New coach, same Bucs: After winning a state championship in 2023, Mainland is poised to make another deep playoff run

Jerrime "Squatty" Bell takes over another talented Buccaneer football team.

By Brent Woronoff
| 6:17 p.m. May 14, 2024

Mainland's Dennis King III (6) celebrates a defensive play with Zavier Mincey (1) and Bubba Westbrook (19) in a Nov. 17 playoff game against Rockledge. File photo by Michele Meyers

Mainland's Christian Hudson, center, celebrates the Bucs' state championship win against St. Augustine on Dec. 7, 2023, with teammates Jacob Ingerman (left) and Antonio Davis. File photo by Michele Meyers

Mainland's Phillip Moore (2) jumps up to block a pass by Vanguard quarterback Fred Gaskin in a state semifinal game on Dec. 1, 2023 at Daytona Stadium. File photo by Michele Meyers

Mainland quarterback Sebastian Johnson passes during a 7-on-7 game at a USF camp last June. File photo by Michele Meyers

Jerrime "Squatty" Bell led Atlantic High for the past three seasons. Courtesy photo

Ormond Beach Observer
Sports

Mainland football coach Jerrime “Squatty” Bell said he is pleasantly surprised by the progress the Buccaneers have made during the first two weeks of spring practice.

“We’re further along than what I expected,” said Bell, who was hired to take over the program on March 20 after Travis Roland left to coach Camden County, Georgia.

Bell, a 2002 Mainland graduate, was the head coach at Atlantic the past three seasons.

While the Bucs have lost eight Division I signees from their 2023 state championship team, they never rebuild, they just reload. Defensive tackle Christian Hudson, a rising senior, has over 20 Division I offers and has been dominant in practice, Bell said.

Linebacker Dennis King III, a rising junior, keeps getting more offers by the day. He’s added offers from Florida, Miami, Maryland and Indiana in the past week.

“Alabama and Baylor have him as the top linebacker on their board in the ’26 class,” Bell said. “He may end up as a top three linebacker (nationally).”

Cornerback/wide receiver Phillip Moore has been in the Bucs’ program for four years and is poised to have a strong season, Bell said.

Rising junior Sebastian Johnson is next in line to start at quarterback after backing up senior Dennis Murray Jr. last year. Murray accounted for over 2,000 yards and 27 touchdowns passing and rushing last season.

“Sebastian has grown into a leadership role on and off the field,” Bell said.

Mainland also has a couple of transfers in former Atlantic cornerback/running back Kwasie Kwaku and running back/linebacker Edward Williams from Appling County, Georgia.

Kwaku rushed for 1,184 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Sharks in nine games last season.

While transfers played a major part in Mainland’s run to the title last year, continuity has been the key to the Bucs’ sustained success. They have reached the playoffs in 30 consecutive seasons. Bell is their third consecutive coach since 2010 who also played on the team. He said Mainland will run the same offense and defense it has run in the past, and all of the assistant coaches from last year are back, except for an offensive line coach.

It won’t take long this fall for the Bucs to find out where they stand. Bell calls their first five games a murder’s row.

They open with University High at home; host two-time reigning state champ Cocoa in Week 2; travel to Class 7A Flagler Palm Coast in Week 3; go back on the road in Week 4 against Jacksonville Raines, a 10-win team last season; and continue their northern road swing in Week 5 at another defending state champ — Coffee High of Douglas, Georgia.

Bell will get a first look at his team against an outside opponent in a spring jamboree May 22 at Spruce Creek. Mainland will play two quarters against the Hawks and two quarters against Sarasota Booker.