Heritage DB Demetres Samuel Jr. is a coach's dream, but a nightmare for opposing teams
PALM BAY — Heritage coach Mykel Benson calls rising junior defensive back Demetres Samuel Jr. “special.”
A coaches dream.
“He’s a player that coaches want on their team,” Benson said. “He can play both ways. He’s just as good at wide receiver as he is at DB. He’s a respectful kid, two-parent household, 3.0 GPA. High-level athlete, high-level I.Q. He has a great future.”
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For opposing teams, Samuel is a nightmare. And it could be getting worse.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder, who committed to Syracuse in the spring, spent the offseason improving his technique and is looking to build off a breakout 2023 season.
Samuel recorded 19 tackles to go along with five interceptions. He impacted the game in all three phases and scored touchdowns as a defensive back, running back, wide receiver and punt returner.
“I want to have more picks, more tackles,” Samuel said Thursday before practice. “Obviously, I want to have more offensive stats and more offensive touchdowns, too. I have to bring everything to the table for my team.”
Samuel credits the Heritage coaching staff with pushing him to be better after he arrived from Melbourne last season.
“I had to prove myself,” he said. “They made me work for what I earned.”
Samuel’s performance caught the eye of several college coaches during the 2023 season, and his recruiting has picked up steadily since then. Miami, Nebraska, Florida and LSU all offered in the past six weeks, but it was Syracuse that got the early commitment.
He had never seen snow before arriving in Syracuse for an unofficial visit, but that didn’t detract from the experience.
“It was cold, but it was straight,” Samuel said. “We were throwing snowballs, and we were doing back flips in the snow. It’s cold up there, but it’s not anything you can’t handle. And pretty much everything is inside up there.”
Samuel credits Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, who earned a reputation as one of the nation’s premier recruiters as the defensive backs at Georgia the past two seasons, as the reason he committed.
“He was really a big factor,” Samuel said of Brown. “He was the reason I wanted to commit. He’s changing everything. You could tell everything is changing over there. The culture is good in the building. Everybody in there has good energy. The whole coaching staff is just awesome.”
With more than 18 months until Samuel can make things official with Syracuse, he knows several schools will be working hard to flip him. He said Georgia, Florida State and Florida are the schools contacting him the most.
Samuel primarily splits his time between cornerback and safety but wants to learn all the positions in the secondary so he can get on the field quicker in college.
Benson is more than happy to help him in that quest.
“He’s a DB for sure,” Benson said. “I think he’s a good corner because he’s real lanky and he has great ball skills. At this level now, if you look at corners, they’re lanky now. But he’ll move around a lot for us this year so teams can’t go away from him. With his I.Q., he can be anywhere on the field.”
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Heritage 2026 Demetres Samuel Jr. is a nightmare for opposing teams
