Everyone’s excited for the Destin football team playing their first season. This team’s biggest strength is its youth. Though the team has a young core, there are already a few names people should watch out for. Know more about the players in the article below by Greg Hollis of Northwest Florida Daily News:

Destin brims with talent in the inaugural year.

Greg Hollis 

Northwest Florida Daily News

USA TODAY NETWORK

DESTIN —For too long, Destin kids would play pop warner and middle school football together and then go their separate ways to neighboring Fort Walton, Niceville, South Walton, or Choctaw.

Now led by a Panhandle legend in E.G. Green, they have a permanent home with the Destin Sharks. But table the state championship hopes for another day. Table the loft expectations for the inaugural program, which concerns more than just wins and losses. 

“It all starts with the player and from there we can build a great team,” said Green, who in 1992 helped lead Fort Walton Beach to a 39-14 win over St. Thomas Aquinas for the 4A championship en route to an All-American career at FSU and a stint in the NFL. “We want to put a product on the field that the community is proud of. I want my guys to be competitive. I want them to compete each and every snap. I want them to be the winners on and off the field.”

Green has a young squad with very few seniors but has a chance to build and grow with his young players. The players and the community are excited to keep their core group together.

Strengths

This team’s biggest strength is its youth. They haven’t played a game together but they could be on the cusp of something special. They have a chance to build their own culture and establish what type of program they want to be in the future. Green also has played at the State and in the NFL, so he can mentor and give his kids something that many other coaches can’t.

Biggest questions heading into the season…

Everything is a question heading into this season. The Sharks are trying just to lay the foundation for their program. They have a mixture of young talent, a few transfers, and guys who have played other sports like basketball, primarily in high school. Green has an eager bunch ready to start playing their first season. 

Players to watch

Though this team has a young core, they do have a few names to keep a look out for the next few years. 

Jordan Figueroa is a young field general. He’s only a freshman but has the ability and athleticism to be “THE Guy” in this area over the next few years. He already has a strong arm and could honestly compete for a starting job as a freshman in other schools around the area. He has already grasped the Destin playbook and taken over as the leader of this team at a young age. 

Syr Rhodes is a senior and will be the running back for this team despite not playing football the last few years. He’s mainly been on the basketball court during his high school career but he is a playmaker. Rhodes just has to get used to the high intensity and hard-hitting of football again. 

Price Bowden, a junior, will be the primary target for Figueroa and a leader on both sides of the ball. He will spend a lot of time as a wide receiver and safety for the Sharks.

Jared Cutts and Pacey Newcomb will be the guys to lead this team in the trenches. Newcomb and Cutts will play both the offensive and defensive lines. Neither has tremendous size but both are fundamentally sound and hard workers.

Schedule 

9/2 @ Baker

9/9 vs. North Bay Haven Academy

9/23 @ Lighthouse Private Christian Academy

9/30 @ Jay

10/14 @ Chipley

10/21 vs. Hillard  

10/28 vs. Aucilla Christian 

Season Prediction

The Sharks did themselves no favors by opening up the season with Baker but it will be good for them to take the loss early and build from there. After all, Baker is the program you want to model and inspire to be since they have won the most recent state title in the area. Their schedule gets easier after that but this team will take the fair share of lumps this year. 

2022 Overall Record Prediction: 1-6