FSU football has been one of the schools hooked on recruiting the famed Florida school – but now, there will be double the athletes to recruit.
UPDATE – We got a response from IMG Academy to this article. Please read below for their response.
The 2017 FSU football roster has three players, including starting quarterback Deondre Franocis and top recruit Joshua Kaindoh, who spent the last part of their high school career at what has become a football factory – as the IMG Academy, once just a training center for sports like tennis and soccer, has become a full fledged prep school near Bradenton churning out some of the top recruits in the country.
The academy, which is all players who transferred in from other schools across the country, will be celebrating their fifth anniversary of football this season. What started as just over 50 players back in 2013 has nearly jumped to 160 players and another national schedule playing top teams from across the country.
So, what is the school going to do with all those players? Why, create another team!
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the academy will have “Blue” and “White” teams starting with the 2017 season:
"Aside from the IMG Blue team — which plays a national schedule against traditional powerhouses, and finished 11-0 a year ago while being ranked fourth in the country by MaxPreps — there also will be an IMG White team this fall.Technically the “B” team, the White team will play a Florida-only schedule."
The school has done this in other sports, with the “White” team essentially being the junior varsity team for the school (which head coach Kevin White said in the article they would do next) as players can be moved up to the “Blue” team and moved down.
Now, I’ve been the first person to defend places like IMG Academy and private schools who, basically, are recruiting players to come there. High schoolers have the right to do and go wherever they want if they think it’s going to get them to the next level.
At the same time, this is a little much.
If the school is bringing in too many players for one team, maybe they need to cap the number of students being brought in. I know that will never happen because as long as the academy is getting their money, they are never going to say no to anyone.
No school district in the state of Florida, nor the FHSAA, would ever approve the idea of having a school with two teams playing – not a powerhouse like Fort Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas or a small school like any high school in the panhandle that is the only one for a whole county.
IMG Academy does play as an independent in the state of Florida, meaning they can play other schools in the state but are not eligible for a district title and won’t play in the state playoffs. For that reason, no one really has a problem with fielding two teams.when it comes to the decision makers.
Still, it sets a dangerous precedent that could be a serious problem in the future.
Next: Top FSU Football Rivalry Wins Over Florida and Miami
UPDATE:
Monday, Chop Chat received an email from John Esfeller, the Media Relations Manager, who wanted to respond to several points in our story:
"“When you call us a “full fledged prep school,” that suggests our football team plays post-graduates. I know what you intend when you say that, but for some readers that would suggest we may not have a fully high school roster.”“Just prior to that, you refer to it “just a training center,” but even back in the old days, students were still required to attend school at a nearby private school, until we finally introduced Academics on campus in 1999. Now our school, accredited K – 12, is more robust than ever to accommodate increased enrollment.”"
Esfeller went on to say that there will only be 110 players on both teams combined, not the 160 that was alluded to in the Tampa Bay Times article. He also said that the school had been in talks with the FHSAA about fielding two teams since its founding and had a JV team from 2014-16, but did not like that players were getting less than 10 games to play.
We appreciate Esfeller and the schools response.