Mainland at Central Florida Football Media Days on July 23: Coach Jerrime "Squatty" Bell. LB Tamaj Woodard, LB Shawn Holmes, QB Patrick "P.J." Miller, OL Chevin Davis and DB John "LJ" Parks. Screen shot
Father Lopez at Central Florida Football Media Days on July 23: Coach Mark Gabbard, RB/S Maverick Grimm, WR Rylan DeMarsh, OT/DE Vinny Zimmer, QB Colt Davis, WR Owen Albert. Screen shot.
Highlights from interviews streamed from Central Florida Media Days, July 23 at Seminole State College, Heathrow campus.
The Buccaneers were 9-3 last year during Jerrime Bell’s second season. They lost to Ponte Vedra in the Region 1-5A final. Mainland had a tough schedule last year. It’s even tougher this year, starting with five-time state champion Miami Carol City on Aug. 21 at Daytona Stadium, and including 2025 Class 7A state champ Lake Mary and runner-up Vero Beach.
“If we're going to be the team, we think we are, we got to go play those type of teams,” Bell said. “We had some tough matchups last year, but I don't think we were as battle tested as we needed to be. … When coach (Toro) Wallace got the job down in Carol City, I probably reached out to him within the first 48 hours and said, let's play. I knew he was bringing the city of Miami with him.”
Bell on the Bucs’ rivalry with DeLand, 13-1 last year: “DeLand is one of the biggest rivalry games we have. With one of our other little rivals not being as tough as they used to be, DeLand [is] the biggest rival we have on the schedule.”
Senior linebacker Shawn Holmes on trying to reach 100 tackles this season: “Last year, I was learning from [Dennis ‘Tank’ King III, now with the University of South Florida]. I’m taking that to the field this year. I've been working on my fundamentals, my technique in the off-season, making sure I get my body right, so I can get to that 100-tackle goal.”
The Green Wave were 6-5 last year and made the playoffs in coach Mark Gabbard’s first season. Gabbard said the team has a leadership book called “Extreme Ownership,” given to the team’s leadership group of about 15 players, who stay after practice once a week.
“We just go through that book, and we talk about what does leadership look like, how do we engage certain situations when they arise, and how do we respond to that,” Gabbard said.
Sophomore WR Owen Albert: “We’re not the most athletic team, but we're going to be the most disciplined.”
Senior RB/S Maverick Grimm (567 yards rushing, 48 tackles, four sacks last season): “For me, it's less about personal stats and more about using my strengths and talents to help the team win. Last year, I was playing defensive end. Now, I'm at safety. I'm still playing running back, but now we've got a whole new system we're working on, and I’ll be a little more of a blocking back.”
