Lakeland Ranked No. 1

[E.T.]

Published Thursday, August 3, 2006

PREP FOOTBALL

Lakeland Ranked No. 1

Ledger Staff, Wire Reports

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Lakeland Dreadnaughts, winners of consecutive FHSAA Class 5A state championships, are the top-ranked team in Florida going into the 2006 season, according to Varsity Sports Media Florida Football's Preseason Top 25, sponsored by Beef OBrady's.

Lakeland, which finished the 2005 season ranked No. 1 in USA Today's national prep football pool, went 15-0 with a 39-10 victory over Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas in the 5A title game. It was the second straight undefeated season for Lakeland and the team's fifth state title overall.

The Dreadnaughts are followed by Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna at the second spot. Belle Glade Glades Central, Miami Northwestern and Seffner Armwood complete the top five.

Meanwhile, Lakeland defensive lineman John Brown, Ocala Trinity Catholic quarterback John Brantley and North Fort Myers running back Noel Devine lead the magazine's first-team Phenoms.

Three all-inclusive teams of the top high school players in the state were named by the magazine, which will be available on newsstands statewide starting Friday.

VSM Florida Football talent evaluator Larry Blustein has spent countless hours watching hundreds of studentathletes in person, on tape and at off-season combines. His final decisions were based on development, productivity and progress over the past 12 months.

[bulls96go]

hope we have the inside scope on any 3, 4 or star players at this school

[Guest Bullitt]

The Dreadnaughts are followed by Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna at the second spot. Belle Glade Glades Central, Miami Northwestern and Seffner Armwood complete the top five.

Hollywood Madonna looks very beatable to me this year! ;D

/I've got way to much free time today.

[E.T.]

LOL ... it's the calm before the storm ... Players report on Monday !

[Jebbull]

My understanding is that UF has received verbals from four of the Lakeland players.  UF is killing us in our own backyard.

[Joe]

The Gators have 6 commits from Lakeland, but that does not mean they'll all go there.

A guy like Paul Wilson was offered by USF and recruited. I think Steve Wilks another player for their school was also looked at USF.

Right now they are all following Rainey and the Pouncey's whether they stick with UF is another story.

As for not being able to recruit Lakeland..Smazza, we're still a growing program and beating UF for top players is going to be very hard. We might win a few here and there, but it's going to be quite a few years before we're above UF, FSU, and Miami for in state recruits.

[Joe]

Smazza, It is not some lame excuse...

1st - It doesn't matter if Leavitt has been around for 7 years, Florida football has been around for about 100 years. Like FSU and Miami, it is an established powerhouse in NCAA football. People know Florida football and the number of NFL players they have produced, as a result it is a trusted and prestigous name amongst recruits.

2nd - It doesn't matter that Meyer has been there for 2 years, the athletic department staff has been there for many many years. Foley has been the AD since the beginning of Spurrier, coaches know how Foley runs things and obviously they trust there players going there if they choose to do so.

3rd- It doesn't matter the length of time Leavitt knew of the kids, because he cannot actively recruit the kids until their Junior year. Meyer and Leavitt had the same amount of time to recruit this kid according to NCAA rules.

4th- Our recruiting budget is about 1/3rd the Big 3's meaning we're not able to fly into Lakeland, meet with a recruit for dinner at his house and fly out to meet the next recruit. We're limited in the time we can spend with a recruit because a lot of our recruiting of these big names is done by driving to their houses from Tampa...

It will take awhile for USF to overcome the Big 3 in recruiting, you might not like it but it's reality. That's why you don't see Cincinnatti outrecruiting Ohio State, that's why you don't see Texas Tech going out and signing more than Texas and Oklahoma...it takes awhile to lay a foundation and pipeline for recruits.

So the answer is who knows! We make a BCS bowl next year, we might jump right up there. However, at the current pace it will be a few years before we start garnering the attention of multiple Blue Chip Players like the Big 3.

[Joe]

Smazza, that was my point...

I know it's not worth arguing with you because you just contradict yourself BUT...

Florida with 100 years of football has developed relationships, even if they have changed head coaches with high school coaches especially the coach at Lakeland who has been there since 1978. Leavitt has done well at making ways into the pipeline, but it's not like you just do it automatically.

Further point 3...How is that wrong? It's in the freaking NCAA manuel...unless Leavitt is instructing a kid at a camp he cannot talk to him about anything dealing with until the Summer of his junior year of high school. Thus Meyer and Leavitt had the same time to start recruiting the kid.

Unfortunatly, Florida has the advantage of money, prestige, tradition, fan base, TV coverage, and a solidified pipeline built over many many years of recruiting. You also have to remember that many of these recruits believe they are going to a place that will best get them the opportunity to make it at the next level. Florida has a distinct advantage over us with almost 50 guys in camp now compared to our 8. You don't just topple that overnight, lets be serious. It's going to take years o developing talent and getting it drafted to be able to compete for all the top guys all the time.

I know what recruiting is about, but your also talking about selling the old dependable. If in 20 years USF doesn't have the pipeline needed to recruit then come talk to me. For now USF is doing a good job considering they are very limited in their budget, resources, and time to devote to a guy like Rainey.

[bulls96go]

we should be better in our own back yard...smazza has a solid point.

a kid that gets away from us in 60 mi (1hr) radius should be pried out of our fingers we should be up all HS coaches asses that we should know these kids in middle school and so tight with coaches teachers parents and community (the rest of usf) that even the lofty gators should have to work harder the flying in for dinner to get a kid from "our" area. i know we are not there with 5 star guy's yet but we should be getting our fair share of 4 star and who ever 3 star we want from our area.

1. how close are we to locking down 3 stars?

2. how close are we to locking down 4 stars?

3. how close are we to locking down 5 stats?

1. we should be here already

2. 3 years

3. 5-7 yrs with a little luck.

has leavitt ever heard of saturation bombing?

this is what we should be hearing every year from here on out about a few 4stars...

And USF landed a promising commitment, first reported on usfnation.com, from North Fort Myers cornerback Quenton Washington. It's a case of USF getting out in front on a recruit and locking him up before other big schools could find out about him. "Quenton was flying under the radar, and we have a philosophy with our kids, that you go with where you're wanted most," said North Fort Myers coach James Iandoli. "The first program that legitimately offers you, that's where you want to go." Recruiting coordinator Carl Franks was on Washington this spring, establishing a mutual interest, and the offer came last month after Washington turned heads at a camp at USF. USFnation's Josh Newberg saw him clock back-to-back 4.44 times in the 40-yard dash. So the only other that had offered Washington so far was Eastern Kentucky, but this seems like a prospect who would have generated significant interest had he stayed on the open market through his senior season. "This summer, he's progressed well past my imagination," Iandoli said. "So many schools want to wait until this school has offered you, then they offer. South Florida went out and made a judgment on their own, didn't wait for anyone and showed they really liked him."

That said, I don't think Washington will do too much to give USF a legitimate shot at NFM running back Noel Devine, one of the nation's top running back recruits, who has had Southern Cal and Texas and other elite programs flying in with offers, as well as Florida State and Miami. Iandoli said he wouldn't rule it out that the Bulls now have a friend and teammate of his headed to Tampa. "It can't hurt their chances," Iandoli said.

Posted by Greg Auman at 2:08:21 PM on August 16, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

[E.T.]

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