YULEE, Fla. – NewsJax’s high school football Spring Swing continues daily throughout spring practice across the First Coast. Today, we’ll take a quick look at Yulee.
The two most storied high school football players in Nassau County history will be on the field together Thursday night.
Derrick Henry will be in town to have his No. 2 jersey retired by Yulee, while Terrence Flagler, the most dominant high school player from Nassau County before Henry thundered through it, will be one of those on the field celebrating it.
“We’re glad the big fella’s coming home,” Flagler said of Henry, who broke the national rushing record of 11,232 set by Ken Hall from 1950-53.
“I want fellas to understand what we means to us, what he means to this community. He’s the greatest running back in the history of high school football. He’s coming home. We want him to be proud of what he sees.”
When Henry (12,124 career rushing yards, 153 TDs at Yulee) heads back to Nashville to begin his fourth season with the Tennessee Titans, Flagler will stay put at Yulee with an eye on how to improve the Hornets as spring winds down. In his first season as head coach at Yulee, Flagler is vested in the area.
At Fernandina Beach, Flagler led the area in rushing in 1981 (1,683 yards on 200 carries) and had a staggering 405-yard rushing game with seven touchdowns against West Nassau on Oct. 23, 1981. He later became an All-American at Clemson and a first-round draft pick of San Francisco.
He has coached on and off in the area most of the last 20 years, spending nearly three full seasons at Westside (2010-12) and coaching in assistant and coordinator capacities elsewhere. But returning to Nassau County to help try and restore Yulee to prominence is on the agenda. It, in some ways, feels personal because of his attachment to the area.
“Good fit here for me,” Flagler said. “I grew up in the area so I’m basically back home. It’s a great opportunity. I think we have a lot of potential.
“We have an opportunity here because we’re a community school. We know who’s coming to us. Our middle school is right next door. … We’ve had some talent that’s kind of fallen through the cracks, but we’ve had some great kids as well, so we just want to capitalize and be more consistent.”
The Hornets will try and end a two-year slump that has seen them go 3-6 and 3-7 in 2017 and ‘18, respectively.
Quarterback Kyle Lee (1,193 passing yards, 10 TDs) returns to lead Yulee’s offense and Flagler said that his experience is big for the Hornets. Yulee’s offense was one of the area’s lower-performers last year (252 yards per game) and Flagler attributes some of that to younger players learning on the fly. Defensively, the Hornets held teams to 253.7 ypg, which ranked 12th in the area.
If the Hornets can improve slightly on the offensive side of the ball, challenging for the lead spot in a difficult district that includes both Raines and Ribault, will be the first step back toward being a contender.
“Same system, same terminology, all of that, so we will not reinvent the wheel,” Flagler said. “You go through your growing pains the first year. The second year, you hope to see some dividends, so that’s what we’re looking for.”
Yulee 2019 football schedule
Aug. 23, St. Augustine at Yulee
Aug. 30, Yulee at Fernandina Beach
Sept. 6, West Nassau at Yulee
Sept. 13, Yulee at Paxon*
Sept. 20, Nease at Yulee
Sept. 27, Ribault at Yulee*
Oct. 4, Yulee at New Smyrna Beach
Oct. 11, OFF
Oct. 18, Yulee at Raines*
Oct. 25, Stanton at Yulee*
Nov. 1, Parker at Yulee
* Indicates district game
All games at 7 p.m.