Jodie Wagner (@JRWagner5) and Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) will be visiting practices around Palm Beach County throughout the next month, and we’ll list everything we hear on the spring football trail. We’ll provide observations and insight from coaches and players as teams prepare for their spring games.
According to the FHSAA, spring practice is confined to a maximum of 20 sessions beginning with the Monday of Week 44 or the last 20 days of the school year, whichever comes first. Sessions are inclusive of the spring jamboree or classic.
Get ready …
April 24
At Palm Beach Lakes, 30 seniors raised the bar for what’s expected from the Rams. Now it’s up to the upcoming seniors to try to match it.
Palm Beach Lakes’ Kyler Legler kicks up dirt while running a drill during spring football practice at Palm Beach Lakes High in West Palm Beach on April 24. (Allen Eyestone / The Palm Beach Post)
Lakes went 3-7 in 2015, but followed that with an 8-2 record in the regular season last year before losing to Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas in the first round of the playoffs. The first step toward proving that wasn’t a fluke began Monday.
“You get super excited,” coach Al Shipman said. “Been waiting for this for a long time. It’s been a long offseason for us. Everybody was just anxious to get back.”
Among those seniors were All-Area first-team wide receiver D.J. Edwards and All-Area honorable mention quarterback Armani Edden. But Shipman doesn’t anticipate a dropoff this coming season.
“It’s an opportunity for those younger kids coming off of JV to step up and take their place amongst the ranks,” Shipman said. “We’ll be fine.”
Shipman has another good reason to be optimistic about this year. Gurvan Hall, the No. 1 player on the Post’s 2018 Big Board, returns for his senior year.
“He’s a great kid,” Shipman said. “Works hard, and is a great leader.”
Hall, a Miami Hurricanes commit, was electric as a junior, racking up 87 tackles, including 13 tackles for loss, five interceptions and four forced fumbles on defense while making 23 catches for 457 yards and six touchdowns on offense.
But Hall isn’t alone. Several players transferred to Lakes in the offseason, including Brandon Adams (No. 21 on the Big Board), Jakari Starling (No. 22) and Teja Young, and Shipman expects them to play a major role.
“We’re looking for all those guys to step up and be leaders,” he said.
–Adam Lichtenstein
If you’re a quarterback trying to pass against Oxbridge Academy, good luck.
Oxbridge Academy quarterback Gio Richardson drops back to pass during spring football practice at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach on April 24. (Allen Eyestone / The Palm Beach Post)
The ThunderWolves, coming off a 10-2 season where their only losses were to powerhouse Bradenton-IMG Academy in the regular season and eventual state runner-up Hollywood-Chaminade-Madonna in the playoffs, return nearly their entire defensive secondary.
“I trust those guys, and coming in, we’re just going to compete with each other and push each other to the limit,” said Antavious Lane, a 2019 defensive back. “Nobody’s going to fall short.”
Lane, who will be a junior next year, is the younger star in the secondary, and he was a first-team All-Area pick last year after notching 46 tackles, including 9 ½ for loss, and 3 ½ sacks. He’s joined by three of the best rising seniors — at any position — in Palm Beach County.
Keidron Smith, a three-star recruit who is No. 5 on the Big Board, will line up opposite Lane at cornerback, while C.J. Smith, a four-star Florida Gators commit who is No. 2 on the Big Board, and V’Lique Carter will line up at safety. Combined last season, the foursome had 120 tackles and seven interceptions.
“We’ve got a good group,” coach Brendan Kent said. “It’s probably one of the better groups in South Florida.”
–Adam Lichtenstein
Billy Clark’s first spring practice as Palm Beach Gardens’ head football coach drew just over 100 players Monday afternoon.
Palm Beach Gardens head coach Billy Clark speaks to players during the first day of spring football practice at Palm Beach Gardens on Monday, April 24. (Michael Ares / The Palm Beach Post)
Dressed in helmets and shorts, they moved from drill to drill under the watchful eye of Clark — hired in December to replace Rob Freeman — as well as his assistants, many of whom are new to the program.
“We want to set the tone and teach them how to practice,” Clark, who served as the Gators’ offensive coordinator last season, said of Monday’s practice session. Palm Beach Gardens finished 5-6 in 2016 and advanced to the Class 8A regional semifinals.
“I think the biggest thing for us coming off a new regime and having a new coaching staff here is we have very high expectations for how our practices are going to go. We have to set that tone and that tempo today.”
There were plenty of new faces at practice Monday, along with numerous veterans.
Returning for the Gators are 6-foot-5 athlete Jarrett Jackson, the No. 6-ranked player on the Post’s Class of 2018 Big Board who counts Florida, Louisville and Tennessee among his college offers; senior lineman Parker Ogle, who just picked up an offer from Bowling Green; senior defensive back Antoine Lane; and junior running backs Pedro Epps and Kevon Purnell.
Also, defensive back De’Quan Walker, the Post’s No. 14-ranked player, joined the Gators this spring from Dwyer.
All are expected to play key roles for Palm Beach Gardens, which heads into the spring with an open quarterback battle.
Candidates include rising senior Chris Sancilio, who transferred from Jupiter in the offseason; rising junior David Studstill — the younger brother of former Gators’ standout Devin — and rising senior Nick Presto.
Studstill and Presto played for Palm Beach Gardens’ freshman and junior varsity teams last season.
“It’s wide open,” Clark said of the quarterback competition. “We’ve got a couple of young guys from our freshman and JV teams. Both our freshman and JV teams were undefeated, so both those guys did a great job.”
— Jodie Wagner
At Delray Beach, after a season that seemed destined to end with a championship, the Atlantic Eagles are coming into spring camp looking for much more – and it all started by treating Monday like it’s a game week.
Even without pads and the ability to hit, the feeling of ambition and drive radiated through the opening practice at Atlantic, but it’s hard to blame T.J. Jackson and the Eagles for starting spring off right.
After a 2-2 start last year, Atlantic won five consecutive games before a 43-7 loss to Dwyer in the regular-season finale. The Eagles defeated Wellington on the road to start the postseason and beat Palm Beach Gardens 33-21 at home, but ended their season with a 28-21 loss to Deerfield Beach in the regional finals.
Clearly, Atlantic hasn’t forgotten that it was a score away from taking on eventual champion Southridge in the Final Four. Months removed from that defeat, Atlantic begins on the road to a state title with Cadarius Gaskin and Corey Gammage, their two star receivers who already have committed to Kentucky and Florida, respectively.
Atlantic fields four other players on the Palm Beach Post’s 2018 Big Board: defensive back Kenih Lovely, defensive end Jason Mercier, wide receiver Varrick ‘Oyeh’ Lurry-Davis and defensive back Christian Brown.
Still, Monday’s grueling walk-through in the heat did see the players joking around and embracing their coaches, ready to do whatever it takes to bring a title home.
— Jake Elman
