Transfers, NIL Create Dynamic Situation at Lely

College football in the era of the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL) is often called the wild, wild west because of its mercurial changes. With the July 24 ratification of regulations from the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) allowing high school athletes to profit from NIL without losing their eligibility, combined with the FHSAA’s liberal transfer guidelines, we are seeing local athletes jumping schools at a dizzying rate. Suddenly, Southwest Florida’s football scene looks a lot like a miniature version of college football with 24 players transferring schools this summer alone.

While the NIL decision has yet to sink in locally, Lely head coach Ben Hammer’s roster has certainly been impacted by what some folks are calling the high school transfer portal. In the past couple weeks, two of Lely’s top players, Division 1 recruits receiver Jayce Cora and running back Jayvian Tanelus, suddenly transferred to Community School of Naples (CSN). Prior to spring practice, 6’5”, 315-pound Lely tackle Woody Celucien transferred to Miami Central. Overall, CSN added five transfer players from other Naples schools this spring alone. Golden Gate, who was penalized for recruiting two Lely standouts last season, has seen four key players transfer out, three to First Baptist Academy (FBA) and one to Naples. 

Since last season, Lely has had four standout players transfer out and two transfer in. Lely also had a key player move in from out of state, senior offensive tackle Deuce Thornton, son of Lely's new offensive coordinator, Tim Thornton.

“It's kind of tough to comment on any specific kids or anything,” said Ben Hammer, Lely head coach. “But we are definitely in a new age of high school football because of how easy it is for kids to get from one school to another.”

Hammer is focusing on what he can do to keep his players home.

“Player experience is something that's important,” Hammer said. “We've got to make sure that the kids’ goals are also on our radar so that we're helping them achieve the things individually they want to achieve while also keeping the team goals and objectives at the forefront. The same goes for head coaches and assistant coaches. The amount of movement there has been unbelievable also.”

Hammer has welcomed new coaches to his staff including Thornton, who he considers a mentor. Hammer’s first job out of college was on Thornton’s staff in Illinois. Thornton led Peoria High School to the state championship in 2016. Thornton’s happy to be supporting Hammer at Lely.

"Yeah, it was his first job,” Thornton said. "He was fresh out of college, and he was looking to get in the business and attack it. He did a really good job with us. He did everything we asked him to do, and he was always a hustler. It was real easy to recommend him for his next job. We've kept in touch the whole time. We've done USA football together, and we've collaborated over the phone, Zoom, and stuff like that all year long for the past several years. It's been nice coming down here joining a friend. This job is about who you're working with. It's been a blast being down here with Coach Hammer. I enjoy it a lot. He's just grown consistently every year. It's real important to him to find ways to get better. And I think he does a really good job attacking the process of growing as a head coach. I try to help him as much as I can. A lot of people don't realize what all comes with being a head coach. And there's so many things that have nothing to do with football. You almost feel like more of a CEO. This year, it's been real nice that when those administrative type things come up, I can just make a suggestion and then go back to calling X's and O's and working with kids. It's been real enjoyable being able to just focus on football.”

Thornton’s son, Deuce, a 6’4”, 295-pound senior tackle, is recovering from major knee surgery and is expected to be a key player for Lely this fall.

Another key addition to Hammer’s staff is longtime Lely head basketball coach Fritz Jacques, who is coaching defensive backs. Jacques has spent the last couple of seasons coaching defense at Community School. Hammer tried to get Jacques in the fold at Lely last season. This year, he succeeded in bringing Jacques back home.

“It kind of went back and forth,” Hammer said. "His schedule was a little bit tough in the summer. But he's here and he's in full go now, and we're excited about him. He's been doing a great job with our defensive backs."

Jacques brings a lot of Lely football history with him. In addition to being a former Lely head football coach himself, Jacques starred as a player at Lely before moving on to a standout career at Kent State University, where he recorded 215 tackles. Fritz played for Chris Metzger at Lely. Hammer was an assistant coach for Metzger before becoming a head coach himself.

“He's a neighborhood hero,” Hammer said of Jacques. "I give him a hard time sometimes calling him that, but Fritz used sports to go to Kent State to finish his degree. He's gone through a ton of adversity. We talk to the kids every single day about what it's like to stare adversity in the face. You’re going to see adversity in the game, but more importantly, you're going to see it in life. Fritz faced adversity and came out on top. And he's doing a great job in life. He’s got a couple of young kids and he's an awesome dad.”

Key additions for Hammer are two Naples High transfers,  junior quarterback Carter Quinn and junior receiver Dwayne Liberal. Quinn had a big spring game and looked sharp in Saturday’s practice.

“We're still super excited about our roster,” Hammer said. “And I'm sure there will be an influx of freshmen when school starts. We've got 82 kids signed up right now and some more freshmen will come after that. We're excited about our roster and our kids that want to be Lely Trojans. Anybody that has departed or decided they don't want to be a part of it, that's a decision that they decided to make. We're excited about coaching the kids that want to be here. It's still high school football. It's still blocking and tackling like it's always been. But as far as personnel-wise, the days of being loyal to your neighborhood or the area that you grew up in, they're just different now."

Hammer’s not sure how NIL will affect the Trojans.

"I'm not sure who NIL helps directly,” he said. "I'm not the coach at FBA or Community School. We worry about serving our student athletes that are at Lely. We're going to do the best that we can to take advantage of NIL and all of that stuff and help our kids achieve their dreams. Hopefully, all the other coaches at other schools are doing right by their kids. But we're going to make sure that we do right by the kids. And we have a plan to use NIL and get some local businesses and families involved. We're excited about that.

"I think, for the first time ever, the athletes themselves have some bargaining power to bring to the table. I think it's going to cause a little bit of strain. But I do think what inadvertently helps Lely is that the kids who've been working hard and come from Naples Manor or come from the different neighborhoods deserve a piece of all of the finances that come because of them playing in big games. There hasn't been legislature that's come out regulating NIL yet, but we're going to do the best we can to stay ahead of that and have our kids prepared. I don't know if the program or the school itself benefits, but no matter what school they're at, I think that there's an opportunity for the athletes to benefit, and I'm all for that.”

Even with liberal transfer rules and now NIL availability, recruiting is still illegal.

“The only thing I'll say to that is that nobody is supposed to speed or break any rules in the civilian world either,” Hammer said. "And it still happens every day. That’s the best that I'll say on that."