I like high school football more than the average Joe. Not really sure why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that although I played youth ball growing up, I was never big enough, fast enough, strong enough, or good enough to make it at the high school level. Granted I went to high school in South Florida where football is more than a religion so there were a lot of people in the same boat as me. I also tend to focus on high school football more than others because I have been coaching youth football now for the past six years and a lot of the players that I began coaching are now playing on the high school level. So following them and their teams is something I really enjoy doing.
That’s why I get a little bit excited when Rivals releases their preseason RivalsHigh 100, which lists the top 100 high school teams nationally. You think picking a preseason poll in college is hard and a giant waste of time – try picking a high school top 100. No thanks! Luckily, Rivals does it for us and since Rivals has a partnership with Yahoo! Sports, it makes it very easy to get weekly updates throughout the high school football season.
This year I decided to take the preseason RivalsHigh 100 and look more closely at some of the teams on it (both in Florida and nationally) where Florida may have a committed player from or where they may be targeting a kid from. This way if you hear the name Don Bosco Prep, it may mean more to you than just some rich, prep school in New Jersey. Just for fun, I also list the Florida schools that the Gators don’t have a target at, since most of the people who will read this are probably residing in the Sunshine State.
• #2 Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, NJ): DE Darius Hamilton
• #5 Armwood (Seffner, FL): RB Matt Jones (committed)
• #7 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV): OL Ronnie Stanley
• #10 St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, FL): No current targets
• #12 William T. Dwyer (West Palm Beach, FL): OL Patrick Miller
• #13 Cocoa (Cocoa, FL): No current targets
• #16 Sandy Creek (Tyrone, GA): DE Quinteze Williams (committed)
• #17 Stephenson (Stone Mountain, GA): RB Mike Davis (committed), DT JaFarr Mann (committed), LB Raphael Kirby (currently committed to Miami), DE Jarontay Jones (currently committed to Virginia Tech)
• #18 Miami Norland (Miami, FL): No current targets
• #27 Buford (Buford, GA): TE Kurt Freitag, OL Vadal Alexander
• #34 Christopher Columbus (Miami, FL): DB Deon Bush
• #36 Manatee (Bradenton, FL): No current targets
• #41 Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, CA): WR Jordan Payton
• #49 Mallard Creek (Charlotte, NC): OL D.J. Humphries (committed)
• #54 Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, MD): WR Stefon Diggs
• #56 Lincoln (Tallahassee, FL): No current targets
• #66 Lowndes (Valdosta, GA): LB Josh Harvey-Clemons
• #67 Glades Central (Belle Glade, FL): No current targets
• #68 Aquinas Institute (Rochester, NY): ATH Cyrus Jones
• #82 Lakeland (Lakeland, FL): OL Evan Goodman (currently committed to Arizona State)
• #83 Miramar (Miramar, FL): DB Tracy Howard, WR Malcolm Lewis
• #84 Winter Park (Winter Park, FL): WR D’Vario Montgomery
A little extra tidbit of information: Florida and Texas lead the country with 12 teams each in the initial RivalsHigh 100. California has 10 teams. And just something that I saw that caught my eye: Pennsylvania has three teams in the RivalsHigh 100, two of which are named Central Catholic High School. Way to go La Salle, way to ruin the fun!