JACKSONVILLE - Paul Maples was a burly tank of a running back for the Orange Park High Raider football while William White was a lean, mean wide receiver type a bit earlier.

Both are now giving back to the Jacksonville area football scene.

“I got done playing college football, got my master’s degree at Shaw University and the opportunity opened up for me here,” said Maples, a 2009 fullback under coach Ted Leasor who also played and graduated from Ribault High. “I’m head football coach at Young Kids in Motion football in Jacksonville and also the athletic director.”

Young Kids in Motion is a Class 1A FHSAA football program.

For William White, a 2010 player with Danny Green with the likes of Terrance Plummer and Jacob Hagen, has taken up as a defensive coach Westside High School with former Orange Park High coach Rodney Dubose. Dubose also coached at St. Johns Country Day School before heading to Westside High School.

White played a little college ball at North Carolina Wesleyan, but left with grades issues to return home.

“My most memorable game at Orange Park was against Ponte Vedra at home,” said White. “It was the first game my mom got to watch me play and see my first touchdown.”

For Maples, the most memorable hit came by way of a stout Clay Today photographer on the sideline who caught a deflected Maples on the Orange Park High sideline with a shoulder and sent him to the turf in front of the Raider bench.

“To this day, people still remember that moment in my football days,” said Maples, jokingly.