Looking ahead to 2012 football class

The prep football season is almost at our doorsteps, but in this day and age it’s never too early to look ahead to the following season.

With that in mind, it should be noted that four players from Manatee County have been listed among the top 50 college prospects in the country for the class of 2012 by the publication Friday Night Football Florida.

They all play defense and not surprisingly two play for Manatee High and two for Southeast. All have a good combination of size and speed.

Manatee High’s representatives are linebacker Darius White and defensive back
Clinton Heaven,who has been offered a football scholarship to South Carolina by head coach Steve Spurrier.

The Southeast guys are defensive tackle DeAngelo Dawes and cornerback
Brian Poole Jr., who ran a sub 4.4 second forty-yard dash at the recent Friday Night Lights camp, which made quite an impression on the University of Florida coaching staff.

The publication also lists head coach Joe Kinnan and his assistants as the fifth best coaching staff in the state. Ironically, the top rated staff is Tampa Plant led by Robert Wiener. These clubs will go into the season as the top two teams in Class 5A.