Newfound confidence has given North Florida Christian football veteran, deeper identity

Last season was quite literally a fresh start for the North Florida Christian Eagles.

They welcomed Brent Hill as the new head coach, graduated 10 seniors (including its starting quarterback and scorer), and were putting a young group forward in leading the team.

NFC leaned into its talent and athleticism early on, as a lot of players were still making the adjustment to playing at a varsity pace. Despite the youth and the learning curve, the Eagles were competitive.

Sophomore quarterback JP Pickles threw for over 3,000 yards, and junior wide receiver Traylon Ray had  over 1,300 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns.

In addition, senior running back Devon Jackson posted over 300 rushing yards and 530 receiving yards, junior Joshua Schuchts had over 400 receiving yards and on defense, Pickles recorded a whopping 125 tackles.

Despite having some crazier finishes to their games, the Eagles were a competitive force with the youngest team in the Big Bend.

Now with a year under their belt, Ray picking up attention from a handful of Power 5 programs, Pickles now settled into his starting role, and a handful of new transfers, NFC isn't the little brother anymore.

A full calendar year has grown on this team, building it up as one of the biggest threats not just in their region, but in Class 1 Suburban.

"Last year I wasn't able to do nearly as much as what we're doing this year," Hill said. "We're 50 percent ahead of where we want to be. The entire month of June, I haven't had to worry about getting all the way into it, and in July we're going to add a whole lot more. At the end of the day, we're more in sync than we were last year. I just want to see us continue to grow.

Settling in

One player who exploded in the offseason was Ray.

In addition to being the only athlete in the Big Bend to pick up All-Big Bend first-team honors in three different sports (football, basketball, and baseball), college programs have begun to eye the rising senior.

He held four major offers at the beginning of 2021, but as his numbers began to rise this past fall. Since September, he has picked up 14 offers from programs ranging from Miami,  South Florida, Mississippi State, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and more. Prior to his junior year cycle, he touted offers from Georgia Tech, Central Florida, Virginia Teach, and hometown Florida State.

"It's been a lot," Ray said on his rise in recruitment. "Coaches are calling me all the time and it can get busy, but not a lot of people get this opportunity. I just thank God for it."

With the Eagles last season, Ray made up a bulk of that scoring off the arm of Pickles. Now having the duo establish more of a rhythm on the field, there's more confidence overall compared to last season. Ray said that's what the biggest difference has been in Hill trusting the two to lead, and both trusting the rest of their teammates.

"There's definitely more confidence," Ray said. "The younger guys have that age on them now and are getting the weight up, and working constantly. It's definitely going to show up in our confidence this year."

Pickles has also echoed the same feeling that confidence has been huge for the Eagles in prepping for the 2022 season. During Mike Norvell's 7v7 camp, Pickles said that he feels even more comfortable from last season already in just being able to have more options to throw to and having a better read of the field.

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

That adjustment on the field has given coaches confidence as well as Hill has given Ray and Pickles more responsibility in calling plays, and dictating certain parts of practice.

"It's been a lot easier," Pickles said.

"The first time you've ever done something it's a little changing, but coming back it's been easier to adjust to everything. When it comes to calling plays, we've learned from coach Hill what he'd do in that situation, and we just have to be able to do it ourselves."

Transfers have also made the effort a little bit easier, expanding the offense beyond just a handful of players.

Junior wide receiver/defensive back Leon Washington, junior linebacker/running back Major Hart, and junior defensive back/wide receiver Zion Paret all transferred into NFC from St. John Paul II, and are major additions to the Eagles' effort.

Washington was an All-Big Bend offense honorable mention with 598 receiving yards and five receiving TDs. He is also holding offers from Mississippi State, South Florida, and Florida International.

"It's helping a lot adding them," Ray said. "Not as many people can focus on me or Josh [Schuchts], or Ray Daly anymore. They've got to focus on Leon [Washington] or any of our other guys. It adds more weapons."

"Having more guys come into the program gives us healthy competition amongst positions," Schuchts said. "It's always good adding more athletes to the group. They love the work and they fit right in."

All eyes on the Eagles

The difference a year makes has been huge for NFC and they're expecting this fall to be good. However, now being a veteran squad, they are pushing themselves to achieve even more and work even harder.

The summer month has been a grind for NFC, adding more weight and reps during conditioning workouts and trying to do more on the field, knowing that they have more to work with. It's been vigorous early on, but they are aware they're going to have to grind in order to win in the fall.

"We come in every day knowing it's going to be hard and rough," Pickles said. "No day is going to be easy, so we have the mentality knowing that we need to work our hardest every day."

In having Ray pick up a lot of recruiting attention, Pickles returning after throwing over 3,000 yards on the year, and a slew of local pick-ups, there are a lot more eyes on the Eagles than last year. Expectations have heightened for the small school off of Meridian Road, and the players know that.

NFC is aware that the pressure is on, and it is stepping up to the challenge.

"I don't think they're really worried about it," Hill said. "I think they've handled it well. Last year, all eyes jumped on us because of the necessity and they now know those details...We don't make it a big deal, because we want to stress that this isn't a one-man show."

North Florida Christian schedule 

*District game

Aug 19 at Hamilton County

Aug 26 vs. Leon

Sept 2 vs. Marianna

Sept 9 vs. Jefferson County

Sep 19 at Taylor County

Sept 23 at Valwood

Sept 30 vs. Maclay*

Oct 7 vs. FAMU DRS

Oct 14 vs. Rocky Bayou Christian

Oct 21 at St. John Paul II

Oct 28 at Munroe*

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: Confidence has given North Florida Christian football veteran, deeper identity