Coaches and players will begin to get a feel of the squads they will have as they prepare for the football season next fall with spring practice set to get underway in less than two weeks.
The first practice of the spring will be April 28 for the Nease, Ponte Vedra and Beachside football programs.
However, the plan for spring practice differs from there as each other the three coaching staffs are taking different approaches to the offseason.
The Barracudas will practice after school with a spring game jamboree scheduled on the road against Terry Parker High at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16.
For the Panthers, they will also practice daily after school but will have three weeks of practices prior to the two that the Barracudas have scheduled.
They will have wrap up week two with the Green vs. Gold Game, which is an intrasquad scrimmage on Friday, May 16 at 6 p.m. in Panther Stadium, and it will be followed up by a spring game against Menendez High at home as well on Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m.
Also, choosing to put their own spin on things is the Sharks who will have morning practices before school and will go four weeks like the Panthers before going on the road to take on Riverside High in a spring game on Thursday, May 22 with a kickoff time still to be announced.
The varying approaches show that there is not one formula that leads to success in high school football, because all three teams made the playoffs a year ago and they will be looking to duplicate that success and even build on it with even deeper postseason runs this time around.
The spring presents coaches to learn more about their players both as they see veterans in possible leadership roles for the first time or how underclassmen or new players adapt to being part of the team as a whole.
So many of the foundational pieces that become instrumental to successful seasons in the fall begin to develop during spring practices and fans get a first glimpse of what next year’s group will look like when they take the field to face someone beside themselves during the spring games in late May.
