If It Is May, It's Time for Spring Football

Spring football practices have begun at high schools throughout Florida and Old Northeast Patch has decided to check in with the four local high schools to see what objectives the coaches have for their teams.

Canterbury

If ever there was a smooth transition for a new football coach at a high school it is Canterbury's Bill Jones.

The Crusaders, who will have 15 starters returning, promoted Jones from offensive coordinator to head coach when Steve Dudley left three weeks ago to accept the head coaching position at St. Petersburg Catholic.

The transition is nearly seamless.

"I just had to hire a staff," Jones joked.

There's no need to fix what is not broken either. Jones' offense is a run-oriented offense which will be led by Brent O'Neal who ran for 1,000 yards last season and is being recruited by several Division-I colleges including Wake Forest and Florida Atlantic.

"He is a very special talent and we will ride that horse," Jones said.

Other than that, Jones' spring will be a little dicey because a number of his players also play baseball.

"We have to get the kids in condition with a limited amount of numbers," Jones said. "We will focus on conditioning and discipline and get the kids ready to go both ways."

Northeast

Some coaches are concerned with what offense to run in spring practice or who will take the place of a linebacker or things of that nature.

New Northeast High School football coach Mike Jalazo has a different sort of concern: Making sure he has enough helmets.

Roughly 80 kids showed up at the start of spring practice this week, some 15 Jalazo never expected. Jalazo wasn't sure there was enough equipment to go around.

"It hasn't been too crazy for the first day," Jalazo said Monday when spring practice began across the state. "We just had 10 or 15 show up today for the first time, but we don't have any helmets for them."

While other coaches have spent the past month organizing and planning for practice, Jalazo was doing inventory.

"When we got here all the equipment was still in the lockers," Jalazo said.

He hopes to have the new Vikings offense "60 or 70 percent installed" by the end of the month and most of the defense by the time spring practice ends.

St. Petersburg

Last year St. Petersburg High School was senior-laded which showed when the Green Devils had an undefeated regular season.

Now in the spring, the Green Devils will pay the price. Most of the spring practice will be devoted to force-feeding young players to be starters.

"We just have to catch the young kids up on football," Green Devils coach Joe Fabrizio said. "We think we have the athletes and we'll be fine. They just need to catch up on experience and catch up to the speed of the game. "

In fact, Fabrizio thinks he may have more talented skill position players than he has ever had.

"We are pretty lucky really," Fabrizio said. "We have kids that will be able to fill in every position.  , maybe more than we have ever had. It's just a matter of coaching. The are young.

"The have watched some really good kids in front of them but now they are trying to fill those shoes and carry on the torch that was passed to them from players who last year went 10-0."

Shorecrest Prep

In Phil Hayford's mind, spring football boils down to one element of football: fundamentals.

So the longtime Shorecrest Prep coach will specifically work on football fundamentals throughout the month of May until spring practice comes to a close.

"We work on two things, first, get guys in the right positions," Hayford said. "And then, that player will have all offseason to work on his position and maybe go to a camp, work on those skills that will help him next season.

"But we work a lot of fundamentals," Hayford said. "We won't work so much on scheme but we will work on fundamentals. That way we prepare ourselves for the next season."

Hayford shies away from installing a defense and an offense in the spring because high school football is too fluid.

"At high school, it's nice to say, 'Well, we will run this." Shoot, you may not have a guy who can throw the ball or you may not have an option quarterback."

Rather, Hayford prefers to see what kind of talent he has first and then mold his team around the talent available, not shoehorning players into positions that may not fit their skill sets.