Sports
Noles' Poole Drawing College Scouts in Spring Action
Southeast High running back and cornerback Brian Poole rushed for 191 yards for an audience of college scouts from Georgia and Florida at last week's spring game.
Southeast High football coach Paul Maechtle said he thought his team would not score any points during the Seminoles' in last Friday's spring game.
“I think we played about the way I expected us to play,” Maechtle said. “I thought we'd get trucked earlier in the game. I didn't think we'd score a point.”
Then Brian Poole showed up beyond the Venice secondary, ball in hand, cranking away from the defense.
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Maechtle did not expect his running back to score on touchdown runs of 34 and 63 yards and finish with 191 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Poole is being recruited by many top-flight Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I) schools around the country. During Friday's game, several scouts stood along the Southeast sideline, including ones wearing Georgia and Florida polo shirts. The scouts could neither comment nor admit they were recruiting Poole.
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Nevertheless, Poole showed a relaxed stride while following blockers, then bursting into the open with field-gashing cuts or by banging into defenders.
But Poole is being recruited as a defensive back for his instincts and ability to make quick bursts to the ball.
“I'm not trying to impress anybody,” Poole said of the scouts, “I'm just trying to do what I do.”
Poole said he does not have any favorites among his college choices.
He was plagued with cramps for much of the second half Friday and ended up leaving in the fourth quarter with a twisted ankle.
“In the spring we do not do conditioning,” said Southeast's licensed athletic trainer, John Karl. “We had three guys cramping up, and when they're going from offense to defense, I don't care who you are.”
About Poole, Karl said, “He's a man among boys. He has God-given ability and everything you see is what he was born with.”
Poole, at 5-foot-10 and 194 pounds, may have to help out against the run from his defensive back position this fall. Maechtle said the Seminoles are undersized among their linebackers. That was noticeable against Venice.
“They took advantage of that throughout the game,” Maechtle said. “Anytime No. 1 (Danny Dillard) carried the ball, anytime their quarterback (Grant Flessner) carried the ball – each of those guys are 25-30 pounds heavier than our linebackers.”
