SBLive Sports Florida Football post-spring Power 25 rankings: Miami Central heads into the summer No. 1

The Rockets are infused with transfers from all over, keeping them at the top spot as the summer begins in the Sunshine State

The 2022-2023 school year is finally over and so is spring football all around the Sunshine State. The past month had plenty of intrigue with familiar faces at new places and games taking place the last three weeks. SBLive Sports Florida gives a Power 25 rankings look at teams heading into the summer and with transfers expected, things might be a little different come August. 

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Power 25 Poll

Find the complete breakdown of the SBLive Sports Florida Football post-spring Power 25:

1. Miami Central: The defending Class 2M state champions have plenty of enough talent to make the ‘Drive for Five’ a reality come December. 

2. Chaminade-Madonna: Weapons galore on the offensive side of the football. Can we just fast forward to Week 5 when the Lions meet the Rockets please? 

3. IMG Academy: Eli Hamrick, Winston Watkins and crew lead an offensive unit that should be putting up a lot of points come August. Stay tuned. 

4. Columbus: Coming off a Class 4M state championship last season, the Explorers return quarterback Alberto Mendoza and wide receiver Jose Leon to their explosive offense. 

5. St. Thomas Aquinas: Though the team graduated some key starters on offense and defense, the Raiders have a two-headed monster at running back in Jordan Lyle and Stacy Gage. 

6. Plantation American Heritage: The Patriots lost some firepower offensively with quarterback Blake Murphy, wide receiver Brandon Inniss and running back Mark Fletcher. 

7. Homestead: Ronnie Thornton Jr. enters as the new Broncos head coach and they bring back quarterback Joshua Townsend and wide receiver James Randle transferred in over the off-season from Mainland.

8. Lakeland: Another team with a new head coach is the Dreadnaughts, as Marvin Frazier takes over for Bill Castle. Lakeland has a slew of offensive and defensive talent back in order to win the Class 4S crown again. 

9. Miami Norland: The Vikings have one of the best quarterbacks in South Florida returning in junior quarterback Ennio Yapoor and a tough 2023 regular season slate. Norland plays Lakeland and St. John Bosco (CA) this fall. 

10. Trinity Christian Academy: A game we can't wait to see is when Trinity Christian travels down south to face Plantation American Heritage on Sep. 1st. Colin Hurley and Darnell Rogers are a couple of the top offensive players in the 904.

11. Cardinal Gibbons: Georgia commitment Colton Heinrich is back at tight end for the Chiefs on offense. Coming off an 11-2 campaign in 2022, Cardinal Gibbons shouldn't be flying under the radar at all. 

12. Cocoa: The SBLive Sports Florida 2022 Player of the Year was Cocoa quarterback Blake Boda, who is now headed to Costal Carolina. Brady Hart is set to take the reins and will be a top rising sophomore this fall. 

13. Miami Booker T. Washington: There's a lot to like about this Tornadoes' group. Forget about the three losses last year to Miami Central, Norland and Miami Northwestern. Booker T. Washington returns stud running back Antwan Smith Jr. to the backfield after rushing for over 1,500 last fall. 

14. Venice: Losing some defensive talent, but the Indians should be assuredly better on offense this fall. A quarterback battle is ongoing between South Plantation transfer Jadyn Glasser and IMG Academy transfer Ryan Downes.

15. Miami Northwestern: A new head coach in alum Michaelee Harris at the helm, he's got a pretty talented bunch that should compete right off the bat in Class 2M. 

16. Edgewater: No Cedric Baxter? No problem for the Eagles. Michael Clayton is a rising sophomore quarterback that will be exciting to watch and Cai Bates leads a very talented defensive secondary. 

17. Bartram Trail: A new head coach in former Nature Coast boss Cory Johns, the Bears will be just fine post-Darrell Sutherland. Bartram Trail displayed that in a 50-20 defeat of Class 3S state semifinalist Columbia. 

18. Apopka: On the edge of winning the Class 4M state championship, the Blue Darters let one just slip away. Regardless, this Apopka team will be stout and have a rising star in quarterback Ty Davison. 

19. Clearwater Central Catholic: With quarterback Jershaun Newton, safety Andy Jaffe and Clearwater Calvary Christian transfer Caleb Goodloe, the Marauders have the talent to reach the Class 1M final again.

20. Jones: There's no doubt that this Fightin' Tigers squad will be in the hunt once again in Class 3M. Jones kicks off the 2023 season on Aug. 25th against Cocoa.

21. Cardinal Newman: Some people forget how good this Cardinal Newman team really was last season. The Crusaders only loss came against Chaminade-Madonna in the region finals. 

22. Florida State University High: Right there on the cusp of winning the Class 2S state title, the Seminoles lost in a heartbreaker to Cocoa. Good thing for Florida State High is they have some gamebreakers back in the fold like running back Machai Danzey. 

23. Lake Wales: The Highlanders won the Class 3S state championship last season and will be the team to beat again. They'll start the regular season against Zephyrhills on the road and that game expects to be a barn burner. An impressive showing versus Fort Myers proved Lake Wales isn't going anywhere.

24. Mainland: If you think Mainland head coach Travis Roland doesn't have the talent to lead the Buccaneers on another run, you'd be sadly mistaken. His club is stacked again and will be right there with Lake Wales. 

25. Tampa Catholic: This offense might've lost a bit with Lewis Carter graduating, but make no mistake about it, the Crusaders have plenty in the talent cupboard. Wide receiver TJ Moore is one of the best around.

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo. 


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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.