Sarasota (FL) to play more physical brand of football in 2022

SARASOTA, FL – There’s no better time to find out what kind of football team you may have other than spring football.

Sarasota head coach Brody Wiseman discovered that about his team in the spring jamboree they played against Sarasota Riverview and Manatee, in which the Sailors displayed a much more physical brand of football (over 260 yards rushing). That run game is something Sarasota will need to lean upon heavily heading into 2022.

The Sailors just missed out on the postseason in 2021 and running the ball whatsoever was an issue on offense, as Sarasota totaled 285 yards on the ground compared to 2,034 yards through the air. Now Sarasota will look to it’s ground game as a strength instead of a weakness, with 2021 starting quarterback Lance Trippel now graduated.

“I thought spring went incredibly well for us, our work habits have continued to improve in our program,” Wiseman said. “Our intensity, focus, and tempo in practice has continued to improve as well. We were able to establish some foundational things in spring in terms of what our identity will be this season.”

“My take away from our spring game is that we are physical football team, that is capable of controlling the line of scrimmage, which has been a program wide goal here for multiple seasons. We compiled over 400 yards of offense, and played strong defense against good competition. We made some splashy mistakes that if we can clean up I think will bring us to being in a really good position heading into the fall.”

Wiseman heads into his fifth season as apart of the Sailors’ football program and he has yielded good results during his time as a head coach. Now Sarasota with its strong player numbers during the spring is looking to capitalize on the excitement the program has generated. The team did have an impact transfer come in, with running back Jaden Judge (rushed for 58 yards in 2021) coming over from Manatee.

“We had Jaden Judge transfer in this summer,” Wiseman said. “I am incredibly impressed with him, and to me he takes what I already felt was a great backfield to another level for us.”

Sarasota, which went 6-4 last season, brings back a number of talented skill players and linemen to the team. Wiseman has employed the duo of Joe Ziegler and Takurian Smith in the backfield along with athletes Lauriel ‘Scoota’ Trotman, Jaquavious Washington as other threats on offense. The Sailors have an experienced returning up front on offense, with guards Maddox Marchbank, Javier Pastor, Lovan Arrega and tackle Daunte Frazier.

“This will be my fifth year in our program, and this has been far and away our best summer to date,” Wiseman said. “Our numbers have been incredibly strong, and our team is getting close to being in the type of condition we would like them to be in for fall.

“In the past summers I felt we put possibly too much emphasis into things like 7-on-7’s, and this summer has been about making sure that we can be a physical team that can sustain through four quarters, and throughout an entire season, along with becoming more of a team, and less of a group of individuals.”

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.