High School Football: Belleview’s new coach Thomas Elliott brings professionalism to program
It’s been more than 140 days since high school football played its last game. Spring football has been here to break the streak as football teams around Marion County spent May strapping on the pads and running drills.
We have followed two teams weekly for the last month to chronicle the offseason action. Our final week of coverage belongs to Belleview and North Marion.
Both were on different spectrums of success last year but came back retooled and ready to leave their mark in 2023.
Let’s look at a pair of storylines to follow for the Rattlers.
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New football coach ready for challenge
Belleview’s new head football coach, Thomas Elliott, doesn’t spend much time talking about his past as North Alabama’s national championship-winning quarterback. It was a different era, but it’s given Belleview’s head coach more than 35 years of football experience. He’s coached at various colleges when he wasn’t winning state championships with Leeds High School in Alabama.
This isn’t Elliot’s first trip into Ocala football. He recruited the area as a scout and spent a season running the offense under former Trinity Catholic head coach Joe Sturdivant.
“I fell in love with the area and have great friends,” Elliot said. “I saw what it could be, too. One of these schools could be an absolute national powerhouse. It just has to be built the right way.”
The Rattlers’ new coach has no intentions of going anywhere else anytime soon.
Elliot is detailed. We’re talking handwritten notebooks on each of his players and coaches on his staff and other levels of detail.
The pages hold the goals they set throughout their career, how long it took them to reach those goals, and their current standing. It’s a living resume that he uses during their recruiting process.
“I want to be their advocate,” said Elliot. “All I’m doing is running a college program in reverse. I don’t let them recruit our kids. We’re recruiting them to our kids.”
When college coaches come to Belleview, they’ll have all the information they need to know about a player. The practice helps avoid the pitfalls of social media that have hindered student-athlete recruiting in the past.
Elliot takes the same inclination with his staff. He treats them like professionals, giving them head coaching tasks that prepare them for roles as high school head coaches or college coaches.
“I’m a player’s coach, but with that, I’m big on discipline,” Elliot said. “I know that’ll make you succeed now, but I want it to make you succeed for the rest of your life.”
His mind for developing football professionals makes sense when you look at his resume. He’s worked under former Alabama head coach Mike Dubois as an offensive coordinator and several other high-profile coaches. Elliot is a branch on a coaching tree connected to Bear Bryant and Bobby Wallace, the recruiter responsible for bringing Bo Jackson to Auburn.
It’s helped him shape his coaching philosophy. More importantly, it’s given him inside tips on getting teenage athletes to do things they may not want to do to benefit the team.
The Rattlers haven’t realized how much football their head coach has experienced, and Elliot wants it that way. No amount of history lessons will earn their respect more than connecting with them.
“One of the themes of this program is to make the big time where you are. Don’t try to chase it,” Elliot said. “I think that folds into why I don’t talk about stuff that’s already happened.”
Rattlers will be very young but goals are high
The team is already taking to the new saying, especially the younger players. Roughly 18 freshmen and sophomores were at spring practice, and they’ll make up most of the team.
Elliot won’t take it easy on his team because they’re young. The kids started a new weight program the minute he joined the staff, which paid dividends for those who bought in.
“I have to kick the core of kids I have now out,” Elliot said.
The Rattlers wanted to hit the weight room the day before their spring game. When you’re setting 20-30 pound increases to your max every few weeks, no one wants to stop the momentum.
Elliot has one goal this season - to win the state championship. It’s a lofty one for a program under new management. But Elliot knows his players don’t care about rebuilding. They want to win now, not in two years.
“I’m going to do everything I can do to get there,” Elliot said. “My kids don’t care how long I’ve been here. They want to win that thing. They don’t want to hear it’s a rebuilding year. That’s our goal every year.”