JACKSONVILLE - With nearly all the high schools represented at the Baker Sports High School Football Media Day at Everbank Fields, there were small nuggets of intel available from opposing coaches that may or may not prove fruitful to the upcoming football season just 12 days to preseason games.

Oakleaf coach Chris Foy, in his second season after a 3-6 finish his rookie season, sees his team as formidable in all aspects minus “coaching”.

“We have a lot of great guys in every aspect of the game,” said Foy. “My thoughts on the weakness of our team is the coaching. That’s a joke. We lost seven seniors and this year we have everything in place.”

On the stage with Foy were playmaker Carlos Witherup, who left his junior season to go to Mandarin, but returned to finish his football at Oakleaf, a few mammoth-sized linemen in Mykel Mayo and Reggie Houston, his barrel-sized running back, Chris Foy II “Wendy’s son” as he is called, and ball hawk Jordin Pryce as well as offensive line coach Bubba Horne and Chris Jules, Foy’s unheralded entity, but, in Foy’s eyes, the “lunch pail guy” on the team.

“No matter what we ask him to do, he does it,” said Foy. “Chris doesn’t get a lot of press, but he comes to work every day with the big guys on the line.”

Foy acknowledged that it is up to his coaching staff to put the puzzle together.

“We got to keep the defenses guesses because our schedule is so well-coached,” said Foy, noting the likes of Mandarin, Bolles, Madison County and two-time state champion Hawthorne. “We have to take all three phases of the game to our advantage; there is a lot of ways we can win games.”

Foy also has a unique situation as he has two legit quarterbacks; last year’s backup to Brandon Wallace, Jayden Moreno and First Academy transfer Jack McKissock, to drive the engine.

“Both of those guys got their own firepower; McKissock with his intelligence and Moreno with his athletic ability,” said Foy. “Both can run, too, so we will get a tremendous season from both of them with their skill sets.”

Oakleaf will open with Riverside High, a 9-3 finisher last year, which traditionally lists the likes of Raines and Ribault as key rivalries with Oakleaf recently becoming a name on that list.

“I heard one of my guys mention Oakleaf as a team on our radar,” said Riverside coach Antwan Nicholas. “Oakleaf was down at the FCA camp we were at, but we didn’t get a chance to see them. I know the kids all stay in the same area and they talk, but we know when that time comes, we know what time it is.”

Near the end of the season, if Foy is successful and in a position to look forward to playoffs, Mandarin, the state runner-up under coach Toby Bullock last year to Miami Columbus, will be a final test for the Knights as well as a key district final game on October 25.

“We make our kids expect great expectations in and out of school and, at Mandarin, we want that senior year of football to be the best experience they can have,” said Bullock. “I don’t look at the year after a state-run as a challenge because we have coaches that have been there and know how to prepare for it.”

Two key players on the Mustangs squad that will surely test teams on both sides of the ball are wide receiver Jaime Ffrench, Jr, and defensive back/safety Drake Stubbs, who thrilled Oakleaf fans as a freshman as a Knight before transferring to Mandarin.

Ffrench, highly touted nationwide; interest from Texas, Tennessee, Miami, LSU, and Ohio State, and ranked as No. 4 wide receiver nationally, third in Florida, commented that having Stubbs, a University of Miami commit, opposite in practice only makes both of them better.

Bullock noted that his quarterback, Tramell Jones (3195 pass yds, 33TDs), is one of the best in state also and is slated to go to Florida State University. Mandarin fans do have the history of Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, a state champion, Mr. Football Dairy Farmers winner and an NCAA national champion, as a reminder of quarterback excellence at Mandarin.

“Tramell is exceptional,” said Bullock. “He has the secret weapon to throw to (Ffrench) and that makes him look good.”

For Ffrench and Stubbs, their on-the-field battles are a great example of practicing like you want to play, said Stubbs.

“We are out there competing every day and sometimes it gets tough because he is a lockdown cover guy,” said Ffrench. “Sure, it makes us play hard every day, then come Friday night lights, we both excel from it.”

For Stubbs, covering Ffrench in practice has one Bullock limitation.

“It’s a little one-sided because we don’t let Drake hit anyone in practice,” said Bullock. “Don’t need him knocking teeth out of our guys.”