JACKSONVILLE - Amongst nearly 50 area high school football programs ranging from Class 1A through Class 7A, the football fever for 2025 has risen to a pitch of readiness as area programs talked their goods and bads at the Baker Sports Jags Media Day gathering Friday night at Everbank Field in Jacksonville.
For the local teams; Clay, Keystone Heights, Oakleaf, Fleming Island, Ridgeview, Orange Park and Middleburg, the opportunity to answer media rounds of questions gave coaches and players a little insight into the mindset about take on pads and make final preparations for the August 22 start of 2025 football.
"Win the state title, that's the expectation," said Oakleaf coach Chris Foy, emphatically, as he was joined on the stage with his players; Jack McKissock (QB), Jordin Price (ATH), Chris Jules (DL), Jermaine Robinson (LB), Joel Bazinert (PS), Fareed Coleman (RB) and Trace Burney (WR) as well as offensive coordinator Bubba Horne. "That's the ultimate goal and these guys have put in a tremendous amount of work and that's the only direction we want to go."
Foy returns for his second year at the helm at Oakleaf after a scintillating 9-4 region final finish last year with a 29-22 loss to Gainesville Buchholz.
"We use that pain to direct our training today," said Foy.
For the players, the most oft repeat phrase was "15-0" and the best season in Oakleaf history.
Foy coined his special phrase dealing with his special teams with punt snapper Joel Bazinert right now rated as one of the best in the nation at his craft.
"What we say about special teams and the special emphasize we put on it is 'It doesn't matter until it matters'," said Foy. "We had a great kicker last year, Andrew McDaid, we have the best snapper again this year, Joel, and our return guys; Burney, Conner, Price are the best in the area."
For quarterback Jack McKissock, with the addition of Fleming Island transfer Trace Burney, his expectation to score points is very high.
"Our offense is going to be very explosive with Trace Burney now on board," said McKissock. "It's a matter of pick you poison for defenses. Who do you think you want to stop?"
Horne reiterated McKissock's optimism.
"They make my job a whole lot easier," said Horne. "My job is to get the ball into the hands of the guy that is going to make the biggest plays and we have a lot of them. It's going to hard for defenses to pick one."
Burney's inclusion into the Oakleaf puzzle is one creating a bit of a tremor in the area.
"I'm just going to contribute my skills to the program," said Burney. "The coaches know me because they defenses me the past few years."
On the defense, Robinson, Price and Jules are three members of the Knights' defense that had plenty of testing last year with the Oakleaf scheduled again to take on the likes of Hawthorne, Bolles, Fletcher and Mandarin with Mandarin becoming quite the intense rivalry between the two programs with Mandarin beating Oakleaf last year in regular season game, but losing in the playoffs to put Oakleaf into the region final.