Less than a week after the Florida A&M Rattlers defeated the Prairie View A&M Panthers 35-14 on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium for the SWAC Championship, all Florida eyes were back on the stadium looking for champions. The recently renovated stadium was awarded the Florida High School Athletic Association football state championships. Every state championship was being played on the Rattlers’ home turf.
Every coach in the country knows the importance of Florida talent and the sidelines are chock full of scouts. That includes HBCU coaches, and they made their way to check out the athletes. Representatives from FAMU, Alabama A&M and Edward Waters were all keeping a close eye on the talent thus. More schools were expected the for weekend games where the larger class schools sought their titles at Bragg Stadium. In addition, University of West Florida head coach Kaleb Nobles returned to Ken Riley Field for the first time since his University of West Florida Argonauts faced the Rattlers on Sept. 16, falling 31-10.
Fresh off his three-year extension at Edward Waters University, head coach Toriano Morgan and offensive coordinator Brian Jenkins took in the action. Morgan was pleased to see all the talent in one place.
“Oh, man, it’s a great collection of talent. This is like the buffet and the combination of high school football here,” Morgan said. “We’re just here out, evaluating some talent. We got our eyes on some guys and it’s really some other guys that are just jumping off the radar at us. So it’s just been a good experience thus far this year.”
FAMU Director of Recruiting Devin Rispress, labeled as one of 2023’s best recruiters, was all eyes as well as a contingency of FAMU coaches. While no formal contact is allowed with players as the state championship venue is considered a neutral site, it was still convenient for FAMU’s coaches to step out of their offices and take in some of the best talent in the entire state.
Among the attention grabbers on Thursday was Mainland High School defensive end LJ McCray. McCray was not hard to find. At 6’6 and 265 lbs., he towered over both teammates and opponents. Mainland won the Class 3S championship defeating the St. Augustine Yellowjackets. Smartly, St. Augustine took no chances running on McCray’s side. Virtually every play was railroaded away from the menacing presence.
McCray is a University of Florida commit, but we know how recruiting works in today’s landscape. Until a kid signs, there’s not much placed on their early commitments.
Mainland has a strong HBCU connection. Head coach Travis Roland is a former Bethune-Cookman star. There are six former Bethune-Cookman players on the coaching staff. Roland is known for wearing a B-CU t-shirt under his Mainland polo.