Jeff Doke
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 5 2025
Lead Knight
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
At the beginning of this season, Frederica Academy quarterback Stanton Beverly had several goals he wanted to achieve. He’s already accomplished several, plus at least one he wasn’t aware of.
At the completion of the regular season, the coaches of the GIAA AAAA/AAA District 2 named their All-Region Team as well as their Region Player of the Year.
While eight of his teammates were named to the All-Region team, seniors Gavin Grantham and Fuller Wimberly, juniors Jayden Gibson, Jaylen Baldwin, and Eli Middleton, sophomores Eric Alford and JC Wessell, and freshman Hudson Carter, Beverly was unanimously selected as the Region Player of the Year.
When asked about the post-regular season laurels, Stanton was more than willing to heap further praise upon his teammates.
“Everybody deserved it, but I think even more people deserved it,” the junior signal caller said recently. “I think Jordyn Rollins and Travis Garland deserved it as well. Honestly, every single person on this team could have deserved it.”
And he would know. According to a trusted member of Frederica Head Coach Brandon Derrick’s staff who keeps track of player history on HUDL (okay, fine. His wife Becky…), Beverly spends far and away more time viewing film than any of his teammates. According to Stanton’s family, he’s been that way since he was a child.
“When Stanton was 5 years old, he came to me and said that he wanted to play football,” recalls his father Corey Beverly. “I despise flag football, and at the time the local rec department in Nashville only had flag football for ages 5 and 6, so I told him no. The next year I got a call from the rec and they said they’re adding tackle this year. So, I said, ‘yeah, I’ll sign him up.’”
“So, I pick Stanton up from school and we miss the road to home and Stanton asks where we’re going. I told him we were going to the rec department to sign you up for football. I looked over and he had tears running down his face. He said, ‘I’ve waited my whole life for this!’” This year, opposing defenses have been driven to tears.
In the regular season, Beverly has gone 62-108 passing for 948 yards and 10 touchdowns. This places him at #4 all time in Frederica history behind Jalin Simpson (2018) and Gavin Williams (2016 & 15).
Combine that with the fact that he also leads the team in rushing: 113 carries for 751 yards and 10 more touchdowns and you can see why he’s drawn comparisons to another recent scrambling signal caller from Southeast Georgia.
“I love Stetson,” Stanton replied when made aware of the comparisons. “I think he’s the greatest UGA quarterback of all time. I kind of style my game after him. That’s who I want to be; go to Georgia as an underdog story. Stetson Bennett is my hero.”
On defense, Beverly has put up decent stats at Safety as well. His 38 total tackles has him tied for 3rd on the team and is also tied for 1st with 2 INTs.
Much like former Knight Jordan Triplett (who Stanton got to play with his freshman year), Beverly believes his time on defense makes him a better player on offense.
“Safety is almost all about coverages. When I drop back to pass, I can sort of see the demeanors of the cornerbacks and the safeties and it all clicks for me. That also comes from watching film as well.”
After a first round bye in the playoffs, the Knights will take on Valwood Academy, a team that currently is on a 5-game win streak against the Knights. “This team has come such a long way from the beginning of the season. We’re not even comparable to the team we were when we faced Valwood the first time.”
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick October 30 2025
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick October 30 2025
Let’s Play Here
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For over nine decades, the annual clash between the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators has been more than a football game; it’s a cultural phenomenon.
Hosted almost exclusively in Jacksonville since 1933, this SEC rivalry draws over 80,000 rabid fans to EverBank Stadium, injecting an estimated $50 million into the local economy each year through hotel stays, bar tabs, and Bulldog-Gator-fueled revelry along the St. Johns River.
But as EverBank Stadium, the 30-year-old home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, faced obsolescence, whispers grew about relocating the game permanently to campus sites or other neutral venues.
Enter the “Stadium of the Future.”
A renovation project that’s not just revitalizing an aging sports facility but safeguarding Jacksonville’s cherished tradition, the $1.4 billion project was approved unanimously by NFL owners in October 2024.
The overhaul began in February 2025 and is slated for completion by the 2028 season.
Funded roughly equally by the city and Jaguars owner Shad Khan, the project commits the team to a 30-year lease, dispelling relocation fears.
Construction will disrupt play. Jaguars games will run at reduced capacity in 2026 before the team relocates temporarily to either Orlando or Gainesville in 2027 but crucially, it spares the 2025 Florida-Georgia matchup.
More importantly, the upgrades are engineered to lure the rivalry back post-renovation, ensuring its return from 2028 to 2031 under a freshly inked four-year extension announced in November 2024.
At the heart of this strategy is expanded capacity tailored for college football’s biggest bashes. EverBank’s current setup holds 67,838 for Jaguars games but swells to over 82,000 for the Cocktail Party with temporary seating.
The renovated stadium drops to a sleek 63,000 permanent seats for NFL action—optimizing sightlines and revenue but boasts expandable configurations up to 71,500, with potential for 70,000-plus in special-event mode.
This isn’t arbitrary; university athletic directors from Florida and Georgia collaborated directly on the design, insisting on features that accommodate the game’s unique chaos: massive tailgate zones, riverfront access for yachts, and reinforced structures for the influx of RVs and vendors that turn Jacksonville into the epicenter of college football.
The upgrades go far beyond seating. A groundbreaking protective canopy will shade fans from Florida’s brutal sun and afternoon thunderstorms, creating a climate-controlled bowl that feels premium without enclosing the open-air vibe.
Wider elevated concourses will ease the pre-game crush, while new seating tiers offer everything from field-level suites to sky-high club seats.
Enhanced digital tech, including upgraded lighting, massive video boards, and seamless Wi-Fi, ensures modern amenities like instant replays and app-based concessions, appealing to younger demographics in an era of streaming and NIL deals.
The current deal nets each university $5-5.5 million annually, but post-2028, payouts jump to at least $10 million per school, plus travel stipends ($350,000 for Georgia, $60,000 for Florida).
Unlike before, Jacksonville retains all ticket, concession, and merchandise revenue, making the game profitable for the city while sweetening the pot for the schools.
During the interim, $1.5 million per university in 2026 and 2027 covers relocation to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium—neutral sites that preserve the game’s off-campus ethos but lack Jax’s intimate, party-hard charm.
Skeptics might point to college football’s seismic shifts; conference realignments, playoff expansions, and revenue chases that moved the Red River Rivalry fully on-site.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart once floated playing at Sanford Stadium for recruiting perks, but the mutual $10 million guarantee and Jacksonville’s proven track record quashed that. The city’s deep ties, from co-sponsoring RV lots to hosting fan fests, create an unmatched ecosystem.
By 2028, when the Gators and Bulldogs return, EverBank won’t just be renovated, it’ll be reborn as a multipurpose marvel, drawing concerts, WrestleMania, and more while prioritizing this annual October ritual.
The upgrades don’t merely fix a leaky roof; they fortify a legacy, ensuring Jacksonville remains the beating heart of college football’s wildest weekend.
In a sport chasing the next billion, sometimes the best play is doubling down on tradition.
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick Oct 22 2025
Another Conquest
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the first time since 2022, the Frederica Academy Knights are Region Champions in the GIAA AAAA/AAA Region 2.
After convincing back-to-back wins against long-time rivals Bulloch Academy and Pinewood Christian Academy, Coach Brandon Derrick’s Knights have secured the region crown regardless of the outcome of their final region game against St. Andrews this Friday night.
Opening region play against the Gators on October 9th, the Knights were looking to even some scores against their most heated rivals.
With their 2024 shutout victory in Statesboro, Bulloch Academy tied the all-time record between the two schools at 6 wins apiece and handed the Knights their first shut-out loss since the 2020 State Championship game loss to John Milledge Academy.
This year would be a different story. The Knights would take a 7-3 lead into the halftime locker room before opening things up in the second half, closing the night with a 35-20 victory.
The highlight play of the night was arguably the 90-yard halfback option passing touchdown to WR Braxton Sykes from RB Jaylen Baldwin. Baldwin also had both a rushing touchdown and receiving touchdown on the night.
Frederica followed up the 2025 region debut with a matchup against another long-time adversary, Pinewood Christian Academy.
The Knights had battled back against the Patriots to a 7-7 tie in the all-time matchup after starting 0-5 in the early days of the rivalry.
For the second week in a row, Coach Derrick’s team would break the all-time tie and extend their winning streak to four games against the boys from Bellville, notching their second region win to the tune of 28-14.
While Jaylen Baldwin once again had two touchdowns on the night, the play of the game – if not the season – came in the 2nd quarter when 6’7” 225 lb. Sophomore TE JC Wessel caught a 4th down pass on the 10 yard line and carried four Pinewood defenders from there into the endzone.
Region play wraps up for Frederica on October 24 with a trip to Savannah to take on St. Andrews.
The Lions – currently playing at Daffin Park next to Historic Greyson Stadium due to field upgrades at their Wilmington Island campus – come into the matchup with a 3-6 record but winless in region play.
St Andrews has never beaten Frederica, with the 7-0 loss in 2020 the only match that was within three scores.
To be bluntly realistic, the chances that coach Derrick’s squad doesn’t end the week with an undefeated Region Championship are very, very low.
That being said, the outlook for the playoffs is promising, but less than perfect. The GIAA uses MaxPreps rankings to seed their playoff brackets.
This puts Frederica at the #5 position in the Division, just behind Valwood and ahead of Tiftarea Academy.
If this ranking stays the same after this weekend’s matches, it means Frederica will get a 1st Round bye but will not get a home playoff game.
One thing that may affect the ranking is the final decision in regard to the weather-shortened 14-7 loss to West Nassau High in Week 2.
Lightning in the area suspended play with about a minute left in the 1st quarter and never resumed.
If the two coaches can agree to wipe the “game” from the site, it might be enough to vault Frederica into the #4 seed, however the head-to-head loss against Valwood in Week 3 will more than likely complicate the matter.
More than likely, if the seeding does not change, the Knights will be making a 2nd round road trip to either Westfield or Valwood.
The Knights are 2-0 all-time versus Westfield (two lopsided wins in 2018 & 2019) but are currently on a five-game losing streak to Valwood after going 4-5 against the Valiants in their first nine matchups.
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick October 8 2025
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick October 1 2025
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick September 24 2025
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