St. Johns Spotlight: Bartram Trail state rushing king Laython Biddle makes college choice
Maybe the December early signing period has dulled some of the former buzz of football's traditional National Signing Day.
But not this year at Bartram Trail.
The St. Johns school added not one but two power-conference commitments ahead of Wednesday's signing day, a milestone with life-changing decisions for thousands of athletes around the country.
Florida rushing champion Laython Biddle committed to Utah on Monday night and kicker Liam Padron joined the First Coast's list of SEC football commits after selecting Texas A&M on Friday.
Biddle, the Times-Union's All-First Coast offensive player of the year, rushed for 2,298 yards and 26 touchdowns to earn Northeast Florida's first state rushing championship since Yulee's Derrick Henry in 2012. He closed his Bartram Trail career with 4,122 yards in three seasons.
Despite his feats against a schedule ranked as the second-toughest in Florida, Biddle largely escaped the notice of national recruiters until adding the Utah offer after the season's end. He becomes the Utes' second running back from Northeast Florida in as many years, after Middleburg's Mike Mitchell in the 2023 class.
Padron, the Bears' starting kicker and punter for the past three seasons, converted 37 career field goals with the Bears and averaged 39.6 yards per punt as a senior.
He becomes the most recent Bartram Trail kicker in Football Bowl Subdivision history, including specialists like David Kemp (Memphis) and Cole Leininger (California).
The Bartram Trail duo added to a long list of area football commitments in the week leading up to National Signing Day.
Also on that list in St. Johns County are Beachside DB Tyler Lawton (Methodist), St. Augustine WR Myles Simmons (West Florida) and Tocoi Creek WR Mason Turpen (Thiel).
Bears soccer bounced by FHSAA formula
Bartram Trail kicked off its district boys soccer tournament two weeks ago with the advantage in the Florida High School Athletic Association rankings over Ocala West Port, which competed two districts away. The Bears won their district opener. West Port didn't.
Yet when the dust settled and the FHSAA released its bracket Friday, West Port qualified for the Class 7A first-round playoffs on Feb. 13 and Bartram Trail missed out.
How does that happen?
Mark down the hard-luck omission of the 9-3-2 Bears boys as the latest chapter in the often-perplexing saga of the FHSAA's ranking formula, which is officially based in part on the MaxPreps system but often diverges from the national formula.
West Port's District 3-7A participation was one-and-done, a 3-1 loss to Ocoee. Bartram Trail shut out Tocoi Creek 3-0 in the opening round of the District 1-7A tournament and then lost 3-2 in extra time to Creekside, which by the FHSAA's own ranking system is a stronger opponent than Ocoee (15.052 for Creekside, 13.402 for Ocoee).
Bartram Trail still held the seventh-best ranking in Region 1-7A, which is usually good enough for an at-large bid. Not this time, though: Orlando Boone, 10th in the region, received an automatic bid by winning District 4-7A, and Bartram Trail's bubble burst when Sanford Seminole upset Lake Mary for the automatic berth from District 2-7A.
MaxPreps itself, incidentally, continues to rank Bartram Trail four places above West Port (15-3) in its Class 7A standings for Florida.
Around St. Johns
Bartram Trail repeated as state cheerleading champion in the Class 2A large division. ... Creekside fullback Lily Paisant committed to Florida Atlantic women's soccer. … Ponte Vedra's Addy Paul committed to Lynn women's lacrosse. … Beachside's Anakin Brown scored 40 points for Barracudas boys basketball in Wednesday's 99-63 win against Trinity Christian. … The Jacksonville Jaguars' EverBank Stadium welcomes both football and flag football players for three days of competition from Feb. 16-18, with the two-day Girls Flag Preseason Classic, the QB Skills Challenge and the 7v7 Battle at the Bank. ... The FHSAA starts postseason for individual wrestling on Wednesday, with girls district competitions in District 2 at Westside and District 3 at Matanzas. ... Former Nease athlete Sasha Gregory won the women's pentathlon with 3,611 points, breaking the school record for Charlotte at the Doc Hale Invitational in Blacksburg, Va. … High School 9:12 has scheduled Spring Sports Media Day for Feb. 20 at the Winston Family YMCA in Riverside from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. … The FHSAA lacrosse season opens Monday.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Laython Biddle: Bartram Trail running back commits to Utah football
