Giovani Francois commits to FIU

Former Southeast High standout Giovani Francois is coming back home (almost).

The heralded defensive end has verbally committed to FIU picking the Miami school over Temple after narrowing his choices down to those two schools.

After playing three years for Southeast, Francois moved to Maryland and played for Henry Wise High School this past season where he impressed colleges with his outstanding play in a limited season.

The 6-3, 230 pound senior also had offers from Louisville and Western Kentucky and was getting serious interest from Big East schools USF, Cincinnati and Rutgers along with Maryland, Michigan State and Tennessee. He also visited Cincinnati.

Francois said he was impressed with FIU head coach Mario Cristobal (who played four years at the University of Miami from 1988 through ’92) and the entire coaching staff there that recruited him.

Francois will join one of his old home town friends in Manatee High defensive lineman Prince Matt, who has announced he will also be signing with FIU.

The Panthers completed their fifth season of football in 2010 winning the Little Caesar’s Bowl and their first Sun Belt Conference football championship

D.J. Magley sparks Tulsa to huge victory

D.J. Magley turned in his best game at Tulsa sparking the Golden Hurricanes to a 69-68 victory over Conference USA leader UTEP (Texas El-Paso) on Saturday.

The former Bradenton Christian standout scored 10 points, led Tulsa with seven rebounds and three blocked shots while converting all five of his field goal attempts in 27 minutes on the floor.

Magley’s effort couldn’t have come at a better time, giving Tulsa a huge win over a top opponent and taking the sting out of a one point loss the Hurricanes suffered at the hands of SMU earlier in the week.

“It was a good experience for me and my team so we can just go out there and win. We have all the properties and all the talent to win games like this,” Magley told the media after the game.

A 6-9 junior, Magley is averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while leading Tulsa in field goal percentage with a 56 percent accuracy mark. He transferred from Western Kentucky and had to sit out last season.

UTEP came into the game with a 5-1 conference record and 17-4 overall. With the win Tulsa moved over the .500 mark at 11-10 and is 4-3 in conference play.

Palmetto boys soccer team never stopped believing

LAKEWOOD RANCH- One good thing about being young is that you are often too naive to understand the magnitude of the goal you are trying to reach.

Throw in a coach such as Dustin Dahlquist, who is a master motivator and strategist and what you have is a third straight district title for a Palmetto High team that began the Class 4A-10 tournament as the sixth seed.

The Tigers were supposed to be long gone by the time last Friday night's championship game was played. But they were there and totally dominated top seed Lakewood Ranch, which had beaten Palmetto three times this season.

The loss was devastating to Ranch because now it has to go on the road for Thursday's region quarterfinal and play Tampa Jesuit.

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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.

Palmetto/USF's Raymond selected to All-Star football game

Mistral Raymond has been selected to play in the inaugural Dixie Gridiron Classic, scheduled for Saturday, February 5th at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah.

The USF defensive back and Palmetto High graduate hopes to be selected in the next NFL draft and has been working with a trainer in Atlanta to get ready for the various post season combines.

"I'm real excited to be able to play in this all-star game," Raymond said. "I look at it as an opportunity to showcase my skills. It's another chance to play football and that's what I love to do so I am going to go out there, work hard and do the best I can."

Raymond was initially walk-on after transferring to USF from junior college. He earned a scholarship prior to this season and was named to the All Big East Conference second team.

The 6-2, 185 pound cornerback/safety played in 25 games for USF, starting 15. He had 96 tackles with 6.5 tackles for losses, two interceptions and seven pass break-ups.

Raymond was lauded for his leadership skills last season by head coach Skip Holtz and was chosen team captain. He had 56 tackles, 4.5 tackles for losses and one interception.

Going to New Mexico puts Romine in rare company

When he signs his letter of intent next week as expected with New Mexico, Dillon Romine will become only the second player at Braden River to sign a scholarship with an NCCAA FBS school (formerly I-A)click here for full story.

The only other player to sign at an FBS school is receiver Willie McNeal now at Western Kentucky. Braden River career rushing leader Tevin Bryant is at WKU, but he is currently a walk-on and has not received a scholarship.

At 6-6, 260 pounds, Romine has the size to put on a lot of weight and get over the 300 pound mark, which is the norm for offensive linemen at the Division I level.

Romine officially committed to New Mexico last weekend. He made what he called a “soft” commitment last summer, but kept his options open. Now, he says he is a solid commitment to New Mexico.

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.