Dunnellon spring football: Talent, potential shine during Red and Black game
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 the last few weeks strapping on the pads and running drills.
We have been following two teams each week in May to chronicle the offseason action. Our third week of coverage belongs to Dunnellon and Vanguard.
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 Tigers.
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Recruitment boom
Dunnellon was one of the youngest teams in the county last season. Two of their three All-County selections had one season or no varsity experience.
Naturally, the team is improving, and college programs are noticing. Thirty-seven college programs visited Dunnellon in May and launched some recruits to Power 5 status.
“It’s a testament to these kids,” Dunnellon head coach Tommy Sutton said. “They work really hard. The staff and I work hard at getting them out there on Twitter and sending everything out. It’s nice to see college coaches respond to that and come through the door.”
Chris Henry picked up offers from West Virginia, Kansas, Oregon State, and several others during spring football. Tre’Quori Rollerson, Bode Burns and Jayvyn Fraziers raked in offers in the last 30 days.
Fraziers and Rollerson picked up SEC and Big 12 offers as sophomores. At Dunnellon, the talent is on the field, and it wants to carry the momentum into the season.
Tigers have big-play ability
The Tigers aren’t sneaking up on anyone this year. There’s a film of the weapons they have on the field, but the real challenge is stopping it in real time.
Dunnellon’s defense had its own struggles, stopping its offense from making big plays in the spring game. Jeffrey Vickers picked up chunks of yards at a time at running back. Chris Henry is a dangerous deep threat, and the overall speed on the film is a trip to the end zone waiting to happen.
“It’s got to break the nob off every single day, every single play, because there were flashes of special tonight,” Sutton said. “Special at times. It can’t be at times.”
The next step is developing consistency. It will come as the 2024 and 2025 classes step into bigger leadership roles. The way coach Sutton praised his team’s practice habits and transformation over the last year, we could see them approach special more often in the 2023 season.