Tampa Bay Buccaneers High School Football Media Day 2024: 5 Takeaways

SBLive attended the media event and provide five takeaways from the event

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Foundation hosted High School Football Media Day at the AdventHealth Training Center this weekend / Andy Villamarzo

TAMPA, FLORIDA- High school football is right around the corner when it comes to 2024 regular season, with official practices kicking off on July 29th (non-contact). 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Foundation and FlaHSFootball.com hosted the Tampa Bay High School Football Kickoff Media Day at the AdventHealth Training Center this weekend and SBLive's Andy Villamarzo was hand for the event. 

We give you five takeaways from the over 60 teams that attended the high school football kickoff event and what stood out to us from the Tampa Bay Region of the Sunshine State.  

1. Armwood vs. Plant is a marquee game to catch this fall

Remember the days of Robert Weiner's Plant Panthers vs. Sean Callahan's Armwood Hawks? Get ready to relive the rivalry that was and maybe could be again when the Hawks and Panthers face off on September 27th down at Dad's Stadium. If the talent between the two teams and the experience of the head coaches tell us anything, the game will be an absolute doozy when it comes to Hillsborough County high school football. Having talents like Plant's Waltez Clark (Florida commit) up against Armwood's Tyler Williams (Georga commit) is worth bringing your popcorn for.

2. Talented quarterbacks galore between Hillsborough-Pinellas

One school after another, it became very clear that the Tampa Bay region is ripe full of quarterback talent across the board. Starting with Jesuit's Will Griffin, who is a Florida commitment, and is a 4-star prospect according to 247Sports. Throw in signal callers like CCC's Jershaun Newton (Illinois commit), Tarpon Springs' Joaquin Kavouklis, Plant City's Chris Denson, Plant's JC Mirasola, Alonso's Joseph Glennon and St. Petersburg's Jeffrey Jones are all very talented quarterbacks heading into the fall. Between Hillsborough and Pinellas, there's plenty of strong prospects under center heading into the 2024 campaign.

3. Jesuit to host South Georgia power Valdosta in Week 3

Another matchup that got revealed on the dais was that the Jesuit Tigers would be hosting the seemingly always talented Valdosta Tigers of Georgia on September 6th at Corral Memorial Stadium. Through a connection, Jesuit's Matt Thompson was able to get the game scheduled and it will be one of the top matchups on the Week 3 slate. Coming off a 8-4 season playing in Georgia's AAAAAAA, Valdosta will come in looking to make a statement against a Jesuit team led by Floridas commitment Will Griffn at quarterback. Buckle up, the Battle of the Tigers is coming in a few weeks.

4. Clearwater area has three pretty solid teams

As was the case the last couple of years and now heading into this fall, the Clearwater area is going to have three pretty talented teams once again. Calvary Christian, Clearwater and Clearwater Central Catholic are all slated to be pretty strong programs heading into fall camp. Reasons being is for the talent pool returning to all three programs. Though the Warriors will be led by first-year head coach Wes Safford, the program still brings back a bevy of players from last year's playoff team. CCC has been a state title contender out of Class 1M and will be once again in 1A. Clearwater's offensive line is impressive, led by junior offensive tackle Samuel Roseborough.

5. Berkeley Prep's Dominik Ciao gave a nod to the late Monte Kiffin

Legendary Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive coordnator Monte Kiffin passed away over a week ago and Berkeley Prep head coach Dominik Ciao held a close relationship with the longtime NFL defensive guru. Ciao pointed to attending the media day event prior to paying his respects to Kiffin later in the day because of the late Buccaneers' coordinator's love for high school football. Kiffin would talk football with Ciao regularly throughout the high school football season and it was for that, the latter decided it would mean a lot to his old friend to attend the Buccaneers' High School Football Media Day.

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl