Chris Hays: Bishop Moore RB Coles shines at Nike camp.
DAVENPORT — Sunday was officially the beginning of Trilion Coles’ senior year: his senior year of football and the 12-month recruiting cycle that will undoubtedly have plenty of colleges knocking down the door to get at the Orlando Bishop Moore running back. Eventually. For those who were not aware of Coles, that introduction began Sunday at Orlando’s Nike The Opening Regional camp in Davenport. There were big-time running backs at this event, including the No. 2 running back in the country and the Sentinel’s top-ranked player for 2018 — Lorenzo Lingard.
Out-performing Lingard and the rest of the running backs invited to the regional event, however, was Coles: the quiet, unassuming, courteous, gracious young man who just happens to be pretty darn good at carrying a football. No one expected Coles to come away from the event with the MVP award. Not even Coles. “It’s an honor. I’m super excited about it. I didn’t know I was going to get it, to be honest, but I grinded and hard work pays off, I guess,” Coles said.
Bishop Moore head coach Matt Hedrick can’t say enough positive things about Coles, who has been a big contributor for the Hornets during the past two seasons, one of which ended in a Class 5A state title in 2015.
Hedrick is expecting big things from Coles this year, and Coles isn’t one to disappoint.
“He’s just a really quality young man through and through,” Hedrick said. “He has a great personality; he’s friendly to everybody; he’s got that great smile. And people really respect him and like Trilion for the person that he is, not the athlete that he is.
“He’s very humble and just a considerate kid.”
The admiration is mutual.
“It’s just a blessing. Coach Hedrick is a great coach and he’s a good person and the fact that he has so much faith in me just gives me the opportunity to come out and show him how much I’m ready for this season,” Coles said.
Coles has bided his time in the Bishop Moore offense, waiting in the wings, sort of, with upperclassmen like C.J. McNeal and Joe
Wallace getting their due share of opportunities in the past. Coles will be without his two buddies next year and it will be his time to show what he can do.
“Yeah, Joe and C.J., I’m gonna miss them, but they’re going to be better off, they’re going to be in college,” Coles said of Wallace, who is headed to Army, and McNeal, who will be at Air Force. “I just gotta show them how much they improved me as a person and a player.”
Hedrick is ready to see what Coles can do with the focus now directly on his next star.
“I think he’s going to have a great senior season. He’ll be our main runner but also be real versatile because he can do so many things,” Hedrick said. “We can split him out wide, run him on jet sweeps on the edge and put him in the backfield in one-back sets if we want to do any I-formation stuff. He gives us a lot of versatility and he’s someone who knows how to do everything.”
But so far, Coles is under the college football recruiting radar. His size probably hinders the recruiting process a bit for the 5-foot-10, 182-pound athlete, but that won’t keep the coaches away for long once they see him in person.
He’s speedy, can turn corners in the mud and is a tough and smart runner who uses his blockers and picks the right gaps.
He has no scholarship offers from Football Bowl Subdivision schools yet, but he should and will. Liberty, which is expected to join the FBS in two years, has shown interest so far.
Hedrick knows he can play at the next level.
“There’s no question he’s a Division I talent, no doubt,” Hedrick said.
Coles is ready to see what comes along.
“I can’t wait for it, to be honest. It’s a moment that I’ve been waiting for my whole life and it’s going to be great for me and my family,” Coles said.
Speaking of family, he has some pretty good bloodlines. College football fans in the state might remember
Laveranues Coles, Trilion’s father, from his days as a receiver at Florida State. Coles played 11 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the New York Jets, racking up 674 catches for 8,609 yards and 49 touchdowns.
His father was also a tad bit undersized — his NFL vitals were 5-foot-11, 200 pounds — but that didn’t stop him from being dominant during parts of his career. He caught more than 80 passes in a season four times and went over the 1,000-yard mark in three of those seasons.
“My father is a big influence in my life. He’s the reason why I do what I do. He’s taught me so much,” Trilion Coles said. “I’d love to follow in his footsteps and be as great as he was. I just gotta follow my own path.”
Part of that path has been and, for one more season, will be paved by one of the best offensive linemen in Central Florida, Bishop Moore teammate Eric
Seidelman. He, too, shined at the Nike event Sunday and was selected as one of the top five performers among offensive linemen.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Seidelman said. “Bishop Moore is showing out.”