BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Bradford High School football coach Jamie Rodgers addressed a wide range of topics during a speech to the Starke Rotary Club on April 17, including transfers, paying players, and recruiting.
However, the Baker County native surprised the civic group when he told them about a primary key to his team’s success.
Rodgers claimed one critical contribution to his team’s 36-5 record over the past three years is a meal regimen funded by a grant, his booster club, and a church.
“Our kids eat tons of calories,” he told the civic group, “so many calories, which they have to at this age, and that’s probably what’s changed us the most over the last three years and having so much success is our kids are taking in more calories than everybody else’s kids, and they’re lifting weights, and all that does is gain weight and gain strength and gain speed.”
The coach said that with the grant, his players eat breakfast and lunch on campus during the summer.
“And then our booster club does an amazing job,” he added. “It’s protein smoothies one day after a workout, maybe a milkshake with some kind of protein in it another day.”
Rodgers added that a local church donates a full meal once a week, and the booster club provides another.
‘What we’re doing is working’
Rodgers credited talented players and assistant coaches for the Tornadoes’ 88% winning percentage, which includes 18 shutouts.
“I get the credit in the paper, but I take the bad stuff too,” he said. “When we lose, I take the criticism for that, and that’s fine. That’s a good trade-off when you’ve got good players and good assistant coaches, because you win more than you lose, most of the time.”
The coach said that this week, every one of his players increased his maximum bench press from six weeks ago.
“It gives me a sense that what we’re doing is working,” he told the Rotarians. “Our system works, the things we’ve had in place for a long time. A lot of years, not just here, but moving forward, we do different things and tweak stuff.”
Rodgers said that over the summer, he works with the team four days a week for six weeks, with the week of Independence Day off. He added that compared to his regimen leading Cook County High School’s program in Georgia, the Florida routine is mild.
“In Georgia, when I was up there, man, it was insane,” he recalled. “I mean, it was six days a week in the summer, just all summer, no vacation time. We need it as much as the players need it, but the players really need to get away from it for a little bit, so they get some excitement back.”
Opens season with three-time state champs
Rodgers said the Tornadoes open the season with an August 16 kickoff classic against the squad that denied Bradford two state titles in the last three years: Cocoa High School.
“So, we’ll see where we’re at really early,” he said. “That’ll be our first game. Caught a little bit of flak for it. Why is it so far away, and this and that, but this group we’ve got coming is going to be really good. They don’t understand how good they can be. We go down there, and we fight them and we battle them to the end in the very first week, that’ll give them a lot of confidence.”
Never recruited a player
The Bradford head coach said that as much as the transfer portal and name-image-and-likeness have upended college football, the situation is worse at the high school level.
“I’d rather be the commissioner over NCAA football than over high school football,” he said. “It’s pure insanity what’s going on right now. And I don’t know what to do.”
Rodgers said the leaders of the Florida High School Athletic Association are equally puzzled about how to get control of the constant transfers occurring in high school football.
The coach said that so far this year, five players have left his program and seven have transferred in.
He said he has never recruited a player, but his successful program recruits for him.
“I’m getting accused of (recruiting),” he told the Rotarians. “Union County’s getting accused of it. Everybody’s getting accused of it.”
“I have never gone out and talked to a kid and tried to get him to come play football for me, ever, and I’m not going to do that,” Rodgers declared. “But if they show up at our school in our weight room walking around and asking questions, I’m going to answer the questions, right? I mean, anybody else would.”
Asked if he thought some high school players in Florida were being paid to play, the coach responded, “Absolutely, a thousand percent.”
“I don’t think they’re getting paid at Bradford, cash money…but I don’t know that. I’m being transparent.”
The coach added that if any of his players were being compensated, word likely would have gotten back to him about it, and he has heard no such rumors.
“But if you’re asking me if there’s a receiver— there’s one down in Orlando that’s definitely getting paid. There’s no question in my mind. It’s big business.”
“If I go five and five, I’m getting fired.”
Rodgers said he understands why some parents move their students to other programs to get them more playing time.
“I’m a parent too,” he said. “I’m a parent and a dad before I’m a coach, so I try to keep that in mind. I don’t know how I would feel if a really good football player transferred into the place where I grew up, and he’s better at that position, and that’s his position now.”
Rodgers said that, as a Dad, he would be conflicted if the same thing happened to his family member. But as a coach, he would have no reservations about playing the more talented athlete.
“If I go five and five, I’m getting fired,” he said. “That’s how I feel about it.”
