High school football media day kicks off 2024 season

August in West Orange And Southwest Orange does not come with the other values that suggest the advent of autumn, such as; felling of leaves, cool weather or trees changing color. 

However, people from this part of the world tend to associate the coming of the fall season the appearance of some high school football indicators. 
 
With summer workouts done and dusted, preseason events like the 2024 Florida Citrus Sports High School Football Media Day kicking off the conversation around the area’s teams and practices starting, it’s safe to say those magic words again: That’s right listeners, the Friday night high school football games have returned. 
 
In honor of the return of the game we all know and love, here is the best that we can offer from the post-spring football to the start of fall camp. 
 
This is actually a list of teams that are expected to shock everyone in the next year 2024. 
 
Forget all that you know concerning the area’s teams for the year 2023. Due to transfers, the new schemes and team identities that are in the pipeline and another round of players going through each program, the 2024 NFL season will be an entirely different ball game. Here are three teams that many fan will find themselves shocked at the end of the season. 
 
Horizon High. If one were to distill the responsibilities of a coach towards the task of creating a successful athletics program into simple terms, one of them would be that of constructing and reconstructing a team’s image each season. Since Horizon football started with its first season in 2021, Dennis Thomas has been able to do that as equally and as often as any other coach within the region. Under Thomas, the Hawks football program has a clear identity: On offence sweep the ball, on defense, strip the ball. They have Jamarie Pierre a star running back, others in the making will enable them to accomplish the running game; additionally, a significant part of this team’s secondary returns, which shows they can create turnovers. With all that taken together, Horizon has all the makings of a champion team. 
 
Ocoee High. Despite the Knights having a poor season last year with a record of 4-6, they were much of a better all around ball club than that number suggests (Ocoee two games combined were lost by a total of 6 points). Add that to that its retaining and attracting its top talent, its sheer flexibility, and a second year under coach Buck Gurley and the knights welcome a spectacular 2024 season. 
 
Windermere High. The Wolverines’ are ideal candidates for this section given that they were involved in a cocktail of circumstances that characterizes many teams during the offseason. First, you will have the information that the presence of the coach Riki Smith, who continued the work for the third season, defined an unheard of stability on the team level as the most experienced coach in the short history of the program. Then, plug in an independent schedule that eliminates the Class 7A terrors of West Orange and Southwest Orange, to go along with a slew of impact transfers on the roster. All of a sudden, Windermere has all it needs to pack the university’s new on-campus stadium with victories. 
 
Hot takes, predictions 
 
But what is a football preview story if it were not filled with a few bold statements and prognostications? This is three storylines that we believe are engaging this season and should be of interest to readers. 
 
Ocoee’s Joshua Guerrier will come out as the area’s best launcher. The Pitt football commit is a senior that already shows himself well as a multiple-sport star for the Knights; He racked up 797 total yards, six touchdowns, four interceptions, and 34 tackles while playing multiple positions in 2023. 
 
More is expected from Guerrier in 2024 and even better. Indeed, by the time the season comes to a close, he will most probably be dubbed the most vicious weapon in the entire West Orange and Southwest Orange leagues of football. He will have a new prominence at quarterback, a similar scope in relation to the Knights’ offense, defense, and special teams, as well as the benefit of another year of training. His skill set is elite and he has tons of time and open space or one on one coverage to make plays and thus his production on the field should reflect this. 
 
Out of all the area teams, The First Academy is one of the most suitable bets to win state title. It has been quite a wild and wooly off-season — to put it mildly — since the Royals were last plunging and parrying under the cool, high school September lights. Since Conaway joined TFA in the second year of the team creation, there has been a complete overhaul of players and various coaches through the year, therefore, it could be seen that TFA has assembled a team of very talented new players with the potentials of going deep into the finals this year. 
 
But to be a champion what will be required is a lot more than talent. Now, Conaway and his staff have the responsibility to gather such a collection of players and turn it into a team. This group during the season must be taught the process of how to cope with with the odds, how to compete with the best teams and primarily how to conquer. 
 
Given our history with these players, this coaching staff and the absolute murder row TFA has in 2024, we think Royals have the best shot at bringing a state championship home of any team in this area. 
 
QB Stanley Anderson-Lofton, Dr. Phillips The best offense in the area. When asked about his team’s outlook, longtime Dr. Phillips coach Rodney Wells simply responded: “Devotees, family, We go as Stanley goes. ” 
 
Anderson-Lofton a commit to Middle Tennessee is preparing to begin his third season at the DP as the team’s starting quarterback. And at this stage of his career, he has nothing to work out on the offense and all moves are quite familiar to him. He will also have four of five starters back along the o-line, as well as more toys than ever at WR. That cumulatively should put Anderson-Lofton head and shoulders above the other area QBs. Wells said it perfectly that the Panthers rise and fall with Anderson-Lofton, hence if Anderson-Lofton is the king of West, Southwest Orange this season then so should the Panthers be of the best offense.

Breakout candidates 
 
Every football season has a lot of things that are changed for every particular program. Teams will have a completely new lineup — new names will join the teams , and the players themselves will grow up. Teams will have new interpersonal relations, new chiefs and thus new chances for individuals to prove themselves. Here are some players, which we think, has a potential of getting into those opportunities and perform a breakout season. 
 
Marvin Brown, Athlete, Ocoee High School. Skinny dark Brown a freshman on varsity for the Knights last season demonstrated his speed and the ability to be an effective weapon on offense and special teams in the five games that he played last season and 270 total yards on 21 touches and one touchdown. 
 
For the track team at Ocoee last spring Brown again demonstrated his speed by breaking the school record in the two hundred meter. The Knights’ top three total yards gainers from 2023 are all gone and Ocoee has a new style of offense in place, and Brown is set up for breakout year in his sophomore season. 
 
A. J. Chung 17, quarterback for West Orange High. As a freshman, the kid has yet to take a snap in a high school varsity game, but this 2023 youth football national champion shows nearly everything one could want to see in a quarterback during the summer: in practice, in scrimmage and at the Florida Gators Swamp Shootout 7-on-7 tournament where his team, the Warriors, won. 
 
Chung does have that issue of being a little on the small side but he has a great arm, shows good pocket presence and is already displaying above-average mental processing. Pair in a quality offensive line and run game with a plethora of playmakers at wide receiver and he has all he needs to make a name for himself in his freshmen year. 
 
Ja’Cari Jackson, Olympia High wide receiver. Ocoee junior in 2023, Jackson performed as a quarterback in four games revealing glimpses of thesthe athleticism and flexibility of the position. As a Titan, and after moving to Olympia and fully committing to receiver this spring, the junior has been dynamite for his team. 
 
Speed paired with measuring 5-foot-11 and eclipsing 200 pounds while possessing soft hands have been a nightmare for Olympia DBs during 7-on-7s practice and the team’s spring game. Already, there are numerous openings in this Titans starting offense lineup; precise, it has 10 out of the 11 spots, so Jackson will get many changes to exhibit such skills on Friday nights in the fall. 
 
More 2024 names to watch:More 2024 names to watch: 
 
With the player selection, a student placed in this list is Maurice Jones, Dr. Phillips High OLB. 
The athlete of Windermere Prep is Peyton Hollern of ATH. 
Cody Owens, a Locking up quarterback for Windermere High School 
Chakai Scott, DB of West Orange High 
Vitor Silvarolli, Horizon High db 
Xavier Wall, DT/OL, Olympia High 
Azariel Woods is the Foundation Academy quarterback.