- September 5, 2026
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Scholarship offers from NCAA Division I programs are not so easily earned. Many desire them, few receive them.
Only 3.4% of high school football players went on to play at the Div. I level in the 2025 college football season, per the NCAA.
That percentage has declined in recent years because of the transfer portal, and the preferences of college coaches to give roster spots to older, more experienced athletes.
Sarasota High football is beating the odds this fall.
The Sailors’ wide receiver corps features five players with Division I offers. Senior Jayden Rivers, junior Evan Larrick, junior Julian Wilcom, junior AJ Heater and sophomore Jayden Montgomery have all garnered attention from programs at the next level.
Larrick boasts 11 offers, as of Monday, including from Power Four programs Arizona and California. Montgomery has four, highlighted by Boston College, while Wilcom has three. Rivers and Heater have one offer apiece from Alabama State and Sacramento State, respectively.
“We all do our own part. We all have our strengths, our weaknesses,” Montgomery said. “I feel like one weakness from somebody, someone else has as a strength. We all suit each other well.”
The full quintet got involved in Sarasota’s victory, 35-18, over Bayshore at home on Friday in its regular-season opener.
Larrick had a team-high 107 yards on six receptions, including a touchdown. Rivers accounted for three touchdowns — two receiving — with 60 yards on five catches.
Wilcom tallied 40 yards on two receptions, Montgomery earned 25 on four and Heater had 10 on one. The five of them combined for 242 of the team’s 390 yards of offense on the night.
Last season, it was Rivers who led the way with 1,052 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. This season’s group of wide receivers challenge him to put up even bigger numbers.
“It just makes me want to work harder. When you’re around people that want it as bad as you, it motivates you to want to do better,” Rivers said. “We’re all pushing each other.”
The Sailors welcomed an influx of talent at the position before spring football began. With that timing, the five were able to jell months before this season arrived.
Wilcom and Montgomery transferred in from IMG Academy to join Rivers, Larrick and Heater — all returners. They gave up a boarding-school, sports-focused environment to be part of a public-school program which last posted a winning season in 2021.
Entering 2026, both of them had existing relationships with Demory Lawshe, who is Sarasota’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. They overlapped at IMG Academy while Lawshe was a wide receivers coach there.
There was no grand plan for Wilcom, Montgomery and Lawshe to join the Sailors together, Lawshe said. Opportunities in their respective careers just so happened to align.
“I tell guys all the time, ‘A year ago, this conversation wasn't even thought of. It wasn't even taking place,’” he said. “But now to see it happen, … I couldn't ask for two better dudes to come and join the party.”
Sarasota has a new coach at wide receiver, too. Joe Morrow, who played the position for Mississippi State from 2012-15, is now in charge. Lawshe shares in that Division I expertise as a former wide receiver for Indiana State from 2010-13.
Those two are most responsible for managing these five Division I prospects — trying to get the best out of each and every one of them.
Along the way, Lawshe has noticed how often Rivers, Larrick, Wilcom, Heater and Montgomery critique and coach one another during film review. He’s also noticed how quick they are to celebrate each other when there’s a big play in practice.
When they’re not working on catching or route-running, they study their blocking technique. And all of them share a competitive nature.
“The biggest thing is these dudes are competitors,” Lawshe said. “They’re extremely, extremely competitive, and each one of them has a chip on their shoulder.”
Morrow and Lawshe guide them from the sideline, but junior quarterback Hudson West is their on-field leader. The three-star recruit, per 247Sports, has 23 Division I offers in his own right — most recently from Pittsburgh on Aug. 18 and Florida on June 20.
He was already plenty familiar with Rivers, Larrick and Heater entering this season. Now, with those guys a year older plus Wilcom and Montgomery in the fold, he recognizes a difference from last season’s wide receiver corps.
It’s not their collective talent which stands out most to him: It’s their collective leadership.
“That’s something, last year, I felt like I had to take part in,” West said. “I don’t have to do much in that (wide receiver) room. They come back to me, they help me, I help them and it’s just great camaraderie.”
Statistically, the odds didn’t favor these five pass-catchers. They were much more likely to become part of the vast majority which doesn’t reach Division I — that 96.6%.
But they earned their respective offers, and have those opportunities to think about.
For now, they have this opportunity to compete together for the Sailors.
