When you are a younger football player in south Florida, it’s often tough to grab the spotlight in a sea of major stars.
At several schools across Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, there are athletes who have been getting it done throughout the year with very little publicity – but that has been changing slowly.
As we continue to preach, it does not matter what class you happen to be in. If you can make plays and continue to be a difference maker on the football field, you are singled out.
If we learned anything the past few years when it comes to talent in south Florida, it doesn’t make a different what grade you are in – if you can play – you will have your chance.
No matter if it’s an 8th grader, freshman or sophomore, football prospects in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties have long been difference makers as soon as they reach the varsity level. It’s nothing new. It has existed for decades.
For years and years, when college coaches headed south to recruit football talent, especially in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, receivers and defensive backs were a huge priority.
Of course you had linebackers and defensive linemen along with running backs that would be heavily recruited by colleges all over the nation.
But when it came to looking at offensive linemen, there were just a handful that these schools had real interest in.
Twan Russell was a standout football player at St. Thomas Aquinas, University of Miami – and in the National Football League for the Redskins, Falcons and Dolphins.
His role as an assistant coach with his alma mater, St. Thomas Aquinas and with the Miami Dolphins in youth programs is just a small part of what he has done since returning to south Florida.
His work with the Russell Life Skills and Reading Foundation, Inc. is what he has always been about. Motivated by parents who made education a priority, he still preaches getting grades in the classroom – and has proudly passed that on.
Look at the most talented positions in south Florida and you will see athletes who are difference makers.
If you have followed football in this region for any length of time, overwhelmingly defensive backs are produced at a record pace, and that is something that doesn’t seem to be fading any time soon.