Booker High football's offense lights its fuse

How does a team defend all of Booker High football's offensive weapons?

It is a question that, so far, has gone unanswered. 

The Tornadoes have scored 194 points through four games, an average of 48.5 points per game. The points have come a variety of ways and through a variety of players: Senior running backs Rashawn Peterson and DJ Johnson, who transferred from Riverview High on Sept. 6; senior receiver Ryan Simmons; junior receivers Chauncey Kennon — a four-star recruit on the defensive side of the ball at cornerback — Tyren Wortham and Dylan Wester; and freshman receiver Tyree Mannings Jr., whom Head Coach Scottie Littles said may be the best of all of them despite his relative inexperience. 

Even at quarterback, the Tornadoes are not content in using just one player, as senior Ryan Downes and junior Joel Morris have split reps, with both finding success. 

Photo by Ryan Kohn

It was all on display in the team's Sept. 13 home game against Carrollwood Day School. Booker (3-1) used big plays to take a 37-7 lead on the Patriots (1-3) in the second quarter. Some blown defensive assignments before the end of the first half would allow Carrollwood Day to get back into the game, but Booker would comfortably win the game 70-43. Wortham, Johnson, Peterson and Mannings Jr. all had multiple touchdowns in the win, most of them starting a long way from the goal line. 

Mannings Jr. made perhaps the most difficult play of all, taking a Carrollwood Day kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, snaking into, and then out of, the arms of several defenders along his way. 

Even the team's reserve players have the ability to make big plays. Against Carrollwood Day, the Tornadoes' one-two backfield punch of Peterson and Johnson were both cramping in the fourth quarter, Littles said. Both players had run for more than 140 yards. The Tornadoes sent in junior Jacobey Mobley to get a few carries, and Mobley immediately ripped a 20-yard touchdown run. 

Littles complimented the unit's offensive line with giving its skill position players time to make plays. Senior Alex Diaz, a former quarterback, has come into his own as a guard, Littles said, and junior Khmarious Phelps has been "an anchor" at tackle. Even senior Jordan Radkey, a standout defensive lineman for the Tornadoes, has been spending time on the offensive side, using his frame to open extra holes in the defense. 

Despite the team's breadth of talent, Littles believes the unit still has a ways to go to unlock its highest potential.

"We need to lock in even deeper," Littles said. "We have to be efficient in everything we do. We like the explosive plays, that's part of the game. But we want to hone on the little things and make it about us and nobody else. I tell the kids all the time, 'It's Booker versus Booker.'" 

In practice, that means eliminating mistakes in key situations. In the team's Sept. 6 game against Sarasota High, Booker had four touchdowns called back due to penalties. The Tornadoes won 57-0 anyway, but Littles knows that those missed points will matter against the teams Booker will see in the postseason.

Photo by Ryan Kohn

So too will mental lapses. Though Littles credits Carrollwood Day with making plays to get itself back in the game, he also said Booker had to "reset" itself at halftime to put the Patriots away, which it did. 

The defense will also have to continue doing its part. Booker has 17.8 points per game in 2024, a number that is buoyed by two shutouts against Sarasota and Lely High. Teams like Carrollwood Day, which Littles said has three NCAA Division I-caliber receivers and a quarterback, senior Jordan Magwood, committed to Florida Atlantic University, will give the defense more of a stress test. The Tornadoes will need players like Radkey and Kennon, the No. 87 player in the class of 2026 according to the 247Sports Composite, to be at their best. 

It's all part of what the Tornadoes call "Sota Dame," a nod to the University of Notre Dame football program. The Irish play with discipline, consistency and intensity, attributes Littles wants Booker to have. 

Offensive production like the Tornadoes have in 2024 is a step in that direction.