Tampa is a QB & WR Transfer Merry-Go-Round

[OldSchoolLion]

5 of the top 6 wide receivers in Tampa transferred over the past couple of seasons.  Interestingly, private schools lost 2 of them to public schools.  The top 6 rated seniors from Tampa who transferred over the past 2 seasons were these 5 wr's and qb Charlie Dean.

• John Dixon/Chamberlain-transferred from Wharton in 2018
• Ahmarean Brown/Jefferson-transferred from Tampa Catholic in 2018
• Terence Doston/Hillsborough-transferred from Armwood in 2017
• Wayne Dennis/WR-Armwood-transferred from Lennard in 2017
• 191. Leo Parker/WR-Plant-transferred from Jesuit in 2017

This past season, at least 4 high-profile qb's in Tampa and surrounding counties  transferred.

• Charlie Dean transferred from Plant to Hillsborough.
• Tucker Gleason transferred from East Lake to Plant.
• Bryan Gagg transferred from Sarasota to Braden River.
• Hayden Wolff transferred from Lemon Bay to Venice.

 

 

[OldSchoolLion]

In a recent post, somebody suggested that ideally all of the "recruiters" should play together in a class and that there should be repercussions for those who play transfers. 

How do we define "recruiter" for such purposes?  Say my 2 best wr's transfer out and I play 2 wr transfers who transfer in.  Does that make me a "recruiter?"  Am I supposed to just suck it up and play two inexperienced sophomores in their place just to avoid being branded as someone who plays transfers?   This phenomenon could be very real in places that are transfer merry-go-rounds for certain positions, like in the example above.  

[181pl]

Worse than that just for QBs-

Plant:

Tucker Gleason and Charlie Dean transferred in; Charlie to Hillsborough after didn't win Plant job. Plant had QBs Weldon (finally settled on Middleton) and Carlisle (Cambridge) transfer; Jude May stayed put to play TE and backup QB. 

 

Armwood:

QB Cam'ron Ransom came from Lakeland Sante Fe Catholic to Armwood

 

Jesuit:

Their QB played for rival TC the year before (Kenny Kelly's son)

 

TC:

Lost Charlie Dean to Plant then Hillsborough in the same off season; Kelly transferred to rival Jesuit.

 

Hillsborough:

Took in Charlie Dean. Their QB transferred to rival Jefferson.

[OldSchoolLion]

6 minutes ago, 181pl said:

Worse than that just for QBs-

Plant:

Tucker Gleason and Charlie Dean transferred in; Charlie to Hillsborough after didn't win Plant job. Plant had QBs Weldon (finally settled on Middleton) and Carlisle (Cambridge) transfer; Jude May stayed put to play TE and backup QB. 

 

Armwood:

QB Cam'ron Ransom came from Lakeland Sante Fe Catholic to Armwood

 

Jesuit:

Their QB played for rival TC the year before (Kenny Kelly's son)

 

TC:

Lost Charlie Dean to Plant then Hillsborough in the same off season; Kelly transferred to rival Jesuit.

 

Hillsborough:

Took in Charlie Dean. Their QB transferred to rival Jefferson.

Maybe more so than any other position, transfer of one qb can start an entire chain of events in area.  I don't know the circumstances of Dean's departure.  If he was forced out due to the arrival of the new kid, that's really sad, recognizing he obviously gave a lot to Plant during his time there. 

We criticize kids for not being loyal, but where are the coaches in all of this?  Kids will learn about free agency soon enough in college.  Loyalty/tenure should buy something in high school.  If a kid has been starting for me on varsity his soph and junior years and performing reasonably well, he's got the job for his senior year if he wants it, I don't care which 5-star transfer comes knocking.  If some coaches don't espouse those values, they are the root of the problem with kids moving around.        

[Hwy17]

1 hour ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Maybe more so than any other position, transfer of one qb can start an entire chain of events in area.  I don't know the circumstances of Dean's departure.  If he was forced out due to the arrival of the new kid, that's really sad, recognizing he obviously gave a lot to Plant during his time there. 

We criticize kids for not being loyal, but where are the coaches in all of this?  Kids will learn about free agency soon enough in college.  Loyalty/tenure should buy something in high school.  If a kid has been starting for me on varsity his soph and junior years and performing reasonably well, he's got the job for his senior year if he wants it, I don't care which 5-star transfer comes knocking.  If some coaches don't espouse those values, they are the root of the problem with kids moving around.        

Must win at all cost!

[Perspective]

33 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Maybe more so than any other position, transfer of one qb can start an entire chain of events in area.  I don't know the circumstances of Dean's departure.  If he was forced out due to the arrival of the new kid, that's really sad, recognizing he obviously gave a lot to Plant during his time there. 

We criticize kids for not being loyal, but where are the coaches in all of this?  Kids will learn about free agency soon enough in college.  Loyalty/tenure should buy something in high school.  If a kid has been starting for me on varsity his soph and junior years and performing reasonably well, he's got the job for his senior year if he wants it, I don't care which 5-star transfer comes knocking.  If some coaches don't espouse those values, they are the root of the problem with kids moving around.        

I think you may be operating under a false set of assumptions.  Dean was the QB at Tampa Catholic two seasons ago (his junior year).  He transferred into Plant in the spring of his junior year.  Gleason and a couple of others also transferred to Plant, all knowing there was a void at the Plant QB spot.  Gleason came from East Lake H.S., where he was mostly playing WR as a sophomore.   As an aside, East Lake is in Pinellas County, so his family had to move to Tampa (in Hillsborough County) in order for Gleason to be able to attend Plant (much less play football there).   In any event, the East Lake coach apparently hitched his wagon to a different QB, who still had another year remaining, so Gleason likely would not have played QB at East Lake this past year either.  Some have suggested politics were involved.  I don't know.  But I do know that Gleason is a very good high school QB and apparently a number of colleges agree, as he now holds several offers, including UNC, Va Tech, Vanderbilt and more.  But I digress. 

Dean, Gleason and  the others (at one point, I think there were as many as six QB's on the team last spring) battled it out a year ago for the starting job.  Ultimately, the then-rising junior (Gleason) beat out the then-rising senior (Dean).  Dean already had an offer from UCF and (I'm speculating here) probably felt like that offer might be in danger if he sat the bench or only got mop up duty his senior year.  So, after spending all of one semester at Plant (playing 7 on 7 and practicing in pads in the spring), Dean transferred to Hillsborough.  Probably a smart decision by Dean.   I don't think anyone will argue with the statement that Dean "gave a lot to Plant during his time there."  But he was only there one semester, and it wasn't even a fall semester.   Speaking of being smart, however, Dean recently announced that he would be attending/playing football at Harvard next year.  

In the end, it appears this game of musical chairs worked out well for everyone, including a couple of the others who lost out in the Plant QB battle and ended up doing the same thing that Dean did -- i.e., transferring to another school.  

I could type for the next hour on transfers and recruiting and the changes that the Florida legislature made a couple of years ago.  But I won't.   At least not right now.   What I will add, however, is that the QB position is unique.  Typically, there's only one starting QB on a team.  Some kids who are QB's are athletic enough to play other positions.  Some are not.  Most believe, however, that their best shot at earning a college scholarship is if they're lining up behind the center at the first snap of each game.  And it's hard to argue with this logic.  So, while I may lament about kids transferring from one school to another to play for a better team or improve their chances of winning a ring, I'm a little more sympathetic to kids who play QB and who legitimately have a shot at playing that position in college -- especially if their best chance of going to college involves a scholarship. 

[OldSchoolLion]

10 minutes ago, Perspective said:

I think you may be operating under a false set of assumptions.  Dean was the QB at Tampa Catholic two seasons ago (his junior year).  He transferred into Plant in the spring of his junior year.  Gleason and a couple of others also transferred to Plant, all knowing there was a void at the Plant QB spot.  Gleason came from East Lake H.S., where he was mostly playing WR as a sophomore.   As an aside, East Lake is in Pinellas County, so his family had to move to Tampa (in Hillsborough County) in order for Gleason to be able to attend Plant (much less play football there).   In any event, the East Lake coach apparently hitched his wagon to a different QB, who still had another year remaining, so Gleason likely would not have played QB at East Lake this past year either.  Some have suggested politics were involved.  I don't know.  But I do know that Gleason is a very good high school QB and apparently a number of colleges agree, as he now holds several offers, including UNC, Va Tech, Vanderbilt and more.  But I digress. 

Dean, Gleason and  the others (at one point, I think there were as many as six QB's on the team last spring) battled it out a year ago for the starting job.  Ultimately, the then-rising junior (Gleason) beat out the then-rising senior (Dean).  Dean already had an offer from UCF and (I'm speculating here) probably felt like that offer might be in danger if he sat the bench or only got mop up duty his senior year.  So, after spending all of one semester at Plant (playing 7 on 7 and practicing in pads in the spring), Dean transferred to Hillsborough.  Probably a smart decision by Dean.   I don't think anyone will argue with the statement that Dean "gave a lot to Plant during his time there."  But he was only there one semester, and it wasn't even a fall semester.   Speaking of being smart, however, Dean recently announced that he would be attending/playing football at Harvard next year.  

In the end, it appears this game of musical chairs worked out well for everyone, including a couple of the others who lost out in the Plant QB battle and ended up doing the same thing that Dean did -- i.e., transferring to another school.  

I could type for the next hour on transfers and recruiting and the changes that the Florida legislature made a couple of years ago.  But I won't.   At least not right now.   What I will add, however, is that the QB position is unique.  Typically, there's only one starting QB on a team.  Some kids who are QB's are athletic enough to play other positions.  Some are not.  Most believe, however, that their best shot at earning a college scholarship is if they're lining up behind the center at the first snap of each game.  And it's hard to argue with this logic.  So, while I may lament about kids transferring from one school to another to play for a better team or improve their chances of winning a ring, I'm a little more sympathetic to kids who play QB and who legitimately have a shot at playing that position in college -- especially if their best chance of going to college involves a scholarship. 

Nice post.  As stated, I knew little about the circumstances of Dean's departure.  My comment in the second paragraph of my post was a general statement, not necessarily a reflection of Dean's situation.