Armwood defender gets 5-star treatment

By SCOTT PURKS, KEITH NIEBUHR and BOB PUTNAM
Published June 3, 2006

The reviews are in, and for Torrey Davis, they're pretty good. After evaluating talent from across the country, recruiting site Rivals.com has named the Armwood senior defensive lineman a five-star recruit, the highest accolade it gives to a player.

Wrote Rivals: "A special athlete with unlimited upside as a collegiate defensive lineman, Davis' versatility is one of the many things that jump out at you. Davis, who one college defensive line coach called "the best defensive tackle prospect he'd seen in 25 years,' uses his long arms to disrupt passing lanes and reach for ball carriers. Those attributes, plus his ability to change direction, make him one of the top Floridians in a loaded year in the Sunshine State."

Davis (6-foot-5, 290 pounds), one of 27 players nationally in the class of 2007 to earn the Rivals' five-star rating, has scholarship offers from schools such as Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Southern California. He was named as the top performer at a recent Scout.com combine in Boca Raton, Armwood assistant Chris Taylor said.

TAMPA - After one season as Leto's football coach, Scott Palmer has taken over as the head coach at Spoto High, which opens its doors for the first time in the fall.

"I look at it as an exciting opportunity," Palmer said. "It's a big challenge because you have to build everything up from the bottom. But that's good, too, because you get a chance to lay a solid foundation."

Last season Leto went 1-9, winning its last game 28-20 over King in overtime.

Before leading Leto, Palmer, 36, was an assistant for nine seasons at East Bay, Riverview and Leto.

"Another great thing about this is that Spoto is 3 miles from my house," Palmer said. "Before I had to drive more than an hour to get to work."

Spoto, which is nicknamed the Spartans and will wear black, purple and silver, will play a nine-game junior varsity schedule in its first season and will have two games against Lennard High, which also opens in the fall.

ST. PETERSBURG - For the past three years, Gibbs practiced and played elsewhere because the campus was undergoing a $44.5-million dollar facelift.

The situation was hardly ideal, but Al Davis continued coaching so he could see the finished product. Now that it is here, Davis announced the upcoming season (16th overall) will be his last.

"I always wanted to be here to open the new stadium," Davis said. "I've got a good group of kids coming back who played on the road for three years and finally get to come home. They were the ones that kept me going."

Davis, 59, will teach physical education through the 2006-07 school year before retiring. He said the school hopes to name his replacement by next spring.

Davis made a name for himself by constantly working to get his players into colleges. In his 13 years as coach at Gibbs, Davis has had more than 90 players sign to play college football, including 34 the past two seasons.

The most notable player he coached was Shaun King, who led the Gladiators to their first state playoff appearances in 1993 and '94. King started at Tulane before being drafted by the Buccaneers.

Davis' record is 64-102 and his teams have made the playoffs five times (1993, 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2004).

[Last modified June 3, 2006, 01:29:10]