JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The countdown is on to the start of the high school football season as the Jaguars and Baker's Sports host the annual High School Football Media Day at EverBank Stadium.
The season kicks off here in the Sunshine State on Aug. 23, and more than 60 schools from around the First Coast had the opportunity to speak to reporters and enjoy some food and games.
A word that came up constantly during the press conferences was "expectations," and Mandarin head coach Toby Bullock has been on both the good and bad sides of it.
"I'll take the expectations over no expectations. What I think it allows you to do is it allows you to have something to keep the kids going hard every single day. Practice is not easy. Football is not easy," Bullock said. "It allows them to have those expectations so that when the Wednesday heat is ready to go and they don't want to do anything, you can always put that back out there and usually get the motivation you want from the kids."
Every team in attendance has expectations, and the athletes are putting in the work to hopefully reach those.
"We work very hard every day. We have the underclassmen we bring up as upperclassmen and just make sure that they're with us. It's a pretty hard-working team, and we work hard for everything," Bolles wide receiver Chase Collier said.
High school football teams officially begin fall practice on Aug. 3 and will have three weeks until their first regular season games.