Spring will be sprung on Wednesday for high school football programs across the state.
Players hit the field for the first day of spring practice and a chance to set in motion dreams of winning state championships
Bright House Sports Network will be traveling to schools throughout our coverage area to provide a comprehensive look at several programs. Check back at BHSN.com this spring to catch up on your favorite football team.
Spring Football Storylines
* What will Manatee look like without quarterback Cord Sandberg and the bulk of its dominating defensive line from last season? The Hurricanes held the No. 1 team in the nation ranking until their regional semifinal loss to St. Thomas Aquinas and it was Sandberg and the defensive line that helped them obtain that honorable ranking.
Last season, junior Chase Richardson and Sophomore Josh Meyer backed up Sandberg, a dual threat with 2,674 passing yards, 35 touchdowns and 611 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns.
That’s a lot of stats to account for. So are 28 sacks, the combined total of graduating defensive linemen Marquis Dawsey, Blake Keller and Derrick Calloway. Junior Demarcus Christmas and his nine sacks, 70 tackles effort is left to continue the line dominance.
* Which player is ready for his national close up? The spotlight shined brightly on Wharton’s Vernon Hargreaves, who brought a lot of national attention to the Bay Area as one of the top prospects in the country. The University of Florida bound Hargreaves ranked near the top of nearly every national rankings list.
East Lake’s Artavis Scott and Mason Cole are the top ranking Bay Area players in a myriad of preseason national rankings, but there’s a lot of time this spring and summer for other players to make a splash.
* Who will replace Pete DiNovo? Not just at East Lake, but in the Bay Area. DiNovo was second in the state, and tops in the Bay Area, with 2,980 passing yards and 25 touchdowns.
Clearwater transfer Jordan Leston and Jake Hudson will battle it out to literally replace DiNovo at East Lake. But there are a number of qualified candidates to take the Bay Area title, including Wharton’s Chase Litton, Plant’s Colby Brown, Gaither’s Alex McGough, Palm Harbor University’s Tyler Kaminski and Berkeley Prep’s Brad Mayes.
* Who replaces Hillsborough County’s all-time leading rusher Robert Davis? Carrollwood Day School graduated a lot of seniors, including Andy Embody and Vidal Woodruff, but none bigger than Davis, who accounted for nearly half of the Patriots offensive yards, including 2,221 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns.
CDS benefited last year from Woodruff transferring in from Robinson. Could another transfer fill a vital role for the Patriots?
* New kids on the block: The Bay Area boasts 21 new head coaches this season, including seven in Polk County and six in Pinellas County. Two of the new Pinellas coaches – Clearwater’s Donnie Abraham and Calvary Christian’s Todd Yoder – join their fellow former Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates Mike Alstott (Northside Christian) and Dave Moore (Shorecrest Prep) on the sideline.
Longtime assistant coaches Matt Thompson and Shawn Taylor make the leap at Jesuit and Robinson, respectively. Thompson, the former Armwood defensive coordinator, leaves a big void in the Hawks program.
* Who escapes the district of death? As if the 6A-8 district couldn’t get more competitive, perennial playoff team Robinson gets thrown into the mix, along with Armwood, Blake, Chamberlain, Hillsborough, Jefferson, King, Leto and Lennard.
The last two seasons, Armwood and Hillsborough advanced to the postseason. Sickles escaped the district and now plays in Class 7A-7 with Freedom, Gaither, Steinbrenner, Tampa Bay Tech and Wiregrass Ranch.
* Polk County has its own version of the district of death, 7A-5: Bartow, Jenkins, Haines City, Kathleen, Lakeland, Ridge Community. Longtime rivals Kathleen and Lakeland normally end the regular season against each other. Now they could be fighting to advance deep into the postseason.
* Has Jenkins finally steadied the ship? Richard Tate takes over as the new head coach, the school’s fourth head coach in the past five seasons.
The Eagles have endured scandal, transfers and haven’t advanced to the playoffs since 2002, but Tate brings a sense of stability the program desperately needs. He’ll face his former team, Ridge Community, on Oct. 18 and another former team, Kathleen, on Oct. 25.
* How does Largo avoid one and done? The Packers went undefeated in the regular season, then lost to Armwood in the first round of the playoffs.
Leading rusher Jarvis Stewart (1,186 rushing yards, 16 touchdowns) returns and Coach Rick Rodriguez bulked up Largo’s schedule with non-district games against Jesuit and Lake Gibson to help them prepare for the postseason.
* The Pasco Pirates have advanced to the state semifinals and the regional finals the past two seasons. What’s it going to take for the Pirates to return to the state championship game for the first time since 1992 when they defeated Jesuit for their only football state title?
Gone are Janarion Grant (Rutgers) and Joey Ivie (Florida) and all of Pasco’s leading rushers, but leading passer Benjamin Chandler (879 yards, 12 touchdowns) and leading receiver Malik Johns (390 yards, six touchdowns) are back to try and get the Pirates back to the title game.
BHSN Spring Top 20
1. Manatee Hurricanes
2. Plant Panthers
3. Hillsborough Terriers
4. Largo Packers
5. Lake Gibson Braves
6. East Lake Eagles
7. Armwood Hawks
8. Wharton Wildcats
9. Lakeland
10. Pasco
11. Lakewood
12. Southeast
13. Durant
14. Robinson
15. Palmetto
16. Winter Haven
17. Tampa Catholic
18. Berkeley Prep
19. Kathleen
20. Clearwater Central Catholic
The Top 20 is voted on by members of the Tampa Bay area Bright House Sports Network staff that cover our seven-county region (Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk).