While most students spent their summer vacation relaxing and sleeping in, for the football team, the summer was an opportunity to prepare. They worked on strength, endurance, play-calling, route running and more, making sure they were ready to face teams like Plant and Tampa Catholic. Despite all of this effort, however, the knights still entered the season with a sense of being unprepared. The root of the problem: they simply didn’t have enough players. Despite the addition of twenty freshmen and the dissolving of the JV team to get more players, the football team is still on the look for new recruits.
“Our freshmen this year have the potential to be great and are already contributing to the varsity team,” linebacker Amir Hosni (’27) said. “However, we are looking for new players. Coach Simmonds is actively in the hallways recruiting and always has his door open for new recruits.”
Despite it being Head Coach Mike Simmonds’ first year, he’s already putting in effort to transform the team. By recruiting as many players as possible, he’s not just ensuring the football team’s success for this year but also years to come. The constant and vigorous recruitment of new players guarantees the team always has talent and never experiences a steep drop off in performance due to the graduation of players.
Simmonds intense recruiting isn’t just to help the team succeed years from now, but also to try and save this season. In their first regular season game, Robinson lost to Southeast 42-0, a brutal loss against a team ranked 70 in the Tampa area and 311 in the state.
“The difference about the team this year is we are very young, and we show up every day, working to get better,” safety Tiberius Reuss (’26) said. “We got off to a slow start, but I believe as a team if we keep working, we can turn it around. We are making strides as a team every week.”
As the team fervently recruits new players, they also continue to push themselves and get better, determined to show the district that they can’t be written off yet. The majority of the team is underclassmen, many of which have never played high school football before. Because of this, a slow start was expected, especially with the knight’s difficult schedule and a brand-new head coach trying to implement novel, unique team values.
“Number one, we’re trying to implement a culture that encompasses three main goals: attendance, punctuality, and respect. When those come, then come the points and the wins,” Simmonds said. “We’re making strides in the right direction. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and we won’t sacrifice our morals for a win.”
Simmonds isn’t focused on making a good football team- he wants to make a great one, and this starts with creating the right atmosphere and mindset. Many things about the Robinson team are new this year. However, to maximize the success of recruiting, he’s turning to tried-and-true methods he’s picked up throughout his extensive coaching career.
“When I was at Jefferson from 1998 to 2005 (where he was a two-time state runner up) we built the program two ways: through the student body and the hallways,” Simmonds said. “I can assure you there’s a round two or three playoff team walking the Robinson hallways. But right now, they’re walking the hallways and not for the team.”
Simmonds has big plans for the team but can’t do it without the support of the students and the players. If you don’t like watching the knights lose, then do something about it and go see Coach Simmonds in room 4-104 and join RHS football.
