Playmakers Abound in Lely Spring Practice

The Lely High School football team looked more than ready for action Saturday morning at Trojan Stadium while wrapping up their first week of practice with their first full contact action of the spring.

Entering coach Ben Hammer's second season, the Trojans - who finished 5-5 last year - appear deep at the skill positions, aggressive defensively, and explosive offensively. 

Hammer’s made a number of changes to his coaching staff and has added players since last season.

“Our numbers are good,” said Hammer. “We're getting better, but we've got a long way to go at certain spots. We're young and thin at a couple spots. And at a couple spots we're banged up. But in general, the kids are working their butts off and the coaches are working their butts off. We've gotten a lot better in a week of spring practice.”

The offensive line was thin in numbers Saturday morning, but Hammer doesn’t seem too concerned.

"They're a little bit young,” Hammer said of his offensive line. "We're a little bit banged up right now. We only had six varsity linemen at practice today. That group is about ten, so we've got four out today."

One reason Hammer’s optimistic about the offensive line is the addition of 6’4”, 290-pound Deuce Thornton. His father, Tim Thornton, has joined Hammer’s staff as offensive coordinator. Hammer has a history with the elder Thornton, who has quite a resume as a head coach at Peoria, Illinois High School, where he won the state championship in 2016.

"Tim Thornton was actually my first boss ever,” Hammer said. "My first year after I was done playing, I was an assistant coach for him. He and his son moved down here. So that's been excellent. Coach Thornton's son is an offensive lineman who's coming off an ACL. He's not with us yet but will be. He’s going to be a tremendous addition.”

Hammer has also added a new offensive line coach.

“Our offensive line coach, Frank Tropfenbaum, is new,” Hammer said. "We've worked a lot of camps before and known each other from the past. He's really working these guys hard and holding them accountable.”

Todd Nichols, head coach at Gulf Coast the past four seasons, has signed on with Hammer. Nichols set a school record for the Sharks by winning eight games in 2022. Two years ago, Nichols brought home a district championship at Gulf Coast. He finished 5-5 last season. He was 20-19 overall at Gulf Coast.

"Todd Nichols is working with our defensive backs,” Hammer said, "he's new and doing an awesome job."

Another new addition is quarterback Carter Quinn, a rising junior transfer from Naples High. Quinn was a backup quarterback for Naples, going 6-13 for 104 yards and two touchdowns passing. He picked up 286 yards and another five touchdowns rushing in Naples High’s run-centric offense. He already has college offers from West Virginia and Western Kentucky.

"Carter Quinn is working with our ones at quarterback,” Hammer said. "He's tough. His football IQ is sky-high. He's a leader in the weight room, a leader in the classroom. He does a great job."

Another Naples High transfer is Dwayne Liberal, a rising junior receiver who had just one catch last fall.

“Dwayne Liberal is doing a really, really nice job,” Hammer said.

Another newcomer to the Trojans is Isaiah David.

 "Isaiah David is working hard in the defensive backfield,” Hammer said. "We're excited about the roster we have.”

Two reasons for Hammer to be excited are running backs Jayvian Tanelus, a rising junior, and Nino Joseph, a rising sophomore. Tanelus was one of the area’s top rushers with 454 yards when he was injured early in the season. Joseph came on in place of Tanelus and ran for 825 yards. But Hammer said there’s another Lely back to watch for next season.

“They're the two guys that are going to line up most of the time,” Hammer said of Tanelus and Joseph. "We have a third guy that's done a great job, too. Leo Jean Baptiste was our JV running back. He's improved a lot from last year. He did a great job last year, too. He had five touchdowns in one JV game. We're excited that they line up for us. The other thing that's been the most impressive about those three is they take great pride in blocking for each other. They do a great job of helping each other gain yards. If they can keep up that unselfish play, the sky's the limit."

Tanelus, Joseph, and rising senior wide receiver Jayce Cora were offered scholarships by the University of Pittsburgh in January. 

Cora and fellow rising senior Gage Rice lead a deep receiving corps for Hammer.

“That's probably our deepest group in terms of varsity players from top to bottom,” Hammer said. "We have six that any high school coach would be super ecstatic about. Jayce and Gage are both scholarship guys. The rest of that crew are kind of younger guys that look up to those two, and they've done a great job leading that position group.”

While they did give up some big plays to Lely’s offensive playmakers, the Trojans looked aggressive defensively -  especially up front.

“As a team, we're getting better,” Hammer said. "I do think we're more physical defensively. We're also much more physical offensively. And that's a tribute to coach Joe Lorenzo. He is our football strength conditioning coordinator. He's done a fantastic job. He coached linebackers last fall. He is new in the strength conditioning role. He's done a great job of getting the kids to buy in and work hard. And that allows us to be more physical. We do return six out of the seven in our front seven. Last year those guys weren't as strong or as big as they needed to be. They kind of took that personal in the off-season and have done a great job working hard. That group is led by Wally Monpremier and Ivan Cisneros, who are both pretty tough, pretty physical kids. As long as we can keep Wally focused. He's a little bit of a jokester. Ivan is the serious one in that little yin and yang.”

Hammer sounds like a coach who is pleased with the potential his team holds.

“For both our offensive and defensive group,” Hammer said, "between the skill we have on our offensive side and the returning leadership and toughness we have on our defensive side, the potential is sky high. But we talk a lot to the guys that potential is just the stuff you haven’t done. We’ve got to make sure that we back all that up.”

Lely hosts their Orange and Black game on May 10. The second annual alumni flag football game will be held at halftime of the Orange and Black game. Lely hosts Riverdale on May 23 in their spring game.