FLEMING ISLAND - Fleming Island High School wrestling coach P.J. Cobbert has been announced as a selection to be inducted into the Florida Wrestling Hall of Fame, according to a press release from the FL Hall of Fame.
Cobbert, for nearly a decade head coach at Fleming Island and also the North Florida Wrestling Academy which is a summer age group wrestling club out of Green Cove Springs, was Florida's second four-time state champion as a Clay High School Blue Devil under coach Jim Reape. Reape was inducted into the Florida Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.
Cobbert won the coveted Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Wrestling Award in 2001 as the best wrestler in the state and also won a national title in 2001.
Cobbert was also a defensive back on the Clay football team.
Cobbert's success at Fleming Island High includes five state champions; Jason Davis, Paul Detwiler, Ryan Smenda, Briar Jackson and, last year, Jayce Paridon with one repeat champion, Jackson, plus annual top three finishes in the Class 3A and now Class 2A championship events.
Davis continued wrestling at Southeastern University where he was an NAIA All-American. Detwiler wrestled for four years at the NCAA Div. III Coast Guard Academy and was awarded one of the highest varsity sports honors for the Academy after four national tournaments. Smenda was a starting linebacker at Wake Forest University and is still vying for an NFL position after being signed by the Los Angeles Rams.
Currently, Cobbert has a wrestler; Kaden Schaefer, who has signed to wrestle next fall at Bucknell University.
Cobbert has also trained his summer athletes to be in the top five at the prestigious AAU Scholastic Duals in Disney for the past 10 summers with a second-place finish his best summer finish.
Cobbert will be honored at a Hall of Fame ceremony on May 4 in Orlando with eight other selections for the Class of 2024.