High school football players transferring schools has become so common in Florida that it’s sometimes more newsworthy when a player stays at their original school than when they leave for greener pastures.
Like it or not, that’s the nature of the game right now.
We’re long gone from the days of a player being assigned to a school, going there for four years, and representing their parents’ alma mater and their neighborhood with pride.
Now, it’s more about joining the newest super team, chasing a ring, finding a school that regularly produces college recruits or simply going somewhere else to get more playing time.
There’s no anger or judgement in those sentences; it’s just the way it is now.
Still, the amount of in-season quarterback transfers over the past several days has been staggering.
Leon Strawder, who helped Miami Northwestern win a state title in 2024 and had been splitting time with Neiman Lawrence, has transferred to defending Class 4A champion American Heritage. That news came on Sept. 11, one day after The Portal 305 reported that American Heritage All-American quarterback Dia Bell would miss the remainder of the season.
Venice, the defending Class 7A state champion, added Howard commit Darryon Jones from Chaminade-Madonna.
Joaquin Kavouklis, an Arkansas commit, started the season at Lakeland but now is enrolled at Gaither. Alex Schafer left Venice for Lemon Bay.
To be clear, there is no suggestion of wrongdoing here. The FHSAA declared these to be Good Cause transfers, meaning players are eligible to play for their new teams this season.
“It’s your hope that parents are making the right decision based on academics for their kids,” FHSAA executive director Craig Damon said.
Even though the FHSAA bylaws have been satisfied — and in reality those rules are just a reflection of school choice laws passed by the state legislature — there’s still something odd about the whole thing.
Forget the outdated idea of staying at a school for four years. Now we don’t even have players staying for a full four weeks of the regular season?
Is this really the way it’s supposed to go? Is this the state of high school athletics? If a team or player is a few weeks into the season and things aren’t going the way they want, they can just hit up the waiver wire?
The rules haven’t been violated, but midseason movement, especially at the game’s most important position, feels strange.
Some people around the state have compared it to NFL free agency, but that’s not accurate. Even in the era of free agency, an NFL quarterback can’t decide to leave their team on Monday and go play for another team the next Sunday.
Even in the wacky world of the NCAA transfer portal, this wouldn’t happen in college. You’re not going to see a player from the University of Florida not liking his amount of playing time and transfer to FAU during the first week of October.
High school football in Florida is a different case.
Again, it’s not wrong. It’s the world we live in.
But that doesn’t mean it feels right.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: These high school football QBs transferring during season are legal, but don’t feel right
Reporting by Jon Santucci, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
