The early signing period for football kicked off this morning with several area standouts putting pen to paper on scholarships to end their recruiting process and make their college plans official.
Massive haul for Mississippi
Calvary Christian offensive lineman Preston Cushman signed with Mississippi this morning. The 6-foot-5, 285 pound tackle is a three-star recruit and anchored the line for the Warriors this past season.
Two-sport star trend continues for area recruits
The latest trend, at least among area athletes, is to continue playing two sports in college.
Former Carrollwood Day standout Mike Trigg is attempting to play football and basketball at Southern California. And former Plant City star is playing football and baseball at Oklahoma.
Sickles receiver Javohn Thomas, Berkeley Prep tight end C.J. Hawkins and King offensive lineman Tony Livington are the latest in that group.
Thomas signed with USF to play football and basketball. As a senior, the three-star recruit had 30 catches for 549 yards and seven touchdowns.
Hawkins, who signed with Stanford, plans to play football and basketball. He helped the Buccaneers reach the Class 3A state title last week in football.
Livingston, a four-star recruit, wants to play football and basketball. He was the leader of the Lions’ line this season and became the first area recruit in Gators’ coach Billy Napier’s debut recruiting class.
Berkeley Prep duo boosts UCF’s recruiting class
UCF added two Berkeley Prep standouts, linebacker TJ Bullard and athlete Xavier Townsend, to its recruiting class on Wednesday.
Bullard, the son of former Florida standout and WWE star Titus O’Neal, is a three-star recruit who registered 42 tackles, two sacks and an interception as a senior with the Buccaneers.
Townsend, another three-star recruit, was a late addition. He originally was committed to Iowa State but decided this week to sign with the Knights. As a senior, Townsend has 1,209 yards rushing, 434 receiving and accounted for 29 touchdowns.
From NLI to NIL for Armwood’s Kye Stokes
Armwood safety Kye Stokes wasted to time signing his national letter of intent to Ohio State — and a name, image and likeness deal.
The four-star prospect signed his NIL deal with Matt Cooper & The Group, a Keller Williams Tampa real estate agent.
This is not Armwood standout to partner with a company. Former Hawks defensive tackle Desmond Watson, now at Florida, signed an endorsement deal with Spencer’s Jerkin’ Jerky this past summer.
USF brings local talent home in transfer portal
No college program has benefitted more from the transfer portal than USF.
And the Bulls did it primarily by getting former area stars who signed elsewhere out of high school to come home.
Of the 11 transfers in this year’s class, six played high school locally. Here is the list.
WR Ajou Ajou (Clearwater Academy/Clemson)
DL James Ash (Chamberlain/Wake Forest)
DB Aamaris Brown (Armwood/Kansas State)
LB James Gordon IV (Plant City/Minnesota)
OL Mike Lofton (Calvary Christian/UCF)
DL Clyde Pinder Jr. (Armwood/North Carolina)
Local kickers give two programs a boost in special teams
The Tampa Bay area consistently produces elite level kickers.
Take Noah Ruggles.
The former Steinbrenner standout transferred from North Carolina to Ohio State this year and became a Lou Groza award finalist and a first-team All-American selection by ESPN.
That trend continued this year with Pinellas Park’s Robert Gunn III and Newsome’s Ryan Eckley both joining major programs.
Gunn III, considered one of the top kickers in the nation, signed with Clemson on a full scholarship, which is rare considering colleges typically offer walk-on spots to kickers coming out of high school.
Eckley, who ranked among the state’s best this past season as a kicker and punter, decided to go to Michigan State as a preferred walk-on.
Nationally ranked Jesuit has impressive recruiting class
The Tigers, who moved up to No. 10 in MaxPreps’ latest national rankings, took time out of their preparation for Saturday’s Class 6A state title game to celebrate five players who signed during the early period.
The five signees (photo above courtesy of BTP SportsMedia) are the most among area schools that are part of the Florida High School Athletic Association.
The bulk of Jesuit’s recruits from the early period were on offense with receivers Jaydn Girard (Wake Forest), Junior Vandeross (Toledo) and offensive lineman Tre’Quan Alexander (Rhode Island) all signing, as well as two members of the secondary, cornerback Caleb Williams (Furman) and safety Wade Woodaz (Clemson).
Another recruiting bonanza for Lakewood
Every season, Lakewood produces premier talent that excels not only at the next level but often in the NFL.
This year’s early class had four stars, headlined by Amari Niblack, a four-star recruit who signed with Alabama and is rated as the nation’s seventh-best athlete in the Class of 2022 by 247 Sports.
Terrell Crosby, a two-way star who emerged as a ballhawk in the secondary this season with 14 interceptions, signed with Iowa State. The others were defensive back Mike Evans (Austin Peay) and defensive back/wide receiver Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (Toledo).
That foursome helped the Spartans reach the state semifinals for the second time in the past three seasons.
Locals help Iowa State rocket up the recruiting rankings
Iowa State had the December recruiting class in school history. The Cyclones current are ranked third in the Big 12 by Rivals and 247 Sports and are in the top 30 overall nationally according to both recruiting services.
That success is due in part to landing elite talent in the Tampa Bay area.
On Wednesday, Iowa State officially added three local recruits — quarterback Rocco Becht (Wiregrass Ranch), cornerback Terrell Crosby (Lakewood) and receiver Greg Gaines III (Tampa Bay Tech). Gaines is a four-star prospect and Becht and Crosby are both three-star recruits.
Iowa State has a knack for landing playmakers in the bay area, particularly on the defensive side. It started more than a decade ago with linebacker Jeremiah George (Clearwater) and defensive back Leonard Johnson (Largo), both of whom played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their NFL careers.
There has been even more of an emphasis on the area with Matt Campbell and his staff.
That comes from experience.
Before taking over the Cyclones, Campbell was an offensive coordinator (2009-11) and head coach (2012-15) at Toledo. During his time with the Rockets, the program landed several prospects from the area, including former Lakewood star Bernard Reedy, who went on to play in the NFL.
In fact, Campbell had at least one local commit in each of his recruiting classes as Toledo’s head coach. That helped the Rockets rank among the top two recruiting classes in the MAC in three of the four years during Campbell’s tenure.
The trend has continued at Iowa State.
The three recruits from Wednesday will join four other former area stars currently on the roster — defensive backs Anthony Johnson (St. Petersburg) and TJ Tampa (Lakewood), receiver Aidan Bitter (Steinbrenner) and running back Deon Silas (Steinbrenner). That will give the Cyclones seven locals, which ranks among the highest in Division I-A.
The roller coaster among recruits
The transfer portal has created a lot of moving pieces with college’s recruiting board. Players that enter the portal likely will be replaced by another transfer or a high school recruit in the current class. To get an idea of just volatile the cycle can be just look at the recent timeline of the locals either on Iowa State’s roster or in their current recruiting class.
Nov. 16: Northeast’s D’Angelo Hutchinson decommits from Iowa State (signed with Louisville).
Dec. 12: Lakewood’s Terrell Crosby switches commitments from Toledo to Iowa State (signed with Cyclones).
Dec. 12: Berkeley Prep’s Xavier Townsend decommits from Iowa State (signed with UCF).
Dec. 13: Mitchell’s Kym-Mani King, who played for Iowa State this past season, enters the transfer portal.
College tracker among locals
How did colleges fare in landing area talent? Here is a list of the top ones.
| College | Number of locals signed |
| Iowa State | 3 |
| Alabama | 2 |
| Clemson | 2 |
| Howard | 2 |
| South Alabama | 2 |
| South Dakota State | 2 |
| Toledo | 2 |
| UCF | 2 |
| USF | 2 |
| Western Carolina | 2 |
Class of 2022 area signees
Armwood
S Kye Stokes, Ohio State
Berkeley Prep
TJ Bullard, UCF
TE C.J. Hawkins, Stanford
ATH Xavier Townsend, UCF
Calvary Christian
OL Preston Cushman, Mississippi
Carrollwood Day
DL Brandon Cleveland, North Carolina State
K/P AJ Grisack, Washington University
OL Trent Ramsey, California
Clearwater
WR CJ Lee, Western Carolina
Clearwater Academy
DL Aric Burton, West Virginia
DL Isaiah Hastings, Alabama
CB Rhyland Kelly, Minnesota
DB Max Polischuk, South Dakota State
WR Caleb Schlachter, South Alabama
OL Percy Speights, Western Carolina
DB/RB Tremel States-Jones, South Alabama
LB Corey Yeoman, Temple
Clearwater Central Catholic
OL TJ Demas, Florida A&M
LB Melvin Jordan IV, Oregon State
Gaither
DL Mario Eugenio, Cincinnati
Hillsborough
RB Jordaan Bailey, Pittsburgh
OL/DL Noah Miles, Howard
CB/FS Adrian Ramsey, Howard
DB Dominic Reaves, South Dakota State
LB Joey Sipp Jr., Bowling Green
Jesuit
OL Tre’Quan Alexander, Rhode Island
WR Jaydn Girard, Wake Forest
ATH Junior Vandeross, Toledo
DB Caleb Williams, Furman
S Wade Woodaz, Clemson
King
OL Tony Livingston, Florida
Lakewood
ATH Amari Niblack, Alabama
CB Terrell Crosby, Iowa State
DB Mike Evans, Austin Peay
DB/WR Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Toledo
Newsome
RB Jason Albritton, USF
K/P Ryan Eckley, Michigan State
Northeast
ATH D’Angelo Hutchinson, Louisville
Pinellas Park
K/P Robert Gunn III, Clemson
Plant City
DB Jermarion Jackson, Robert Morris
ATH Romello Jones, Navy
WR Jae Sawyer, Colgate
Sickles
WR Javohn Thomas, USF
Tampa Bay Tech
WR Greg Gaines III, Iowa State
Wharton
LB Daveon Crouch , Boston College
Wiregrass Ranch
QB Rocco Becht, Iowa State
Zephyrhills
LB Maguire Neal, UNC Charlotte
