Category: Sports

Both high school football teams in New Tampa suffered disappointing seasons last year, but to very different degrees.

Freedom High, coming off its first winning season since 2009, failed to build on a 6-4 record in 2014 and slumped to 3-7 last season.

Meanwhile, Paul R. Wharton High, which was coming off a disappointing 2014, failed to make the playoffs despite posting an 8-2 record in 2015, because both losses were in district play. Great season, disappointing to miss the postseason.

After a few months of offseason workouts in the weight room and some 7-on-7 ball, both squads kicked off spring football on April 25, and will wrap it up tonight at 7 p.m. with a jamboree at King High on N. 56th St. with Wharton playing Hillsborough for two quarters, and Freedom playing the second half against the host Lions.

For results, check back at NTNeighborhoodNews.com tonight.

Heading into the summer, both teams will continue to work on some pressing questions.

WHO’S TO BE THE QB?

Wharton and Freedom both entered the spring with gaping holes under center for the first time in years.

This is the first year Wharton head coach David Mitchell entered the spring with no idea who his starting quarterback would be since Chase Litton was in the eighth grade in 2010. The record-setting Litton was a senior in 2013, and senior transfer Adam McAfee took over for a season before another senior, Bryce Martin, threw for 1,319 yards and 10 touchdowns last fall.

But whose turn is it now?

“We don’t know,’’ said Mitchell.

Junior varsity starter Darin Green would have been the logical choice, but the sophomore-to-be also is a standout basketball player and Mitchell said he will bypass football to focus on his hoops game.

Considering Martin was the only player to throw a varsity pass last season, that leaves a big, big hole in the Wharton lineup. At Wharton’s practices last week, five possible QBs took turns throwing passes.

Freedom narrowed its choices down to two: rangy 6-foot-3 rising junior Amar McCrae, and rising junior Deshard Hughes, who is built like a linebacker, where he will also play.

So for those counting at home, the two New Tampa football teams combined return one player who threw a varsity pass — which was intercepted — last season, and that was Robert Mungin, a Freedom defensive back.

IS SHANNON THE NEW KING?

Wharton grad Vernon Hargreaves became the school’s highest-ever NFL draft pick when he went to the hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 11th pick in the first round. Litton, who tore it up last year at Marshall, could be next. And, former Wildcats WR Auden Tate should start this season for Florida State and has future NFL wideout written all over him.

Who’s next from Wharton? This spring could give us a glimpse as rising junior RB Shannon King steps into a primetime role.

Considering Wharton’s passing game will be a bright shade of green, look for the Wildcats to lean on their rushing game, where King ran for 399 yards and five touchdowns last season, running behind senior and 1,000-yard rusher Miles Williams.

King is 5-10 and about 220 pounds, a bottom-heavy load who can both run around and through opponents. Mitchell thinks King can be special. The month of May could provide a big clue to whether or not he’s correct.

WHERE’S THE BEEF?

You won’t find many football coaches heading into spring who won’t tell you that finding capable offensive and defensive linemen is a primary concern, and the New Tampa schools are no exception.

“We need to find out who’s who up front,’’ Mitchell says.

Wharton is graduating big boy blockers like Zach Humphreys (6-4, 275), Daniel Martel (6-4, 270) and Andrew Williams (6-2, 270), but the Wildcats do appear to have some beefy replacements.

At Freedom, the Patriots also suffered significant losses on the offensive line. “We are very, very thin on the offensive and defensive lines,’’ said new coach Floyd Graham. “We need to get some kids well.”

READY FOR A BREAKTHROUGH?

Graham did not hesitate when pointing out his spring MVP: rising senior Trent Burnett, a 5-7, 185-pound jack-of-all-trades.

Burnett will start at running back for the Patriots. He has very good hands and should be a weapon in the passing game.

Last year, Burnett only had 18 carries for 64 yards, but added nine catches for 146 yards (second on the team) and two TDs.

Burnett also will play DB and return kicks. “He’s going to be everything,’’ said Graham, chuckling. “He’s going to be a game changer.’’

IS FLOYD GRAHAM THE ANSWER?

Surprise! Freedom has a new head coach. Graham is now the eighth coach in 14 seasons of Freedom football. He replaces Todd Donohoe, who lasted longer and won more games than any other coach in the school’s history (four seasons, 15 wins).

Graham, ironically, first applied for the Freedom job in 2002, the first year the school was open, but didn’t get it. He went on to start the program at Newsome High (in Lithia) in 2003, and at Steinbrenner High in 2009, having success at both schools and compiling a 21-29 record, including 7-3 his last year with the Warriors.

He is excited about taking over an established program.

“The last time I coached (in Hillsborough County), I didn’t have any seniors,’’ Graham said. “This is a different kind of animal. Something is already there. I just have to polish it.”

Graham has installed a spread offense at Freedom, hoping to take advantage of an athletic squad. He will also line his defense up in a 4-2-5.

The no-nonsense new coach had 40 kids out practicing when we checked out Freedom last week, after starting the spring with 58.“We knew we were going to have to clean house a little bit and we did,’’ Graham said. “But I’m happy with what we got.”

The best high school football player in New Tampa history is about to become the highest-drafted National Football League (NFL) player in New Tampa history.

Former Paul R. Wharton High star defensive back Vernon Hargreaves III, who went on to a standout career at the University of Florida in Gainesville, is expected to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft, which will pick the first round tonight beginning at 8 p.m.

Hargreaves will attend the draft, which runs through the weekend and is being held at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.

While other Wildcats football grads have flirted with the NFL (linebacker Larry Edwards was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Buffalo Bills in 2007, and linebacker Josh Jones played in some preseason games for Jacksonville in 2012), none has had the impact Hargreaves is expected to.

According to NFL.com’s analysis, “With top-notch ball skills and exceptional instincts that drew praise from Alabama’s Nick Saban, Hargreaves possesses the football makeup to become a Pro Bowl corner.”

Hargreaves — whose sister Chanelle graduates this spring from Wharton after a sterling volleyball career and who also will attend Florida — grew up in Miami and Greenville, NC, where his dad Vernon II was an assistant football coach at the University of Miami Hurricanes and at East Carolina University, respectively.

In 2010, Hargreaves II took a job at the University of South Florida in Tampa, eventually enrolling his son at Wharton.

Hargreaves did not play football until high school, but was clearly a natural and excelled from the start.

According to various NFL draft experts and analysts, as well as most mock drafts, Hargreaves should be a top-10 pick as arguably the purest cornerback in the draft (although FSU safety Jalen Ramsey is rated a notch higher on most boards). ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper, in one of his most recent mock drafts, has Hargreaves going No. 14 overall to the Oakland Raiders.

“Hargreaves lacks some measurables, but the tape doesn’t lie,” Kiper wrote, alluding to the one knock on the former Wildcat — his 5-foot-11, 207-pound frame. That did not stop Hargreaves, though, from earning all-Southeastern Conference honors every year as a Gator, nor does the former Wildcat see that as a negative.

“Playing in the SEC, I’ve covered Amari Cooper (currently with the Oakland Raiders), I’ve covered Odell Beckham (New York Giants), Jarvis Landry (Miami Dolphins) and Kelvin Benjamin (Carolina Panthers),’’ Hargreaves said at the NFL Draft Combine last month. “You gotta compete. At the end of the day, it’s all about competing. Height, size, that doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, if you can play ball you can play ball.”

Hargreaves can certainly play ball. He was an All-State pick every season he played at Wharton, and excelled everywhere coach David Mitchell put him. On special teams, he returned kicks when called on and blocked a handful of field goals and extra point attempts. He also filled in at quarterback and wide receiver, rushing for 237 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior and adding 313 yards and three more touchdowns receiving that same year.

“He could do it all,’’ Mitchell said.

It was as a lockdown corner, however, that Hargreaves achieved fame, with nine career high school interceptions and more than 203 tackles while twice earning All-American honors, winning two national titles on Team Tampa in 7-on-7 and earning MVP honors as a senior at the prestigious Under-Armour All-America Game in St. Petersburg.

Hargreaves was a freshman starter at Florida, and a sensation his first two seasons. He proclaimed himself to be the best cornerback in the country prior to his junior season, and went out and totaled 33 tackles, 4 interceptions and 4 passes defended.

So, where will Hargreaves, who is lauded for his quick-twitch athleticism, aggressiveness and 39-inch vertical jump allowing him to get his hands on passes intended for taller wide receivers, be drafted?

While Kiper (and CBSSports.com) has him at No. 14 in mock drafts, he also said on a national conference call that Hargreaves could be in the mix to go to the Baltimore Ravens at No. 6. Most recently, however, he has been more critical of Hargreaves and his chances at an All-Pro career.

Drafttek.com says Hargreaves will be taken 8th by the Philadelphia Eagles, WalterFootball.com has him going No. 10 to the New York Giants, and SBNation.com has the Chicago Bears taking him at No. 11.

Chances are, however, that local fans of Hargreaves are hoping that NFL.com analyst Charles Davis and Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks are correct:

They both have Hargreaves lasting until the No. 9 pick, where the hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers could address a glaring need and snatch up the local kid.

The NFL Draft will air live on the NFL Network, with Round 1 tonight at 8 p.m. Rounds 2-3 will be held Friday, Apr. 29, and rounds 4-7 will be held Sunday, Apr. 30.

 

By Andy Warrener

Following an offseason fueled by disappointment, Wharton junior hurdler Aria Tate is ready to shine.

The budding star, already off to a great start in the track and field season, is looking ahead to a breakout season. She came close last year, almost capturing a state title in the 200 meters as a sophomore. But, in the time it practically takes Tate to blink her eyes, her shot at gold slipped away, as she finished second by .08 seconds.

This year, Tate will focus on her specialty — the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, an event she routinely wins in Hillsborough County and one in which her father, Heanon, thinks she can be a star when she gets to college.

Heanon, after all, would know. A pastor at Force of Life International in Tampa Palms, Heanon was a star running back at Gaffney High School in South Carolina before running the sprints and hurdles at South Carolina State.

Heanon’s son, Auden, was a star wide receiver for Wharton, and is now at Florida State.

He sees his daughter as having the same athletic potential.

“I think she could excel at the next level in the 400m hurdles,” Heanon said.

Tate will be one to watch today at the third annual Wharton Wildcat Invitational. Field events begin at 8:20 a.m., and the running finals start at 4:30 p.m. (or 45 minutes after the completion of prelims).

Heanon, who has volunteered with the track team since his family moved here from South Carolina four years ago, is a first-year full-time assistant coach under Wharton track coach Anthony Triana. The former college star helps out with all of the sprinters and hurdlers — his specialty — but he will keep a close eye on Aria.

Tate is fast becoming a top-flight hurdler. She was sixth at the state meet in the 100m hurdles last season as a sophomore, and just ran the 55-meter hurdles in 8.37 seconds at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational indoor meet in Gainesville in March. That was good enough for third-place in the 17-19 age group, behind Dunedin’s Olivia Welsh, who was third last year at the Class 2A State Championship, and Royal Palm Beach’s Faith Lee.

For Tate, who usually starts slow and relies on her strong finishes to win races, her 8.37 was an encouraging number for a shorter event, evidence she improved last offseason on her initial burst out of the blocks. Her best time in the 100 hurdles is 14.49, but that won’t be enough to win states.

What will help, however, will be Triana’s plan to give her some more rest in between events. Highly versatile and able to run 5-6 different races, last year’s meet schedule during the postseason could be grueling. Last season, Tate focused on the 100 hurdles and the 100 dash. Those events are practically back-to-back at a track meet, with only a brief respite, thanks to the boys 110-meter hurdles in between.

“I think my times would have been better if I would have had more time to rest (in between events),” Tate said. “You try to rest (in between the 100m hurdles and the 100m dash) but there’s just not that much time, you have to get back to the line for the race.”

The 100 and 330 hurdles, however, are separated by enough events that Tate will be fresh for both.

Tate’s excellence in the hurdles will make the Wharton girls track & field team even more dangerous this season. Along with fellow juniors Avonti Holt and Searra Woods, the trio have many of the sprinting events covered, and they also run on a 4×400 relay (seventh at state last year) together that should challenge the school record. Holt and Woods were both also on the 4x800m relay that took third at the state meet.

“Those three have been leaders on this team for the last three years and they each excel in their own way,” Triana says. “If we didn’t have any one of the three of them, it’d be a different team.”

The Wildcats opened their track season at the Wharton Quad Meet, running against Freedom, Wiregrass Ranch and Bloomingdale. Tate only competed in the 400-meter dash (which is expected to help her build endurance for the hurdles races in the bigger, more important meets) and finished a few seconds behind her teammate Woods. Wharton won 10 of the 16 events.

“The biggest key with our team is the versatility of those three,” Triana said. “These three can go up and cover eight events between them.”

Boys Not Too Shabby, Either

The Wharton boys may not have the star power the girls do, but they had a solid quad meet as well.

Sophomore Noah Damjanovic won the 1600- and 3200-meter runs (in 4:51.33 and 10:19.97, respectively), sophomores Sahil Deschenes and Dennarius Murphy finished 1-2 in the 800, and junior Desmond Williams ran a 45.71 to win the 300m hurdles.

The Freedom track and field program is re-building in 2016, with head coach Lyn Gross taking over both the boys and girls squads. Gross has been the boys coach for the last five years and takes over the full team with assistant Miranda Calloway. Gross, a two-time state champion as a member of the 4×100 relay team for Suwannee High School, says he has between 50 and 60 athletes out for the start of track season.

Returners Isiah Smith, Christian Simmons, Trent Burnett and Richard Lush will be looked to help try and keep pace with their New Tampa rivals at Wharton.

Smith captured the 200 at the Wharton Quad Meet, winning in 23.21 seconds, and Xaiver Hardy (with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches) and Demetrius Jones (5’-6”) finished 1-2 in the high jump for the top individual Patriot finishes, while the 4×100 and 4×400 relays teams also posted wins.

The Patriot boys could see some reinforcements now that the basketball team’s season ended with a loss to Bartow in the regional semifinals on Feb. 16. Gross said that he will most likely get Freedom hoops star Nasir Core out for the track team, particularly in the jumps, to help bolster the lineup.

On the girls side, Rachel Chapper will handle the jumps, and she specializes in the high jump. The junior was the only Patriot girl to win an event at the quad meet, jumping 4’-10” to win the high jump.

Sophomore middle distance runner Dana Elkalazani, who was part of Freedom’s state-qualifying 4×400 relay last season, was second in the 1600 (in a time of 5:43.58) and third in the 800 (2:32.46) at the Wharton quad meet.