- April 19, 2024
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With the season still about four months away, Seabreeze has four big, offensive reasons to be optimistic.
BY MATT MENCARINI | SPORTS EDITOR
It’s spring, so in the great tradition of making incredibly premature pre-football season predictions, allow me to make one now: Seabreeze's offense could be explosive this year.
I was on the sideline for Seabreeze’s Red and White scrimmage May 16, and I was impressed with three specific players: Connor Blair, Raushod Floyd and Justin Sampson.
Blair, the returning starting quarterback, has size, a strong arm and good pocket awareness. I thought two of the best plays he made all day came after he stepped up in the pocket.
Floyd took a quick pass at least 80 yards for a touchdown on the first Red Team possession, and had two more catches, in traffic, where he broke some tackles and gained big yards.
Seabreeze coach Marc Beach seemed to be happy with his team, and those three players specifically.
“Guys made plays,” he said. “Raushod (Floyd) made some plays. Justin Sampson made some plays. Connor threw some good balls.”
Sampson didn’t record any receptions in 2012, and only had two rushes for a combined three yards. He did, however, have six kickoff returns for 233 yards (a 38.8 average) and a touchdown, while primarily playing on defense.
I may be relatively new to covering Seabreeze, but I feel Sampson fits the mold of the stereotypical Sandcrab offensive skill player: small, quick and shifty in traffic.
That’s how I would describe two players the Sandcrabs had a year ago but won’t have next season (Jalen Hinson and Trey Rodriguez), and a player they’re waiting to get healthy (Charles Nelson).
Nelson, who missed the end of the 2012 season with an ACL injury, is ranked by 247Sports as a four-star recruit and the 28th best high school player in the state. Rivals lists Nelson as a three-star recruit.
Nelson, Blair, Floyd and Sampson, in my opinion, could be a be formidable group for opposing defenses to figure out. I might have to start brainstorming a nickname for them.
But it wasn’t all offense. The defensive backfield also showed great promise. They were aggressive, kept the ball in front of them and didn’t let any receivers run free in coverage.
Yes, they also gave up some big plays, mostly due to poor tackling, but overall I’d grade the group a B, which isn’t too bad for a scrimmage about four months before the real thing.
