Welcoming in large, young core, a state championship is still the goal for Florida High

Depth has played into Florida High's success over the last half-decade. When one class exits, the other fills in almost flawlessly. The seamless transition has led to the program building a reputation as a state contender.

Last season, Florida High found a way to go even deeper, playing shorthanded for a good chunk of the season. Even then, the Seminoles went 11-2, winning their region and making yet another appearance in the state semifinal round. Playing shorthanded wasn't what Florida High had planned, but it got them to where it needed to be.

"It gave us a lot of depth and created a lot of depth for this year's team," Seminoles head coach Jarrod Hickman said. "You had Tre [Donaldson] and Drew [Faurot] that were out for a while. It allowed younger guys like Ashton Hampton and DJ Barnes to grow up a bit. Sometimes when you have those things, it allows you to develop your younger guys."

With both of its quarterbacks graduating - Donaldson is headed to Auburn and Faurot to UCF to play baseball - and its leading defensive piece Jordan Gilley heading to FAMU, there are some holes to fill for the Seminoles. However, similar to past seasons, Florida High feels more than prepared when it comes to having younger players step up into bigger roles.

Becoming the veterans

With a handful of players out last season, Barnes was the next in line to help lead the Seminoles as he had the experience. He has been a part of the Florida High teams that have made deep playoff runs, including 2019 which made it to the state championship game. Now he's the last one left from that run.

Last season, despite missing the entire month of September and the bulk of October due to injury, he recorded 40 tackles and three interceptions over nine games. A bad ankle sprain required him to receive surgery, eventually seeing him return to his team in late October against Trinity Christian.

While he has been focused on readjusting back to the game, the focus remains to bring younger players up and keep up that championship standard. Barnes said that his job, along with the rest of the senior classes, is to show the younger players the way how things work

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"The team is coming together really well," Barnes said. "I had good leaders through my entire time here and I'm taking everything from the past, the good and the bad, and applying it now to improve my game."

Another player that had a breakout year last season was junior running back Micahi Danzy. He was one-half of the rushing power duo between him and senior running back Rhyder Poppell, seeing Danzy rush for 700 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. He's also emerged as one of the top track athletes in the state, earning a state runner-up finish in the 400 and a fourth-place finish in the 200.

His lethality on the rush has earned him a ton of recruiting attention in the offseason, picking up offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Florida (USF), Middle Tennessee State, Florida A&M, Western Kentucky, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, Michigan State, and Georgia. In adjusting back to the gridiron from the track, Danzy said that he's only gotten faster from the fall.

"These past few months have been teaching me what college is going to be like, and how mentally and physically prepared I have to be for it, " Danzy said.

Danzy said that he is looking to pick up some more receiving yards, having 73 last year, this season and is aiming to break 1000 rushing yards on the year as well. He's worked closely with his counterpart, Poppell, and said that the senior pushes him to be a better athlete.

Another player that is stepping up into the veteran role this year is senior wide receiver Brooks Hickman. He led Florida High on the receiving end with 788 yards and six yards, proving to be the most popular target for Donaldson and Faurot. He also kicked for 80 percent in points after.

Similar to Barnes, he's been focused on bringing the younger players up to par for what the Seminoles need to succeed.

"We're really working to mature right now," Brooks said. "We're really young, so we're just learning to grow up and play championship-style football. It was a little overwhelming at first working with a lot of younger guys, but we're getting used to it and having fun. They're learning to compete and play at a high standard."

New faces

One of the biggest questions that have been posed to the Seminoles is who is going to take over in the backfield? Graduating both its quarterbacks, it's going to be a new face stepping into the starting role this fall.

Sophomore quarterback Jeremy Johnston has stepped up into the starting position, moving up from junior varsity and getting his first varsity experience against Mosley this spring.

"I've been able to be a sponge behind Trey and Drew, and to just learn from them has made this a smooth transition," Johnson said. "The first time getting out there was never racking, but then I realized I just needed to be myself out there."

That's been the biggest thing that's stood out to Hickman early on that Johnson hasn't felt pressured from what his predecessors did and is working to improve his own game.

"He's tried to make sure that he's maintaining himself," Hickman said. "He's not trying to be anybody else but himself. He's extremely coachable, a very smart football player and he's got talent. He's realized that he's got a lot of good weapons around him."

Brooks, still being that popular and dependable target at wide receiver, has said that working with the new quarterback has gone well so far. He said that he sees Johnson improving every day and that Johnson has been easy to talk to about what is being done well or what might need to be improved.

The Seminoles also picked up a big transfer from North Florida Christian in junior athlete Rolando Robbins. Last season Robbins had 67 tackles for the Eagles and four fumble recoveries. In having a younger group come into the system, having a player like Robbins helps boost the defensive productive effort.

"This is the best program in Tallahassee in my opinion," Robbins said. "Things at NFC didn't really work out, so now I'm here and I have a really good relationship with the guys. I'm excited about the season."

State standard

This past few seasons Florida High has been awfully close to a state title, but have just been a win or two short. With a new realignment in place with the metro/suburban shift, that could change for the Seminoles.

Teams like Trinity Christian, Chaminade Madonna, and Kings Academy have all moved out of the Seminoles classification, setting them up as a favorite. At the same time, South Walton, Gadsden County, Godby, Wakulla, Baker County, Villages, and Cocoa are now all in the same class as Florida High.

The Seminoles don't see metro/suburban as an advantage or disadvantage and are prepared to play the schedule that is given to them.

"We'll do whatever the state will tell us to do, so this is a different split and it took out some of the private schools," Hickman said. "It also brought in a lot of really good 5A schools that you'll have to compete against. The road will be different, but I don't think it'll be any easier."

The consistency of one class after another builds a standard of success in Southwood. As the regular season quickly approaches, the Seminoles' senior class is poised on not just continuing that standard but raising it as well.

"That's what we're trying to do. Raise the standard," Brooks said. "We want to continue to bring it to the highest level and hopefully that will show in the later months."

Florida High Seminoles schedule 

*District game 

Aug 26 vs. Trinity Catholic

Sept 2 at Ponte Vedra

Sept 9 vs. Taylor County

Sept 26 vs. Gadsden County*

Sept 23 vs. Madison County

Oct 14 at Godby*

Oct 21 at Chiefland

Oct 28 at Marianna*

Nov 2 at Lincoln

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: State championship still the goal for Florida High now with large, young group