Our guest for this week’s ITG Next Florida installment of 4 Questions with the Coach is St. Augustine head football coach Brian Braddock. Coach Braddock’s Yellow Jackets are coming off a 7-4 season that saw them finish as the district champs with a 4-0 record. It feels like the veteran football coach has his team poised for a breakout season, with a load of contributing talent returning this year.
We ask Coach Braddock about his St. Augustine personnel and whether last season’s younger talent is ready to step up and become leaders in 2023.
Q. Coach Braddock, thanks so much for agreeing to join us in our 4 Questions with the Coach segment this week. I wanted to start off by asking you about your philosophy of allowing your younger St. Augustine players to get “on the job training,” so to speak. At the beginning of last year, you said your intention was to play a lot of sophomores and juniors, and allow them to build up their confidence. How did this thought process came together, and how did that work out? You guys won a district title, so I’d say things worked out pretty well, right?
A. In a perfect world, we would have quality depth from younger players and mix them in throughout a season and afford them as many opportunities as possible. As far as last season is concerned, due to heavy graduation losses the prior two seasons, we needed to depend on younger players at numerous positions. Fortunately, we were blessed with a group of guys who, while being talented, also have the makeup and discipline to maximize that talent. There were some “touch and go” moments for us early on, but our guys did a great job of adapting to varsity football against the caliber of competition we play against. It was very rewarding to win a district championship with so little experience coming into 2022.
Q. That approach appears to have worked wonders, especially on defense with the return of Brent Ball and Mike Wright at defensive end. They were sophomores last season, and they’re now poised to have breakout junior seasons. What do they mean to your defense coming off the edge?
A. We have very high expectations for both of those young men. Both have worked very hard in the classroom and weight room, and we look for them to grow into dominant players. The time is now for them. They are no longer “young guys.”
Q. They’ll have some help on defense with the district-leading tackler Drake Lusk and defensive back Ja’Ki Singleton also returning. Just with these four guys, it appears that your Yellow Jackets defense could be one of the most stout and experienced units in the district this season. Is that how you see it? Who will they have surrounding them on defense?
A. We definitely expect Ja’ki and Drake to lead our defense. We also are excited about DBs Braylon James and Jimmie Wheeler, who both started in 2022 as sophomores. DB Marquice King, DL Shamar Moore, and LBs Matteo Bernardi and Robert Owens are other returners we anticipate doing a great job.
Q. Coach Braddock, I want to close with a question about your St. Augustine offense, starting with quarterback Locklan Hewlett. I feel as your QB goes, so goes your team, and he’s a good one who is receiving a lot of attention heading into his junior season. Talk about what you expect from Locklan and what his supporting cast will look like on offense heading into the 2023 season.
A. Our expectations of Locklan are lofty, of course. We expect him to function as a high-quality quarterback on the field, but more importantly, we expect the utmost from him regarding leading and setting the pace for our team. He has no shortage of weapons around him returning with RB Devonte Lyons and WRs Carl Jenkins, Trenton Jones, Myles Simmons, and Darrell Jenkins, who all played big roles last year.
