Florida commit Brian Poole has Oscar winning night for Seminoles

Southeast super star and Florida commit Brian Poole "only played" six positions in his team's double overtime victory over Sarasota Riverview Friday night.

But Poole showed why Florida head coach Will Muschamp can't wait to get him to Gainesville next season and has been telling him to get ready to play immediately.

Poole scored four touchdowns and accounted for both of the Seminoles touchdowns in overtime throwing a 10 yard scoring strike in the first overtime and running for an eight yard touchdown, which accounted for the winning points in the second overtime.

Besides those heroics, Poole returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown and scored on a 50 yard run on his team's second offensive play of the game.

The senior capped off his big night, but knocking away a pass in the endzone in the second overtime to end the game.

Brian Poole could be anywhere, but at Florida he will be in the secondary

Brian Poole is like a good mystery novel. The Southeast High standout can pop up anywhere, anytime, anyplace on the football.

But the one thing we know about Poole is that he will excel where-ever he plays. The defensive back, who has verbally committed to Florida, played quarterback two weeks for the first time since his little league days and was impressive against nationally touted Manatee.

Tonight against Sarasota Riverview, Poole will start at cornerback, but is expected to be used at quarterback, receiver and running back. He will also be a return man on some punts and kickoffs.

Southeast head coach Paul Maechtle who has had some great versatile players during his 30 plus years at the school, including Peter Warrick, says Poole is up there with the best.
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Adrien Jenkins and other Southeast alumni shine on college level

Sometimes you have to do things that make you feel uncomfortable.

It’s particularly tough when you have a resume filled with blank spaces due to some personal mishaps.

But Adrien Jenkins took that risk and it paid huge dividends when he ran for a collegiate career record 168 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 carries in sparking the University of Charleston to a 49-35 victory over Seton Hill last Saturday.

In Charleston’s previous game, the Southeast High product did not touch the ball. He went to the coaches and asked them to give him more of a role in the offense.

“I didn’t demand the ball. I don’t like to do that. I just asked for a bigger role than just blocking,” Jenkins said. “I felt like I could be a playmaker and if they didn’t want me in that role I wanted to go to defense. Fortunately they gave me the opportunity. I felt like my old self again, the one that played for Southeast.”

Jenkins 14 yard per carry average was impressive. The junior had touchdown runs of 52 and 26 yards, which were the two longest of the game for Charleston.

Another Southeast product, defensive back Kieron James, is having a solid year for FCS Western Illinois. The junior is fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference with five passes defended and leads the Leathernecks with 1.5 sacks, four pass breakups and four deflections, and has 17 tackles.

Receiver Charles Chestnut and offensive lineman Enock Presendieu, also from Southeast, have made key contributions to WIU.

Jared Williams chances at SMU look promising

Now that Jared Williams is officially a Mustang after signing a letter of intent with SMU this week what’s next?

It’s hard to tell what can happen at the college level especially for a running back, but the Southeast High graduate seems to have legitimate shot on getting a significant number of carries and enough playing to make him happy.

The Mustangs have one experienced running back returning in 6-1, 230 pound junior Zach Line, who rushed for 1,523 yards last season averaging 106.7 yards per game on the ground.

SMU signed only one running back in its 2011 class in Rivals.Com 3-star K.C. Nlemchi, a 6-0, 215 pounder from Katy, Texas, who was offered by Arkansas, Utah, Tulane and Tulsa. He rushed for 1,246 yards (6.5 avg) last season after gaining 2,388 (8.4 avg) as a junior.

The 5-10, 200 pound Williams gained more than 5,500 yards in three years at the former Bradenton Prep. In five games last season with Southeast he had 315 yards on 64 carries (4.9 avg).

Starting spots still wide open at Southeast

Southeast will have its first full blown scrimmage today and it could go a long way into deciding a lot of the key positions for next season.

One position it likely won't clear up is quarterback. That continues to be a race between Myles Braxton-Johnson, Eric Thompson, James Barnes and a freshman transfer from Lakewood Ranch Jordan Wilson, who can't play in the spring game.

Barnes was a defensive back last year and played linebacker in the 'Noles region title game against South Fort Myers. Thompson is also a defensive back.

Southeast defensive coordinator Brian McKnight said all three linebacker spots on the team are wide open, but the defensive line looks set pretty solid and set with Billy Roberts, Tommy Wilkinson, Rakeem Williams and Michael Bowden.

Heated battle brewing over Southeast quarterback job

After two weeks of practice the coveted quarterback job is still up for grabs, according to Seminoles head coach Paul Maechtle.

The position has been special in recent years and led to scholarships for those who have had it. Dyron Speight started for three years and it earned him a scholarship to Western Kentucky.

Myles Braxton Johnson, who was Speight’s backup and started a game last year, came into spring as the number one, but the rising junior has not locked up the position.

Also in the mix are freshman Jordan Wilson, defensive back Eric Thompson and James Barnes, according to coach Maecthle.

The ‘Noles play Venice on May 27^th in their spring game and regardless of who starts there is no guarantee he will be the starter on opening day.

Desmond Blue signs, but has eyes set on bigger things

Desmond Blue, the area's most coveted player not to receive an offer from an FBS (I-A), has signed with Fort Scott Community College.

The linebacker has his eyes set on the future, perhaps Nebraska, and believes it is just a matter of getting his academics in order and showing teams he can be a solid safety in college football at its highest level.

Blue was envy of all the coaches in the area with his speed to cover all areas of the field and tackling ability. More importantly perhaps, he sacrificed his college chances by playing linebacker though he is projected to be a safety in college. The 5-10, 185 pounder says he has no regrets.

Blue even distinguished himself in the PAL All-Star game when he played safety and had four tackles, several pass deflections and blocked a field goal.

He caught the interest of new Temple head football coach Steve Adazzio and still might wind up there someday.

AJ Love catches passes from Cam Newton

A.J. Love has not played in a football game since 2009, but that doesn’t mean the USF receiver isn’t getting his name out to the right people.

Thanks to Jon Gruden’s ESPN “QB Camp” workouts that are being held on USF’s new practice fields and Love has had a chance to catch passes from some of the NFL’s top quarterback prospects.

Recently the Southeast High product caught passes from Auburn’s Cam Newton, who might be the first pick in Thursday night’s NFL draft. Love looked good and his former teammate at Southeast, , also going into his final season at USF, got into some of action.

The 6-2, 205 pound Love looks as if he has fully recovered from his ACL surgery that forced him to sit out last season. In fact, USF head coach Skip Holtz says it’s just a matter of the receiver getting his confidence back and he doesn’t expect that to be a problem.

Gruden put in a plug for Love and the others telling the media and that USF has a good looking bunch of receivers. The former Bucs head coach who spoke at Holtz’s coaching clinic last month, got to spend time with Southeast head coach Paul Maechtle.

Holtz has told Paul Maecthle that the coaching staff is counting on Love and expects big things from him in 2011. They love Love’s size, soft hands, athleticism and perhaps most of his leadership skills.