- July 23, 2026
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If the football field was the ballroom and football teams were the guests, Sarasota High would have struggled to get a date this past spring.
“We're the fat kid that's trying to get in shape — trying to get somebody to take us to prom,” said Anthony Campbell, the Sarasota football coach.
Past results give him hesitancy about his team’s prospects on the hypothetical dance floor. The Sailors finished 4-7 last year, 3-7 the year before and 1-10 in 2023.
A five-game losing streak brought an end to their 2025 season, and that’s the same way their previous season came to a close. Their last regional tournament appearance was in 2022.
This upcoming season offers an opportunity to get more familiar with the win column. Official practices are mere days away, with non-contact starting Monday and contact following Aug. 1.
Sarasota will host Hillsborough at Cleland Stadium 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 for a preseason contest, followed by its season opener — also at home — against Bayshore, set for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21.
“From the spring game May 22 till now, (we’ve) turned over a new leaf in the program,” Campbell said. “I'm really, really excited with the direction that we're going. The mental toughness aspect of our football team and the approach that they have taken this summer has been awesome.”
Tightening up defensively has been one of the Sailors’ top priorities this offseason. That starts with tackling, which the team has historically struggled with, Campbell said.
Sarasota allowed 34.09 points per game last season. It lost its final five games by an average of 16.6 points despite a 3-1 start to the year.
This fall, rising senior linebacker Cooper Buck and rising senior safety/wide receiver Chase Fritz are back in the fold after recording a team-best 90 and 84 tackles, respectively. The Sailors’ reigning tackles-for-loss leader Jackson Costlow, though, has since graduated.
Campbell isn’t concerned with individuals. Tackling, as he saw it, was a collective struggle.
“The past two seasons, you had guys out there just trying to do a little bit too much instead of just doing their job,” Campbell said. “(It’s about) understanding the concept of the defense. You don't have to go out and try to do more than what you’re supposed to.”
If there’s one player who has impressed him most this offseason — on either side of the ball — it’s Evan Larrick, who is a 6-foot-0, 185-pound rising junior at wide receiver.
In 2025, he tallied 504 yards and three touchdowns on 33 receptions. He now holds offers from California, Sacramento State, Toledo, Arizona, Samford, Buffalo, FIU and Marshall.
“I’ve got to take that big step, because junior year is the big year,” Larrick said. “I've been putting all the work in (with) receiver drills, in the film room, in the weight room… becoming more of a leader and more of a vocal person on the team that people look up to me for.”
He’ll have some company in the forms of rising sophomore Jayden Montgomery and rising junior Julian Wilcom — two transfers from IMG Academy.
Sarasota’s leading wide receiver from last season is back, too. Jayden Rivers had 1,052 yards and 16 touchdowns on 66 receptions as a junior.
Larrick doesn’t lack confidence regarding how their position group stacks up against others from local high school programs.
“We have one of the best receiving corps in the area,” Larrick said. “We are a hardworking group, but I think what separates us the most is that we know the game of football really well. We spend a lot of time in the film room.”
Rising junior quarterback Hudson West will be the starting signal-caller, reprising his role from 2025 and 2024. All of the pass-catchers above will be at his disposal.
His list of NCAA Division I offers entails 22 in total as of July 20. Florida, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Colorado and North Carolina are just some of the programs interested.
Last season, West passed for 2,836 yards and 26 touchdowns on a 55.1% completion rate, surrendering five interceptions.
“We don't have to always rely on his arm, but he's the guy,” Campbell said. “We're going to go as far as we can, believe it or not, as long as Hudson is doing the things that he needs for our offense to be successful.”
Campbell knows where the bar has been set for his team because of past results. Nobody, he said, expects the Sailors to win more than five games — or even, more than four.
They’re still trying to earn their way into the hypothetical high school football prom. Based on what Larrick has seen this offseason, that long-awaited date is coming sooner rather than later.
“We have a winning mentality coming into the season,” Larrick said. “I'm expecting an 8-2 record.”
