VALRICO, Fla. — The Bloomingdale High School football team (7-0) is looking to finish a perfect regular season when they play Newsome on Friday night.
The Bulls would not be riding this high without a talented group of receivers. Senior pass-catchers Dinero McClendon and Agiye Hall complement each other perfectly.
“With him, he’s more the glitchy, shifty guy,” Hall said. “If you need him, you’re going to have him. I’m more of a last chance.”
Bloomingdale is somewhat of a last chance for both players. For Hall, a University of Alabama commit, this is his fourth school in four years.
“From the day I stepped in high school I had an ego,” Hall said. “Having egos in high school, you can’t have that.”
In six games this season, Hall has 27 catches for 606 yards and seven touchdowns.
McClendon was relegated to the scout team his sophomore year, ineligible to play due to grades.
“I was really heartbroken to be honest,” McClendon said. “I had been playing football since I was five. I never had a year off.”
Both receivers have matured so much since their freshman years and it is paying off big time for the Bulls.
“I’ve been to schools Armwood, and IMG, where you have the best players around you,” Hall said. “It’s all about taking that pride away, taking that ego away, having that work ethic.”
“It showed me that I need to work hard in the classroom so I can be on the field,” McClendon said.
“I think the biggest thing when you are a high school athlete is that you are a ‘student-athlete,’” head coach Jake Coulson said. “‘Student’ comes before ‘athlete’ and it comes before it for a reason.”
Now they’re on track to graduate together and, hopefully, win a state title together.
“I actually played little league with Aygie,” McClendon said. “It was cool for him to come back here and reunite again. We’ve been playing since we were little. We got a good friendship. It’s kind of fun to finish who I started with.”
