Woodie piling up awards as one of nation's top recruiters

When you are hot you are hot.

That's the best way to describe Ray Woodie, the former Palmetto High and Bayshore head football coach who is piling up honors as an elite recruiter at Western Kentucky.

After getting named the top recruiter in the Sun Belt Conference by ESPN and Scout.com/Fox Sports the Palmetto native was cited by Rivals.Com as one of the top 10 recruiters from the non BCS schools.

Woodie has no fear and is "stealing" kids that coaches from the BCS schools probably thought belonged to them. But no more, Woodie and WKU Willie Taggart are reeling in some of the top talent in the country and it doesn't appear things will slow down.

These two guys are revolutionizing the way recruiting is done. They pitch honesty and success and refuse to take a back seat to anyone.

Willie Taggart gets first win of season for Western Kentucky

Taggart's Western Kentucky Hilltoppers got their first victory of the season before a national television audience Thursday night when they edged Middle Tennessee 36-33 in double overtime.

WKU got the winning points when Kuwaun Jakes connected on a 7 yard TD pass to Bobby Rainey. On the previous possession of the second overtime period Middle Tennessee went ahead 33-30 on a 23-yard field goal.

It was fulfilling victory for Taggart, the former Manatee High great who took over the program last year after it had two consecutive winless seasons. He coached the Hilltoppers to a 2-10 record and was hoping to get off to a better start this year, but WKU lost its first four games.

"I told our team heading into overtime that this is when big-time football teams step up, and if they wanted this win to go out and get it," Taggart said. "For our young team to come into a hostile environment and fight through adversity, it can be a big confidence booster moving forward. I'm really proud of these guys and really happy to get this win for Hilltopper nation."

The Hilltoppers took a 23-16 lead when Sarasota Riverview product John Evans returned a kickoff for a 90-yard touchdown with 9:10 left in regulation.

Boe Brand, a true freshman from Southeast, caught two passes for 29 yards, including a 24-yard reception, to help the Hilltoppers.

Manatee County football prospects visit Western Kentucky

Western Kentucky University continues to be a popular place for Manatee County football players.

Three players from the county recently visited the WKU summer weekend football camp.

The trio making its way out there was comprised of Manatee High’s 6-5, 215 pound receiver Robert Gordon , 6-2 receiver Tre’ Laws from Southeast and Palmetto High’s new quarterback Trenton Miller.

Laws and Gordon are two big receivers with athletic skills, who have the potential to be among the top pass catchers in the state this season. They are both transfers.

Miller is a transfer from Williamsville East High in New York State. The 6-0 190 pounder won the All-Madden Offensive Breakout Athlete Award at the IMG Football Academy last year and this year moved to Palmetto.

“Trenton is a developing pocket passer. He can move his feet well within in the pocket. He has the opportunity to develop into a big time prospect,” said IMG Maddon Football Academy director Chris Weinke.

Kinnan visits Taggart and Woodie at Western Kentucky

Talk about surprise visits!

Western Kentucky head football coach Willie Taggart and assistant Raymond Woodie were going about their business today on campus when the two Manatee County products received a pleasant surprise.

Joe Kinnan, Manatee High's legendary football coach, unexpectedly showed up on campus unbeknown to Taggart and Woodie.

Kinnan, who once coached at Eastern Kentucky, is currently vacationing in the Bluegrass state. It was a nice reunion for him and Taggart, who played quarterback for Manatee High under him before going on to earn All-American honors at WKU.

"We had no idea he was coming. It was a complete surprise," said Woodie, who played his football at Palmetto High and was an All-American at Bethune-Cookman.

Taggart and Kinnan have stayed in touch since their days together with the Manatee High football team when Taggart led the 'Canes to a state title in 1992 as a junior and to the state championship game his senior year.

Braden River's Casseus gets offer from WKU

Only in America? ___Or perhaps only in Manatee County can a high school football player get a Division I scholarship offer without ever starting a game at the varsity level.

But it can happen, especially when you have two college football coaches who know so much about Manatee County in Western Kentucky's Ray Woodie and head coach Willie Taggart.

And especially if the young man happens to be 6-7, 270 pounds.

That is the situation for Braden River lineman Jeff Casseus, who will be heading into senior season in 2011.

Casseus is more known for exploits on the basketball court, where he helped Braden River win its first boys district title last season. He will likely play offensive line for the Pirates, but could see time on the defensive line.

There doesn't seem to be much debate that his future is a lot brighter in football. And Woodie agreed with that when he offered Casseus a full ride scholarship this year.

Former Bayshore standout Derek Bishop to coach at Bradenton Christian

Derek Bishop, a former standout football player at Bayshore High and then Liberty University has joined the staff at Bradenton Christian.

In his senior season at Bayshore in 2005, Bishop broke the school's single season record for tackles with 129 (80 solos) and finished his high school career with 310 tackles. He was a force to be reckoned with racking up 10 tackles for losses and two sacks with three interceptions.

He was a part-time fullback at Bayshore. He turned that into his full-time job at Liberty where he was known for his blocking and toughness and had a productive career helping one if his teammates Rashad Jennings to rush for 1,500 yards in 2008.

Bishop will coach linebackers at Bradenton Christian. He learned under one of the best at Bayshore, playing for former Bruins coach Ray Woodie, an All-American linebacker in college and now an assistant coach at Western Kentucky.

Donald Campbell withdraws from Western Kentucky

Donald Campbell has left Western Kentucky because of personal reasons.

The wide receiver/kick returner from Palmetto High was used mostly on special teams for the Hilltoppers and appeared in 10 games.

He led WKU in punt return yardage with 54 yards on seven carries (7.7 avg), was third in kickoff returns with 89 yards (29.7 avg) and caught four passes for 44 yards.

Campbell played for Ray Woodie during his last season as the Palmetto High head football coach before taking an assistant’s job at WKU. He was one of Woodie’s first recruits for the Hilltoppers.

Temple targeting Manatee County prospects

With national signing day less than two weeks away (Feb 2^nd)things are starting to get hectic. Recruits are committing and de-committing and coaches are moving into territories that might have seemed like a wasteland in the not too distant past.

Temple under new coach Steve Addazio seems to be targeting Manatee County college football prospects as heavily as Western Kentucky, which has carved a niche for itself here under head coach Willie Taggart and his assistant Ray Woodie, both Manatee County products.

Addazio, the former Florida offensive coordinator, has targeted Southeast linebacker Desmond Blue and has his eyes on running back Jared Williams.

One of Addazio’s assistants is supposed to be at Southeast High today to talk with Blue, the Bradenton Herald’s Defensive Player of The Year, and set up an official visit.

Addazio would like to get Manatee High’s dynamic defensive duo of Quinton and Chris Pompey. WKU is also after those two, but it appears the leaders there are USF and Miami.

A standout linebacker, Blue has been ignored by colleges because he is projected as a safety in college and a lot of coaches see him as risk because of a position change. Addazio doesn’t it see things that way and it could land him a prospect who could turn out to be one of the biggest sleepers in the class of 2011.

Lots of Manatee County flavor at WKU-Nebraska opener

Two former Manatee County players are expected to play key roles in the Willie Taggart era that begins Saturday when Western Kentucky visits Nebraska.

Braden River’s Willie McNeal is slated to start at receiver and return punts and kickoffs while true freshman Ty Scott from Palmetto High goes into the game as a second team defensive back.

The game will mark the head coaching debut of former Manatee High great Taggart, who takes over a team that did not win a game last season and has lost 20 straight.

The game has some strong Manatee County ties involving three former quarterbacks, who played at Manatee under legendary head coach Joe Kinnan.

Tommie Frazier, former Nebraska All-American, played at Manatee High and helped sway Brion Carnes, last year’s quarterback for Kinnan, to the Cornhuskers. Ray Woodie, who coached and played at Palmetto High, is on Taggart’s staff.