Taggart deserves a pass: What would Joe have said??

Our beloved Willie Taggart has found himself in a little hot water, but does he really deserve it?
His Western Kentucky football team is playing Kentucky Saturday and Taggart got upset because he saw so many students on his campus wearing Kentucky apparel.

Taggart tweeted, “They probably couldn’t get into UK.”

The former Manatee High great later apologized and said he was just miffed because WKU students who wear UK apparel are not showing allegiance to his school.

Feeling here is Taggart deserves a pass. He runs a clean program and has given a lot of kids who were headed for trouble a chance.

But here is a better question:

What would Joe Kinnan say if he saw a bunch of students wearing Southeast apparel during game week against the Seminoles?

Could we safely assume whatever he said would make Taggart’s comments seem rather mundane?

 

Rosters set for PAL Manatee-Sarasota County Senior Basketball Showcase

Some of the top seniors from Manatee and Sarasota County will go against each other Saturday in the annual PAL Senior Basketball Showcase at Bayshore High.

The girls game tips off at 4:30 p.m. and the boys are scheduled to begin play at 6 p.m. Bayshore High's Jamaal Sanders will coach the Manatee County girls squad and Bruins head coach Shawn Campbell will coach the boys team.

Sarasota High girls coach Rob Jutras will coach the Sarasota County girls and Sarasota Christian head coach Phil Helmuth will coach the Sarasota County boys.

The Manatee County girls will feature Palmetto High's Blair Thomas and Lakewood Ranch's Gabriella Diaz-Granados two of the area's top scorers. Out-Of-Door-Academy's 1,000 point career scorer Mara Falahee will play for Sarasota County.

The Manatee County boys roster includes a trio from Braden River, which had the county's best record, in sharp shooting guard Tre' Bryant, Jeff Casseus and Tommy Bernhardt. The roster also includes Bradenton Christian leader scorer Joey Carolla. Out-Of-Door Academy 1,000 point scorer Maura Falahee will play for Sarasota County.

Here are the rosters:

MANATEE COUNTY:

Boys:

Bayshore: David Cruz, Vincent Scanes, Navjot Gill, Tyderian Jenkins, David Scavella, Jesus Ayvar

Bradeton Christian: Joey Carolla, Cameron Van Buren,

Braden River: Tre' Bryant, Tommy Bernhardt, Jeff Casseus, Eric Foster, Austin Lee

Lakewood Ranch: Brian Cobb, Zach Ainge, Winston Bridges

Manatee: Austin Gordon, Zach Haughy, Ryan Schroeder, Osiris Shabazz-Stephenson

Palmetto: Terreance Mann

Southeast: Cy'kobe Johnson

Girls:

Bayshore: Elissa Alvarez, Quinnia Streeter-Thurman

Lakewood Ranch: Gabriella Diaz-Granados

Palmetto: Blair Thomas, Kayla Moore

Southeast- Tiffany West

SARASOTA COUNTY:

Boys:

Booker: Jamal Gaines

Cardinal Mooney: Danny Stokes, Dylan Blakely, Nick Stallings, Cole Collins

North Port: Larry Taylor, Joe Wilber, Jeff Dormil

Out-Of-Door-Academy: Fred Porter

Riverview: Vince Cherry, Jeremy Jones, Eric Traver

Sarasota: Fernando Rivera, Jacob Carter, Alonzo Boezem, Tanner Weigand

Sarasota Christian: Logan Mayer

Venice: David Voigt, Nate Curtner, Zach Flerlage

Girls:

Booker: Breanna Browning

North Port: Keosha Harris, Ashley Mashaw

Out-Of-Door-Academy: Mara Falahee

Riverview: Brittany Mobley, Heather Horne, Lauren Wilson

Sarasota: Juliana Calvallaro, Kelly Jutras, Tarayn Burns, Mariah Williams

Venice: Laura Hackett, Hannaah Revels, Brooke Shipps,

Florida's Mike Blakely needs more surgery

After missing all of Florida’s spring practice because of arthroscopic shoulder surgery, running back Mike Blakely will now have surgery to remove bone spurs on his foot, according to his former high school coach Joe Kinnan.

The Hall of Fame coach said his former standout is still expected to ready for fall drills and the surgery was minor, basically to clear up some minor issues.

Blakely is one of many running backs who are expected to sit out Saturday’s spring game. The list includes Mike Gillislee, Mack Brown and Jeff Demps. Gillislee and Brown are out because of injuries and Demps is with the track team.

Florida is so banged up, particularly at running back and offensive line, that head coach Will Muschamp has turned Saturday’s spring game into essentially a scrimmage. The only experienced running back available is senior Chris Rainey.

Axon opts to remain at Butler CC

Ben Axon plans to return to Butler Community College next season and wait until 2012 to sign with a four year college program.

The former Manatee High running back had a stellar season last year in leading the Grizzlies to the JUCO national championship game where it lost 13-12.

The 6-2, 205 pounder was a tough in-between the tackle type runner, who showed good speed when he got out in the clear.

Axon was Butler’s workhorse, leading the Grizzlies with 233 carries and 1,008 yards while scoring 12 touchdowns.

Axon was being courted by quite a few BCS football programs and Texas A&M is reportedly high on him. He has decided to remain at Butler because transferring some of his credits could be a problem after spending his first year at Eastern Michigan.

Everybody has an opinion on Mike Blakely

Mike Blakely, the Manatee High running back who garnered the most attention around these parts last season when he signed with Florida, is getting a lot of mixed reviews and he hasn’t even hit the practice field.

Everybody seems to have an opinion on Blakely, who recently underwent shoulder surgery and is expected to miss spring practice.

Some people hail Blakely as a sort of savior referring to him as the type of every down back Urban Meyer was missing last year when the Gators had what most of their fans would call a disappointing season.

One so called expert labeled Blakely as the Gators most overrated signed in the class of 2010, but says a lot of that has to with assorted injuries he had to deal with last season. However, some say its proof Blakely is not sturdy enough be the so called “featured back.”

One thing for certain is that jury is out on Blakely and he certainly has a lot of upside, particularly if he can stay injury free.

Update: Gordon leaves Palmetto, Mann remains

On the latest update on the Palmetto High boys basketball team!

School officials have confirmed that Austin Gordon has left and enrolled at Manatee High while Terrance Mann has decided to stay and is still with the Tigers basketball team as it heads into the last week of the regular season.

Mann and Gordon leave Palmetto basketball team

The Palmetto High boys basketball team has taken a big blow with starters Terrance Mann and Austin Gordon no longer on the squad.

Mann was the Tigers starting point guard and second leading scorer while Gordon was the Tigers main presence inside and led Palmetto in rebounding.

Palmetto is 8-10 and 3-3 overall in Class 4A-District 10.

Despite playing it first game short-handed Palmetto took host and district leader Braden River down to the wire before losing 51-49 to the Pirates on Tuesday night.

Manatee County teams fight it out in Martin Luther King Showcase

Southeast, Manatee, Palmetto and Braden River will participate in the two day Martin Luther King Showcase, which gets underway tonight at Booker High.

Festivities kickoff at 6 pm when Braden River takes on perennial power St. Petersburg Lakewood followed by Southeast meeting Orlando Agape Christian.

Manatee County schools will be part of a triple header on Saturday:

Palmetto vs Booker 4:30 pm

Southeast vs. St. Petersburg Lakewood 6 pm

Manatee vs Agape Christian 7:30 pm

St. Petersburg Lakewood is having what can only be considered an off year compiling an 8-6 record, but in the last six years the Spartans have been to three state championship games winning it all in 2005.

In 2004 Southeast recorded one of the biggest upsets in the history of its boys’ basketball program when it defeated Lakewood 66-54 to qualify for the Class 4A State Final Four.

Sanders gets first collegiate touchdowns

Ace Sanders finally got the one big thing that was missing in his young college football career Saturday when South Carolina crushed Troy 69-24.

The former Manatee High standout was one of the key pass receivers for South Carolina, who had not caught a touchdown pass all season. He ended that disappointment against Troy turning his only two receptions of the day into touchdowns.

Sanders caught a career long 51-yard pass from Stephen Garcia in the first quarter that he turned into a touchdown to give the Gamecocks a 28-0 lead. Sanders then put the final points on the board for South Carolina when he caught a 15 yard TD pass from backup Seth Strickland with 2:53 left in the game.

Sanders also had five yards on a run and caught one punt that he was unable to return. For the season, the 5-7, 166 pound true freshman is third on the team with 21 receptions and is averaging 13.9 yards per catch.

Axon leads Butler to top JUCO ranking

The theme for Butler Community College has not changed all season: When it doubt go to big Ben.

That is Ben Axon not the other Ben from the NFL team called the Steelers.

Axon, the former Manatee High standout, had another solid Axon like game when he rushed for 119 yards on 25 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead Butler to a 35-12 victory over Garden City Community College last week.

The victory pushed Butler to number 1 in the National Junior College rankings replacing Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, which lost its first game of the season last week, 30-27 to Pearl River Community College.

The 6-2, 200 pound Axon leads Butler with 490 yards on 102 carries (4.7 avg) and has registered five touchdowns. He has provided the spark for the Grizzlies, who are undefeated in six games and 4-0 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Manatee focusing on ball security

Does Manatee need to practice a little extra ball security this week?

In their 5A-10 district opener this Friday, the Canes are heavy favorites to defeat Sarasota, which is being guided by first year coach Ed Volz.

Volz, who was the head coach at Braden River in 2009, has shown he knows how to create turnovers. Last season under his tutelage, the Pirates led the area with 17 fumble recoveries and won a couple of games because of their ability to force fumbles.

Volz has Sarasota leading the area in take-aways with a very impressive 18 in four games. The Sailors top Manatee/Sarasota County with 11 interceptions and are tied for second with seven fumble recoveries,behind Englewood Lemon Bay.

Sandberg gets another accolade

The accolades keep rolling in for the Manatee High quarterback Cord Sandberg, who has yet to start a regular season varsity game.

The lefty was listed among the top 100 sophomores in the country this week by MaxPreps, which has been taken over by CBSSports.com.

The 6-1, 180 pounder gained a lot of notoriety last spring when he threw five touchdown passes in Manatee’s 48-41 victory Palm Bay Side, connecting on 21 of 23 passes for 320 yards.

The best part is that he is obviously more than a one night wonder. Sandberg looked good in several college football camps this summer, particularly impressing the coaches at Auburn, who told him he was high on their radar screen and would likely get a scholarship in the not too distant future.

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.

Southeast runner-up in 7 on 7 Tourney

Southeast made it to the championship game of the 7 on 7 Tournament Saturday at the IMG Academies field while Manatee High’s promising sophomore quarterback Cord Sandberg had to pack it in early and the Hurricanes chances faded with him.

The ‘Noles fought their way out of the loser’s bracket and put themselves in a position where they had to beat Texas LaVilla twice. They did it the first time, but fell short in the title finale.

Manatee’s hopes took a hit early when Sandberg had to retire in the ‘Canes second game because he had worn out his arm the previous night throwing what was estimated to be about 500 passes at the University of Florida’s Friday Night Lights camp.

Mike Blakely, the ‘Canes highly touted running back, took over the signal calling duties and Manatee couldn’t make it to the final, finishing in third place.

Blakely was also at the Friday Night Lights camp along with teammate Quenton Bundrage, a senior receiver. Also at the camp were Southeast junior defensive back Brian Poole Jr. and defensive lineman Giovani Francois.

It was a day of upsets. South Carolina Wren, which finished undefeated in pool play and was the first seed in the elimination round, lost twice Saturday including a 42-25 defeat to LaVilla and never made it to the finals.

“This was good because we had a situation where we scored three touchdowns quickly and something like this helps your kids understand you are not necessarily out of it until that final whistle blows,” Southeast head coach Paul Maecthle said. “During the regular season you have to wait a week after you lose a game, but here we had a chance to play again right away. I think it helps you handle adversity.”

“My son is fine and feels good. He was just a little tired and we decided it was better that he didn’t play on Saturday. He feels really good today (Sunday),” his dad and Manatee receivers coach Chuck Sandberg said.

Dowling better than advertised

Phil Steele’s College Football Preview Magazine has been the rated the most accurate prognostication publication for its sport over the last 12 years.

With that in mind, the magazine’s 2010 edition lists Southeast High graduate Jon Dowling as one of the top 500 freshmen in this year’s class.

Having spoken to Phil a few times, I have the utmost respect for him, but I have to disagree with some of his fortune telling for 2010, particularly in this case.

He has Dowling listed as the 18th best defensive back entering college. I figure he is much better than 18th and will prove it unless Gators coach Urban Meyer moves him to receiver as has been discussed.

Similar to many other publications, Steele has St. Thomas Aquinas grad LaMarcus Joyner (headed for FSU) as the second best DB in the ’10 freshman class. The 5-8, 165 pound Joyner sure didn’t show anything special when his team saw its national number one ranking and unbeaten streak end in a loss to Manatee in the state semis.

The cornerback has a size issue for his position. People are saying he makes up for that with his speed and acceleration, but have to feel the 6-3, 185 pound Dowling can bring a lot more to the table, including a physical presence.