Everything You Need to Know About the 2024 Big Bend High School Football Season

Football is back in Big Bend.

Today marks the official start of the fall sports schedule for the Florida High School Athletic Association programs. With it, football practices begin, as kickoff games are two weeks away.

Although schools don’t resume until Monday, August 12, student-athletes are back on campus preparing for the 2024 football season.

As usual, the FHSAA has made some changes to the preps football landscape, introducing NIL and new classifications and districts for the 2024 season.

With that said, here’s what you need to know for the upcoming high school football season.

NIL is there, how will this be implemented in year one?

The latest addition to the ever-changing Florida high school football landscape is the advent of Name, Image and Likeness, better known as NIL.

Now that the Florida Department of Education has officially adopted the FHSAA’s proposed language, NIL is in effect in Florida, allowing high school athletes to profit off their image. Florida is the 36th state to adopt some form of NIL language. Here’s how Florida athletes can profit off their image.

A player may not accept money from a school collective, with collectives banned by the FHSAA to avoid reflecting the dramatic landscape of college NIL and to prevent schools from paying players directly. A player who enters into a deal may not appear in promotional materials with his or her school’s image.

Deals may be made and players must decline NIL deals themselves or with their parents/guardians. Players can recommend local businesses, clothing brands, restaurants, etc.

There are prohibitions on transactions involving businesses in a number of specific industries, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and others, according to FHSAA guidelines.

What are the new districts and classifications for Big Bend programs?

Shortly after the 2023 FHSAA State Championships, the FHSAA announced its plans to eliminate the metro/suburban classification system in high school football.

With the introduction of a new 7A-1A system, including a Rural division, the FHSAA has abolished its metro/suburban experiment after only a handful of seasons. The new classification structure mirrors what the FHSAA traditionally did before metro/suburban, and it has received mixed reactions from coaches across the state.

Aucilla Christian left the FHSAA and joined the independent Sunshine State Athletic Conference for the 2024 season. The independent conference has more than 90 members and added a large number of teams to the league following the FHSAA’s reclassifications.

This is where the Big Bend teams fell into the restructuring.

National department, Region 2

National Department, Region 3

Madison County
Jefferson County

Class 1A, District 1

FAMU-DRS
North Florida Christian
Saint John Paul II
Maclay

Class 2A, District 3

Florida High
Gadsden County
Taylor County

Class 3A, District 2

Class 4A, District 2

Class 5A, District 2

Who are the five new head football coaches in the region?

When the off-season rolls around, you can be pretty sure that at least one new coach will leave each season. Some departures come as a surprise, others as a shock.

As pre-season preparations begin, five area programs are under new leadership. Godby, Leon, NFC, FAMU DRS and Taylor County all have new head coaches on the sidelines.

These are the new football coaches at Big Bend High School:

John Holston, Godby
William Mosley, Leon
Jesse Braswell, Taylor County
Johnny Nichols, NFC
Patrick Wise, FAMU DRS

Important dates to know as kick-off approaches

Now that training has begun, what other dates are important for fans in the region as the 2024 season kicks off?

On Monday, July 29, the FHSAA officially gave the go-ahead for fall sports to begin training and participating in pre-season training.
The Kickoff Classic matches will be played over three days, on Thursday 15 August, Friday 16 August and Saturday 17 August.
The first regular season games will take place on Thursday, August 22, but most games will be played on Friday, August 23.
Friday October 25 is the last day for district games
Friday November 1st is the last day of the regular season
Play-offs begin on Friday, November 8 with regional quarter-finals. Semi-finals are played on November 15 and regional finals on November 22.
The state championship games have not yet been announced, but they will be played in December.

Liam Rooney covers preps sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @__liamrooneand