2 seasons.  A team that used to easily beat St Frances lost by a score of 50-0 during the regular season last year, and 3 of their players sustained concussions.  When the teams met again in the playoffs, some Gilman parents were concerned to allow their kids to play.  Gilman lost 44-7.

Exactly how much talent does St Frances have?  This is a school with little more than 100 boys, and 8 of them are 4/5 star players.

Chris Braswell(Jr)- 5 star DE   Multiple Power 5 offers, including Alabama

Demon Clowney(Jr)- 4 star DE   Multiple Power 5 offers (and yes, it is "that" Clowney...his cousin)

Osman Savage(Jr)-4 star LB   Multiple Power 5 offers

Shane Lee(Sr)- 4 star LB Alabama commit

Jordan Toles(Jr)- 4 star S   Multiple Power 5 offers

Darrian Dalcourt(Sr)- 4 star OL   Alabama commit

Traeshon Holden(Jr)- 4 star WR   Multiple Power 5 offers

Blake Corrum(Jr)- 4 star RB   Multiple Power 5 offers

Joachim Bangda(Sr)-3 star RB   Multiple Power 5 offers, including Alabama

Kwesi Evans(Sr)-3 star WR   Multiple FBS offers

Jordan Jakes(Sr)-3 star WR   Indiana commit

Jonathan Wallace(Jr)-3 star DT   Multiple Power 5 offers

Aaron Willis(Soph)-not yet rated   Multiple Power 5 offers

Donovan Robinson(Sr)-just transferred in  6'7" 345lb OL

    

[Hwy17]

1 hour ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Imagine this.  One of the richest men in Miami, who is also a football junkie with a penchant for helping the underprivileged, becomes a benefactor of tiny Archbishop Curley High, a predominantly minority school not too far from inner city Miami and the wealth of hs football talent there.  He pays full tuition for 40 students to attend each year.  He is gifting the families with nice housing.  He wants to help the kids and he also wants to have one of the best hs teams in the country...and money is no issue. Kids from Central, Northwestern and Carol City are knocking down the doors to get in.   Parents from around the Southeast are calling him up and saying, "Please help my son."    

It could never happen in Florida, right?  Well, it has in Baltimore.  And it caught all of the old, storied private school programs of that talent-rich area by surprise.  St Frances Academy is a traditionally Black, Catholic school with 180 coed students.  90 are on the football team.  19 starters from last year got football scholarships.  Imagine...about 1 of every 6 boys walking the halls is a future FBS football player.   Within 2 years they have risen from a losing program to one of the top 10 ranked teams in the country.  And it all started with a very rich man who was crazy for football, Biff Poggi.  There just might be a few such guys in south Florida, huh?

And the part about parents calling? In 2016, St Frances accepted 23 transfer players, five from out of state. In 2017, there were 15 transfers, five from out of state.  I made up the part about Curley because of the parallels with St Frances from a size and demographic perspective.  Local schools in their league refused to play them this year, and it has raised quite a fuss.  St Frances had to schedule several teams from Canada. 

Poggi was the head coach at Gilman High, and built that program into a national powerhouse.  Even while a coach at Gilman, he was donating money to St Frances.  After leaving Gilman after the 2015 season to focus his energy on St Frances, Gilman's program has tanked, and they have only won 5 games over the past 2 seasons.  A team that used to easily beat St Frances lost by a score of 50-0 during the regular season last year, and 3 of their players sustained concussions.  When the teams met again in the playoffs, some Gilman parents were concerned to allow their kids to play.  Gilman lost 44-7.

Exactly how much talent does St Frances have?  This is a school with little more than 100 boys, and 8 of them are 4/5 star players.

Chris Braswell(Jr)- 5 star DE   Multiple Power 5 offers, including Alabama

Demon Clowney(Jr)- 4 star DE   Multiple Power 5 offers (and yes, it is "that" Clowney...his cousin)

Osman Savage(Jr)-4 star LB   Multiple Power 5 offers

Shane Lee(Sr)- 4 star LB Alabama commit

Jordan Toles(Jr)- 4 star S   Multiple Power 5 offers

Darrian Dalcourt(Sr)- 4 star OL   Alabama commit

Traeshon Holden(Jr)- 4 star WR   Multiple Power 5 offers

Blake Corrum(Jr)- 4 star RB   Multiple Power 5 offers

Joachim Bangda(Sr)-3 star RB   Multiple Power 5 offers, including Alabama

Kwesi Evans(Sr)-3 star WR   Multiple FBS offers

Jordan Jakes(Sr)-3 star WR   Indiana commit

Jonathan Wallace(Jr)-3 star DT   Multiple Power 5 offers

Aaron Willis(Soph)-not yet rated   Multiple Power 5 offers

Donovan Robinson(Sr)-just transferred in  6'7" 345lb OL

    

If this hypothetical was to happen, it wouldn't effect STA at all because FHSAA would allow that school to play in class 2A and beat up on the rest of that class. 

[Cat_Scratch]

2 hours ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Imagine this.  One of the richest men in Miami, who is also a football junkie with a penchant for helping the underprivileged, becomes a benefactor of tiny Archbishop Curley High, a predominantly minority school not too far from inner city Miami and the wealth of hs football talent there.  He pays full tuition for 40 students to attend each year.  He is gifting the families with nice housing.  He wants to help the kids and he also wants to have one of the best hs teams in the country...and money is no issue. Kids from Central, Northwestern and Carol City are knocking down the doors to get in.   Parents from around the Southeast are calling him up and saying, "Please help my son."    

It could never happen in Florida, right?  Well, it has in Baltimore.  And it caught all of the old, storied private school programs of that talent-rich area by surprise.  St Frances Academy is a traditionally Black, Catholic school with 180 coed students.  90 are on the football team.  19 starters from last year got football scholarships.  Imagine...about 1 of every 6 boys walking the halls is a future FBS football player.   Within 2 years they have risen from a losing program to one of the top 10 ranked teams in the country.  And it all started with a very rich man who was crazy for football, Biff Poggi.  There just might be a few such guys in south Florida, huh?

And the part about parents calling? In 2016, St Frances accepted 23 transfer players, five from out of state. In 2017, there were 15 transfers, five from out of state.  I made up the part about Curley because of the parallels with St Frances from a size and demographic perspective.  Local schools in their league refused to play them this year, and it has raised quite a fuss.  St Frances had to schedule several teams from Canada. 

Poggi was the head coach at Gilman High, and built that program into a national powerhouse.  Even while a coach at Gilman, he was donating money to St Frances.  After leaving Gilman after the 2015 season to focus his energy on St Frances, Gilman's program has tanked, and they have only won 5 games over the past 2 seasons.  A team that used to easily beat St Frances lost by a score of 50-0 during the regular season last year, and 3 of their players sustained concussions.  When the teams met again in the playoffs, some Gilman parents were concerned to allow their kids to play.  Gilman lost 44-7.

Exactly how much talent does St Frances have?  This is a school with little more than 100 boys, and 8 of them are 4/5 star players.

Chris Braswell(Jr)- 5 star DE   Multiple Power 5 offers, including Alabama

Demon Clowney(Jr)- 4 star DE   Multiple Power 5 offers (and yes, it is "that" Clowney...his cousin)

Osman Savage(Jr)-4 star LB   Multiple Power 5 offers

Shane Lee(Sr)- 4 star LB Alabama commit

Jordan Toles(Jr)- 4 star S   Multiple Power 5 offers

Darrian Dalcourt(Sr)- 4 star OL   Alabama commit

Traeshon Holden(Jr)- 4 star WR   Multiple Power 5 offers

Blake Corrum(Jr)- 4 star RB   Multiple Power 5 offers

Joachim Bangda(Sr)-3 star RB   Multiple Power 5 offers, including Alabama

Kwesi Evans(Sr)-3 star WR   Multiple FBS offers

Jordan Jakes(Sr)-3 star WR   Indiana commit

Jonathan Wallace(Jr)-3 star DT   Multiple Power 5 offers

Aaron Willis(Soph)-not yet rated   Multiple Power 5 offers

Donovan Robinson(Sr)-just transferred in  6'7" 345lb OL

    

I wondered why St Francis bloomed over the last few years. Last year was an eye opener.