Al Blades Jr. transferring to STA

[Coach Macho]

I agree that the mercenary aspect of these high schools is unfortunate but you can't really fault someone for trying to maximize their situation. Yes, a guy who may be a star on a bad team will not get to shine as bright individually at STA but consider the national exposure you get playing there. You're on ESPN. You have multiple FBS scholarship guys on your team bringing every single coach and scout to your school to see your team. Somebody may be going to see a Joey Bosa or Sam Bruce but while they're there, they manage to catch you making a couple of impressive plays and all of the sudden you're on a school's radar. I'll agree it sucks for the public schools who just can't compete with the St. Thomas Aquinas and American Heritage's out there.

I agree with you on some points although I agree with franchise more... But a kid like Al Blades everybody knows about him already, there is no need for him to get more national exposure he is already a national recruit. However it does work like take sam Bruce...U think he'd be rated a high 4 star since his sophomore year if he went to Dillard instead of University and St. Thomas? SOme times you get rated higher just because of the school you go to

But the star ratings only matter to fans. The stars don't affect his offer list at all. If anything, he would've been a 3-star and then got bumped to a 4-star once he started receiving offers from the big schools. (like we see all the time)

Dillard has some players with big time offers. It's not like he would've went unnoticed.

Burgess-Becker and Ridley went to Moncarch and look at their star rankings. MONARCH! They're about as irrelevant as you can get in South FLA high school football. Same with them Coconut Creek boys. Creek has always been terrible. Doesn't seem to hurt their star rankings.

But Ridley and SBB got a good bulk of those offers in the spring because of 7on7. I think coaches will find you but in some cases - Michael deeb for one - transferring is a much better option. On the other side, I don't think Tmac gets 60 offers if he attends Mcarthur instead of heritage. I doubt 10 people on this board know who Anthony Rey is but if he went to American heritage, STA, etc. he could've gone small d1 or to an Ivy League

I agree with you that college coaches couldn't care about stars and "exposure." I also agree that transferring is absurdly out of hand but w/ this bill it won't stop soon.

I'll agree that it helps in some cases. I think it helped Juwan, for example. He already had multiple offers before transferring but he probably doesn't get the offers from Clemson and Oklahoma if he stays at Western.

But "big time" recruits, I don't think it helps much if at all. These kids are getting noticed at camps not necessarily on the field. The 7-on-7 circuit gets these kids out there. I honestly don't think it mattered where T-Mac went. He's an athletic 6'3" Corner. He's bound to get noticed.

 

[Coach Macho]

It's not like private schools poaching local talent is some new concept. I remember the best local kids in Pines and Hollywood, that had been going to public schools their whole lives, all of the sudden enrolling in St. Thomas, or Chaminade or Cardinal Gibbons. That was 20 years ago when I was still in high school. My friend is trying to fill a head coaching spot at Plantation right now and it's not easy because the best players zoned for PHS all go to STA or AHS or University School. They make the playoffs every year but when they play STA, there's no real shot at winning. This year it was 42-0 at the half. Aquinas emptied their bench in the second half and the game ended up like 42-28.

Plantation can't use poaching as an excuse. They have plenty of athletes to compete. Not enough to beat STA but enough that they shouldn't get blown out 42-0 at the half.

Their problem is that they run the Wing-T.

 

[Coach Macho]

Matter of fact, they lost 3 kids to Western last season (a TE and two WR's) solely because they run the Wing-T.

Same reason Guandolo and Art Taylor can't attract/keep kids.

 

[Jassid82]

Matter of fact, they lost 3 kids to Western last season (a TE and two WR's) solely because they run the Wing-T.

Same reason Guandolo and Art Taylor can't attract/keep kids.

Steve Davis adopted that Wing-T bull$hit at Ely and rode it to a state title and thought he could do that every year. Somebody forgot to tell him he had an elite RB spearheading that thing and he wasnt going to get a RB like that every year if ever again.. (Tyrone Moss)..He didnt adapt to the talent he had at his disposal at Ely or at Plantation.

 

[imurcane]

We are the ones encouraging this **** right?

We are the problem, and the kids are our reflection.

 

[plantcity3]

At the end of the day, you can't fault the kids for looking for a better opportunity....... If done legit. It's the changing address, moving in with someone in the district, etc, that i have a problem with.....it teaches the kids that their is always a way to cheat the system......

My sophomore year i transferred schools to a school 30 min away. The school i left just did nothing to put kids in school like sending tape out or taking kids to camp, and the HC showed favoritism towards the kids whos parents was on the booster giving money to the program. Their were kids sitting on the bench 10x better then the players playing in front of them. The reason way i was able to go to a school so far away was because a had choice or whatever its called due to mom being a teacher. I could have went to any school that had room. We called a couple of coaches, sat down and talked with all of them then picked the school that gave me the best opportunity

 

[Coach Macho]

I don't disagree with that but more often than not these kids/parents have no idea what a "better opportunity" is.

We had a 6'1" Offensive Lineman transfer to American Heritage because he wanted to play with better players and get more exposure. Our HC told him...you're 6'1" 250 whether you stay here or go to Heritage...and there isn't exactly a premium on 6'1" linemen.

He thought he was chasing a better opportunity. He went over there and say the bench the entire season.

Had a 6'4" Sophomore H-Back transfer to Heritage also. He caught over 40 passes for us his Sophomore year. He had an awesome 10th grade film. He went to Heritage, they put him at TE and he blocked for Sony Michel for 2 years. Now he's playing at Navy. If he stays with us he catches a ton of passes, develops great film and probably gets a small level D1 offer as an H-Back.

The grass ain't always greener.

 

[gogeta4]

That midget is gonna take STA to heights they've never seen for 3 reasons...

1. He recruits his *** off
2. STA will finally be running the spread
3. They'll finally be participating in 7-on-7 stuff. The old staff wouldn't allow it.

They did one year. The first year of all-star 7v7s (2008) they went to tampa and had an all star team full of STA kids (Duron Carter, Dwayne Difton, etc...) and a few other kids from broward. The the rest of the broward kids played for SFE or some squad that had kids with zero d1 offers. Chris Carter coached it and IIRC, that's where the famous Trabis Ward video came from. Not sure why they stopped after that.

Yeah, STA might be running the spread to get their guys into space, but as far as in-game calling/adjustments, Harriot does nothing special. Even when he was at USchool, his best team never beat a quality opponent. IMO, there's nothing special regarding coaching that those kids receive at STA. STA used to at least have Chris Carter, and his receivers would always be ready to play in college, year 1.

i was about to say..there is nothing special Harriot does....at u school he just recruited a bunch of kids..and beat the teams he suppose to and loss to the teams with equal or more talent. If STA still has the ol coach..he is the goods...and my old high school coach use to coach their backs..he should still be on staff. If he brought a bunch of uschool guys i expect coaching to fall off..he has Ryan Schneider who was throwing bombs to Kevin Beard in high school as an oc.

 

[Coach Macho]

Want more?

Brayon Parrish. Star RB for Western. Transfers to Monarch to play with Ridley and SBB. Plays 2nd string RB. Splits time with another stud. No offers.

Jonathon Atwell. #1 WR for Western. Transfers to Hallandale. Can't crack the lineup. Transfers to Cypress. Blocks all year instead of catching passes. No offers.

Wade Freebeck. Stud QB for Western. Earns offer from Florida Gators. Excellent Junior film. Transfers to STA. Struggles in their vanilla athlete-based Pro-Style offense. Had mediocre senior year. Only new offer comes from Vanderbilt.

Tevin Allen. Star RB for Western. Main offensive weapon. Transfers to STA. Can't crack the depth chart at RB. Gets moved to 2nd string DB. Ends up signing with 1AA Illinois State.

None of these kids benefited from a transfer. Go watch all of these kid's Sophomore or Junior tapes, before they transferred. You'll notice a trend.

I've only come across one kid that has truly benefited by transferring and he didn't chase a better opportunity, he transferred cause his former program fell apart under the new HC.

Not trying to make this a WHS thing, I'm just giving you examples from my personal experience.

The grass isn't always greener. Some kids need TAPE. Without tape they'll never get the offers they should. That's why, in some cases, it's better to be THAT GUY at your home school instead of "just another guy" at a powerhouse.

 

[San Amaro Dr]

That midget is gonna take STA to heights they've never seen for 3 reasons...

1. He recruits his *** off
2. STA will finally be running the spread
3. They'll finally be participating in 7-on-7 stuff. The old staff wouldn't allow it.

They did one year. The first year of all-star 7v7s (2008) they went to tampa and had an all star team full of STA kids (Duron Carter, Dwayne Difton, etc...) and a few other kids from broward. The the rest of the broward kids played for SFE or some squad that had kids with zero d1 offers. Chris Carter coached it and IIRC, that's where the famous Trabis Ward video came from. Not sure why they stopped after that.

Yeah, STA might be running the spread to get their guys into space, but as far as in-game calling/adjustments, Harriot does nothing special. Even when he was at USchool, his best team never beat a quality opponent. IMO, there's nothing special regarding coaching that those kids receive at STA. STA used to at least have Chris Carter, and his receivers would always be ready to play in college, year 1.

i was about to say..there is nothing special Harriot does....at u school he just recruited a bunch of kids..and beat the teams he suppose to and loss to the teams with equal or more talent. If STA still has the ol coach..he is the goods...and my old high school coach use to coach their backs..he should still be on staff. If he brought a bunch of uschool guys i expect coaching to fall off..he has Ryan Schneider who was throwing bombs to Kevin Beard in high school as an oc.

He wasn't the OL coach this year and officially retired recently. Their OL wasn't very impressive this year. They have absolutely no excuse this year as they just got 3 D1 offensive line transfers along with an all county kid from Uschool.

 

[TheSwagger1]

Want more?

Brayon Parrish. Star RB for Western. Transfers to Monarch to play with Ridley and SBB. Plays 2nd string RB. Splits time with another stud. No offers.

Jonathon Atwell. #1 WR for Western. Transfers to Hallandale. Can't crack the lineup. Transfers to Cypress. Blocks all year instead of catching passes. No offers.

Wade Freebeck. Stud QB for Western. Earns offer from Florida Gators. Excellent Junior film. Transfers to STA. Struggles in their vanilla athlete-based Pro-Style offense. Had mediocre senior year. Only new offer comes from Vanderbilt.

Tevin Allen. Star RB for Western. Main offensive weapon. Transfers to STA. Can't crack the depth chart at RB. Gets moved to 2nd string DB. Ends up signing with 1AA Illinois State.

None of these kids benefited from a transfer. Go watch all of these kid's Sophomore or Junior tapes, before they transferred. You'll notice a trend.

I've only come across one kid that has truly benefited by transferring and he didn't chase a better opportunity, he transferred cause his former program fell apart under the new HC.

Not trying to make this a WHS thing, I'm just giving you examples from my personal experience.

The grass isn't always greener. Some kids need TAPE. Without tape they'll never get the offers they should. That's why, in some cases, it's better to be THAT GUY at your home school instead of "just another guy" at a powerhouse.

That is a powerful, powerful post. It all comes back to this - adults taking advantage of kids for personal gain. That's never a good thing.

 

[gogeta4]

the 7 on 7 circuit..."coach camp" harbors the transfers as well...

all the kids their and freelance "coaches" are recruiting or telling the kids to leave their schools,etc.

Their are some worth while transfers, and some that makes sense....kids that already have offers dont need transfers...

kids that are 6'0 210-225 and play ol/dl think their transfer to another school is going to make them grow or something and get offers also are just wasting time.

 

[gogeta4]

1.) Make the transfers have to sit out a year and watch it change in the publics....

i dont know what we could do in the private schools....but if they had to sit out a year..alot would change...

 

[Jassid82]

Want more?

Brayon Parrish. Star RB for Western. Transfers to Monarch to play with Ridley and SBB. Plays 2nd string RB. Splits time with another stud. No offers.

Jonathon Atwell. #1 WR for Western. Transfers to Hallandale. Can't crack the lineup. Transfers to Cypress. Blocks all year instead of catching passes. No offers.

Wade Freebeck. Stud QB for Western. Earns offer from Florida Gators. Excellent Junior film. Transfers to STA. Struggles in their vanilla athlete-based Pro-Style offense. Had mediocre senior year. Only new offer comes from Vanderbilt.

Tevin Allen. Star RB for Western. Main offensive weapon. Transfers to STA. Can't crack the depth chart at RB. Gets moved to 2nd string DB. Ends up signing with 1AA Illinois State.

None of these kids benefited from a transfer. Go watch all of these kid's Sophomore or Junior tapes, before they transferred. You'll notice a trend.

I've only come across one kid that has truly benefited by transferring and he didn't chase a better opportunity, he transferred cause his former program fell apart under the new HC.

Not trying to make this a WHS thing, I'm just giving you examples from my personal experience.

The grass isn't always greener. Some kids need TAPE. Without tape they'll never get the offers they should. That's why, in some cases, it's better to be THAT GUY at your home school instead of "just another guy" at a powerhouse.

Problem is..kids equate "more exposure" with being on a winning team. These kids arent stupid. They hear the stories about how a scout from a 1-AA school is at "power house schools" practice one day, sees a 3rd string WR catching passes, asks the coach who that player is, coach says he is a solid player but there is just too much comp ahead of him on the depth chart, 1-AA school offers player a scholie...rest is history..(this actually happened at Dillard High back in 2000 when they had like 21 kids get college football scholies from that team. Joe Redmond was the HC)...

To them, just by being in the midst of a powerhouse team they can get scholie because there are scouts hanging around all the time. Didnt Booker T have like 20+ kids get scholies Ice Harris last year there? Cant remember the year. Stuff like this kills schools like Western. Where college coaches might make an occasional "courtesy" visit but will only have 1 or 2 "D1" kids per year.

Kids dont see the big picture. They dont see the good coaching that are getting and the attention to detail you give them..all they see is that STA, Flanagan, MiaCen, Booker T, etc put out double digit "D1" kids per year. And that new rule will only complicate things.

 

[plantcity3]

I don't disagree with that but more often than not these kids/parents have no idea what a "better opportunity" is.

We had a 6'1" Offensive Lineman transfer to American Heritage because he wanted to play with better players and get more exposure. Our HC told him...you're 6'1" 250 whether you stay here or go to Heritage...and there isn't exactly a premium on 6'1" linemen.

He thought he was chasing a better opportunity. He went over there and say the bench the entire season.

Had a 6'4" Sophomore H-Back transfer to Heritage also. He caught over 40 passes for us his Sophomore year. He had an awesome 10th grade film. He went to Heritage, they put him at TE and he blocked for Sony Michel for 2 years. Now he's playing at Navy. If he stays with us he catches a ton of passes, develops great film and probably gets a small level D1 offer as an H-Back.

The grass ain't always greener.

Real talk

 

[plantcity3]

1.) Make the transfers have to sit out a year and watch it change in the publics....

i dont know what we could do in the private schools....but if they had to sit out a year..alot would change...

They have to sit out a year in hillsborough county. The only wat they can bypass that rule is through an appeals process. You have to go in front of the school board and prove you have a legit reason for transferring like a learning disability, or change in legal guardianship...before thid rule was put into place, 75% of armwood's team was from out of district. Well at least all of their players that mattered...... Anyone familiar with the tampa bay area knows the Seffner area has nowhere near the talent that armwood puts out

 

[DTP]

Matter of fact, they lost 3 kids to Western last season (a TE and two WR's) solely because they run the Wing-T.

Same reason Guandolo and Art Taylor can't attract/keep kids.

With Davis stepping down, I don't think the style of offense will be an issue anymore. Although, he did switch to a more spread style for a few years with poor results. I believe it was during Brandon McGee's senior season when they wanted him to play almost exclusively at DB.

 

[Coach Macho]

Matter of fact, they lost 3 kids to Western last season (a TE and two WR's) solely because they run the Wing-T.

Same reason Guandolo and Art Taylor can't attract/keep kids.

With Davis stepping down, I don't think the style of offense will be an issue anymore. Although, he did switch to a more spread style for a few years with poor results. I believe it was during Brandon McGee's senior season when they wanted him to play almost exclusively at DB.

Brandon McGee was playing QB that year. We beat them but couldn't contain McGee at all.

They also had Josh Robinson. (Minnesota Vikings)

 

[TedHendricksOffspring]

and western would have a pretty good program instead of being irrelevant

We had a great program from 2008-2012. We started 6-0 two seasons in a row, were ranked and blew the doors off of every team not named Miramar, Cypress or Flanagan. Beat Plantation twice in one year and were a deep ball (to Stacy Coley) away from beating Northeast and advancing to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Bottom line is...in order to beat the Flanagans and Miramar they (western) have to keep their local studs at home...which isn't happening. Ultimately that makes out impossible to make waves at a program like that.

He burned Cory twice.

He also got KO'd by Andrew Harris.

MY BEST FRIEND FROM 2011!!!

Him and Brandon are quite a brother tandem.

 

[Coach Macho]

and western would have a pretty good program instead of being irrelevant

We had a great program from 2008-2012. We started 6-0 two seasons in a row, were ranked and blew the doors off of every team not named Miramar, Cypress or Flanagan. Beat Plantation twice in one year and were a deep ball (to Stacy Coley) away from beating Northeast and advancing to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Bottom line is...in order to beat the Flanagans and Miramar they (western) have to keep their local studs at home...which isn't happening. Ultimately that makes out impossible to make waves at a program like that.

He burned Cory twice.

He also got KO'd by Andrew Harris.

MY BEST FRIEND FROM 2011!!!

Him and Brandon are quite a brother tandem.

Both were great players. I only wish I could have a Safety like Andrew every year. Fearless, savvy, smart and extremely physical. He was a prototype.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M3qN42MseE