7v7 notebook: Rickards, Godby, Munroe, Taylor County, NFC take their talents to Mike Norvell's camp

A heat advisory and heat index in the mid- to high-90s didn't stop hundreds of football players from the Big Bend, Florida, and southeast Georgia from making the trip to the FSU Rec SporsPlex for Mike Norvell's 7v7 High School Camp.

Five Big Bend teams attended Wednesday: Rickards, Godby, Munroe, Taylor County, and North Florida Christian. The early summer camp allowed teams to get a small taste of competition they might see later this season, more conditioning and of course more reps.

Here are a few things I saw at the midweek camp.

Rickards

The Raiders are boasting a lot of talent on offense, but the focus had been the defense as of late, getting a large younger core adjusted to the varsity pace. There have been some bumps in the road in that process, but it's helped that it offense has been able to be a dependable force early on.

Senior quarterback Jakari Winters has made it an easy transition from Michael Townsend's exit and guys like senior wide receivers Rico Watkins and Keyon Brown have proven to be favorite targets. Brown has had a big week, in particular, committing to Oklahoma on June 5.

"When I went there, I was just so excited," Brown said. "There was never a dull moment. It felt like home to me. That's why I committed."

More: Rickards looking to veterans to bring up younger group after graduating large senior class

Brown is one of the few players in the Big Bend that saw their recruitment absolutely explode in the offseason. He received his first offer in January from Florida State and has since amounted to over 20 and a four-star rating from ESPN.

"It really came out of nowhere," Brown said. "At the end of the season, I didn't think I was going to get an offer. When I got my first one, it changed my whole game. I was working hard before, but now I'm working even harder to get to the top."

Watkins and senior athlete Tristen Sion have also been popular Rickards recruiting targets this offseason. It's good to see that the Raiders' offense is holding steady. I think there's a little bit of adjusting left to do, but they look good for the early offseason.

As for the defense, I'm not too worried about it. Rickards is well-coached and tends to get everything into place by the time the kick-off classic rolls around. There will be a little more of a drop-off from last year, but I think this unit will be ok by the end of the summer.

Taylor County

After having a limited fall, Taylor County is back in full force, with some new and old faces. One of its biggest pick-ups in the offseason was senior defensive back Cameron Upshaw, who returned to Taylor County after spending a year at Gadsden County.

Upshaw was another name that blew up this year. He received his first offer from FAMU a little over a year ago and didn't receive another look until Maryland offered in September. From there it snowballed. Since then, he's picked up around 25 offers and traveled all around the country.

This past weekend on his official visit to South Carolina he committed to USC, being the second straight Big Bend player to commit to South Carolina, with Godby's Kajuan Banks committing last summer.

"I'm really excited," Upshaw said. "I'm just taking all in and everything that comes with it. Kajuan Banks recruited me when I first got the offer, but I committed cause it was the best for me."

Upshaw said he feels like he's at home in Columbia and likes what head coach Shane Beamer is doing with the program. He's also looking forward to working with who he believes is the best defensive backs coach in the country: Torrian Gray.

In his senior season, Upshaw is focused on bettering his game and his teammates' game. Taylor Couty players have ended their practice with a "state champs" chant, and Upshaw wholeheartedly agrees with that.

"I'm really just looking forward to competing with my team and at a high level," Upshaw said. "Of course I want us to win the whole thing, but I just want to get better."

Taylor County is a young team with a lot of experience. A lot of younger guys were thrown into key roles last year and it's going to pay off for the Bulldogs moving forward. Senior running back JerQuon Clayton is going to be huge on the offense and sophomore running back Caden Collier should have a big year as well.

Sophomore quarterback Rhyan Hamilton will most likely be the starter and I think he just needs to get a little more comfortable in the role over the summer. The Bulldogs' passing game needs a little cleaning, but this is a team that's strong on the ground. I really think this could be a team that surprises a lot of people come fall.

North Florida Christian

I watched North Florida Christian (NFC) last week against Chiles and FAMU DRS, and they were extremely impressive. 7v7 should be where this team thrives as they are extremely athletic, and they did. Junior quarterback JP Pickles was connecting with senior wide receiver Traylon Ray, plus more.

Wednesday, the Eagles were without Ray and a few others, but that didn't hinder them from still putting on competitive performance. The biggest thing that this team is gaining this year is depth, as this team had a youth look last year, but has now shown growth early in the offseason.

"I feel a lot more confident," Pickles said. "We have a lot of new weapons coming in this year, and coach Hill has shown me a lot of new stuff. A feel a lot better than last year."

More: 7v7 notebook: Chiles, North Florida Christian, FAMU DRS get first action of the summer

That comment should come off as a little scary when you look at Pickles' stat line from last season. He threw for 3211 yards, averaging 291.9 per game, 223 completions, and 31 touchdowns. He led the Big Bend in passing yards and early in the offseason has said that he's feeling a lot better than last year.

A handful of transfers have just added even more depth to NFC's attack and is putting them in a really good position with the fall around the corner. There's work to be done, but the Eagles are feeling pretty confident.

"We've still got Traylon, Leon Washington from JPII, which is like another Traylon," Pickles said. "We have Ray [Daly] at the wide-out position, who has grown a lot from last year, and of course Josh [Schuchts] at slot on Traylon's side. I can basically put the ball wherever."

It's so early, but the NFC team looks really good. It's veteraned, picked up more talent, and is looking sharp in 7v7. This team could easily lead 1S Region 1 this fall.

Munroe

The other team that's going to rival NFC for that top spot in 1S is Munroe. Picking up senior cornerback Makari Vickers, while maintaining Ahmari Borden, Ostin Perkins, Keishawn Mashburn, and Kelvin Crawford, was huge. This team is very talented, but I think they just need to put it all together.

More: 4-star cornerback Makari Vickers transfers to Munroe, highlighting Bobcats' recruiting

They still trying to find the right arm in the backfield, working some eighth graders into the mix. Losing Joshua Brown due to seniority did sting, but there's a lot of summer to bring that position up. In 7v7, it looked like just a lot of figuring out systems, and works well.

The edge that NFC has on Munroe is there's a little more familiarity with the Eagles, and Munroe is working with new players. I don't think that this is going to be an issue when August comes around, but it just means the offseason is going to be a little more focused on learning everyone's game.

Either way, you cannot doubt the talent on this roster and when it comes together, you're going to want to watch out.

Godby

Godby played Taylor County in the final game I watched of the day, and I saw something really promising from the Cougars. With time winding down, like Hail Mary time, its quarterback slung the ball and its receiver fought off two defenders to score at the horn. I'm not sure if it meant anything, but there was definite excitement on the sidelines.

More: 'Our goal is to win in life': Jones focused on building character through football at Godby

One of the biggest issues for Godby last season was its general organization on offense and early on it's showing a more sound structure. Sophomore quarterback Christian Sims is a fantastic piece to build this offense off of and from what I remember a pretty bright future in its defense.

This is a team that is young and is going through a little bit of a program rebuild, not a full ground up, but still some change. I'm really interested to watch this team develop and see the product they'll bring to the field in the fall.

Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 7v7 notebook: Big Bend football teams take on Mike Norvell's HS camp