BY CLIFF SMELLEY
He once played for Jamie Rodgers. Now, Travion Clayton is going to assist Rodgers as the new Bradford Middle School head football coach and develop players who will one day help Rodgers’ Bradford High School varsity team.
Clayton, a 2017 Baker County High School graduate, was a senior when Rodgers was hired to coach the Wildcats. He went on to play two years at the University of Southern Mississippi and then for two years at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where he was part of the Argonauts’ 2019 team that won the Division II championship.
He moved back to North Central Florida and came across two people who believed he could have an impact as a coach. One was his former high school coach.
“I went out to (a BHS) practice one day,” Clayton said. “Coach Jamie said, ‘You miss it, don’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘You can do it.’”
What Rodgers thought Clayton could do was help out with the BMS team.
Clayton had already been doing some coaching with the Bradford Cowboys Pop Warner organization, which his son is a part of. There, he met Reggie Thomas, who coached and still coaches at BMS.
“We hit it off,” Clayton said. “It started with the Bradford Cowboys. He was like, ‘I like how you teach the kids. I think you should try middle school.’ I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Clayton began coaching as an assistant at BMS last year. Then, when it came to needing a new head coach, he was the one who got the offer.
“It happened really, really fast,” Clayton said. “I was not expecting the opportunity at all.”
The former offensive lineman was a 2016 Florida Times-Union All-First Coast Team selection following his senior season at Baker County. That was Rodgers’ first season as head coach.
Clayton said what Rodgers saw was a team that needed a “dog mentality.” In other words, a team that would be tough and physical.
One day, in the meeting room with offensive linemen, defensive linemen, running backs and linebackers, Clayton said Rodgers told them they were soft.
“We went to practice that day, and he literally had to call the dogs off,” Clayton said. “He was like, ‘Wait. Wait. Wait. We’re not trying to kill each other now. We were like, ‘Hey, Coach. You called us soft.’”
Rodgers responded by saying the players had proved to him they could be physical in practice. The next step was being physical in games.
The Wildcats went 8-2 and advanced to the Class 5A regional semifinals. The following season, after Clayton graduated, Baker advanced to the state-championship game.
“We already had the team when (Rodgers) came in,” Clayton said, “but we didn’t have the leader who knew what Baker County was and how to bring the best out of the boys. He was born and raised there. He already knew most of our moms and dads. It was like the perfect fit.”
Clayton realizes Bradford Tornadoes most likely don’t want to hear a lot about Baker County. He laughed and said, “Don’t hold it against me.” He added that he’s “built a great relationship” with the Bradford coaching staff.
Of course, Clayton is now a member of the Tornado family, and he’s excited about the BMS team heading into the 2025 season.
Numbers and talent
BMS didn’t hold tryouts. Clayton said they were workouts. If a kid went through a workout, he made the team. The result has been the Tornadoes consist of 53-54 players, up from an average of about 40, Clayton said.
The new head coach said that’s “amazing,” but it also brings about the scenario that there’s no way everyone can play, especially when middle-school games consist of eight-minute quarters.
Yet Clayton wants every kid on the team to get playing experience. Therefore, if they’re not going to average much playing time, their parents are encouraged to also get them enrolled in Pop Warner or some other youth league.
“I don’t want them to just stick with me,” Clayton said, adding, “Let’s play a lot of football.”
The team also has some players that Clayton said he and his staff wouldn’t put on the field yet for safety reasons.
“They’re what we call not physical enough,” Clayton said. “Not saying they’re not big enough or they’re not strong enough. It’s the physicality of football. It’s a mean sport.”
What coaches have done is create a development squad, which currently consists of 12 players.
“We give them a lot of reps in practice. We give them a lot of reps (individually),” Clayton said. “Just more repetitions to get to that level where we think, ‘OK. It’s safe for you to play.’
Clayton said the boys understand why they’re on the development squad, and they accept it. In fact, some have been bringing their friends to also get involved.
“The team keeps growing, which is a good thing because guess what? Sixty five percent of my team — if not 70 percent — is eighth-graders,” Clayton said, adding, “When (the eighth-graders) leave, I’ve already got a good jump start from my development squad to come in and start contributing next season.”
As for this season, Clayton said he has team with lots of talent. That includes a stable of six to seven running backs, six to seven wide receivers who can go up and get the ball and dual-threat quarterbacks.
He added he can go two deep at every position on the offensive line and defensive line, and that’s not counting the players who can play both sides of the ball.
“I think this team can compete with the talent level of previous years,” Clayton said. “If they stick together and work together, they can be that (BHS) state-championship appearance team from two years ago.”
Being a champion away from the field
Doing the right things on the field go a long way in how successful a team is, but BMS players are expected to do the right things always, no matter the situation.
“We speak about that every day,” Clayton said. “I think they can’t get enough good coaches in their ears all the time.”
What those good coaches are stressing is that players’ actions can have a negative impact on others. For example, Clayton has told players that if they do something wrong, the media headlines are going to include the words “Bradford Middle School football player.”
In other words, a player’s actions aren’t just representing him. They represent the school, and they represent the community.
“We tell them, ‘Think about what you’re doing in the community when you’re not in front of adults.’ It’s integrity,” Clayton said. “Do the right thing.”
The right thing could be avoiding bad situations or bad crowds. Clayton said he believes his players are smart enough to determine if something is going to mean trouble.
It’s not just avoiding the bad, though. Do something good. If you see trash in your community, pick it up. If an elderly person needs assistance, be there for them.
“Those little things go a long way in life,” Clayton said, adding, “That’s what we always speak about — who you are when no one’s looking.”
Ready to guide the BMS Tornadoes
Clayton has two years of college eligibility left, thanks to a redshirt year and then the covid year.
“Last summer, I had three (college) coaches reach out to me,” Clayton said.
His response was basically, “Thanks, but no thanks.” He’s got a family now, and he’s committed to coaching youth. Also, since his son is playing football, Clayton wants “to be there every step of the way to help him.”
Clayton said he still gets excited about football games, but admitted that as the BMS head coach, he’ll probably tend to “be more laid back and just think about game situations.” He also has no trouble letting the assistant coaches “do their thing.”
“I’ll kind of let my coaches coach, and then I’ll help the coaches,” he said.
Clayton believes the team is ready to take on the tough competition in the Suwannee Middle Athletic Conference, with the Tornadoes opening the season on the road against defending SMAC champ Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 6 p.m.
“We work out like the high school,” Clayton said. “We work out hard — really hard. We’re probably going to be one of the most in-shape teams in the conference, if not the most in-shape team in the conference.”
Bradford’s first home game will be Tuesday, Aug. 26, against P.K. Yonge at 6 p.m.
