Hayes-Patrick among wave of new transfers
It’s been a pretty interesting start to high school training camp and one of the biggest surprises was the sudden transfer of former Timber Creek running back Peter Hayes-Patrick and teammate cornerback Brendon Lightsey, both of whom showed up at Winter Park this week.
Hayes-Patrick made his first public appearance as a Winter Park Wildcat on Saturday at the Sentinel’s annual Varsity Football Media Day. Hayes-Patrick declined to comment about his move to Winter Park.
Hayes-Patrick and Lightsey join another former Timber Creek player at Winter Park — defensive lineman Nick Jackson, who transferred in the spring. Cornerback Caleb Blake also left, landing at Bishop Moore.
The end of the summer also made for a flurry of college commitments from several Central Florida area seniors, including Jones High linebacker Marcus Tillman Jr., who chose Texas.
During the past two weeks, South Lake running back Kelley Joiner and Orlando Christian Prep receiver Xavier Weaver committed to USF, Edgewater quarterback R.J. Harvey chose Virginia and Wekiva linebacker Rian Davis picked Georgia.
Tillman, a linebacker who goes by the nickname M.J., committed to Texas during his trip to Austin for the Longhorns’ Stars at Night camp.
“It started all in the spring when me and the Texas coach just connected,” Tillman said of Texas defensive coordinator/linebacker coach Todd Orlando. “We’ve been talking for a couple of months and he wanted me to come out there and I was talking to my parents about coming out there and just everything … the rest is history.”
Tillman, who had committed to Florida when Jim McElwain’s staff was in Gainesville, said he also had great conversations with Texas head coach Tom Herman.
“He was just excited. He almost jumped out the window. They wanted me so bad, they used everything they could to get me,” Tillman said. “They didn’t want me to leave the school without committing.”
Tillman, who started his high school career as a safety at Dr. Phillips, has grown in size to 6-foot-2, 220 pounds and established himself as one of the top linebackers in the state. Tillman picked Texas over Florida, Ohio State, Clemson, UCF and North Carolina.
“A lot of people from this state don’t really get a Texas offer because these players from Florida, they have the same [type of] players in Texas,” Tillman said. “So it was really a surprising offer for me and a big one. … real big.”
At Texas, Tillman will join another former Central Florida star in receiver Jordan Pouncey, who redshirted during his first year at Texas.
“I’m excited and just ready for high school season, but I’m [also] ready for college already,” Tillman said. “We’re young [at Jones] but I think we’re very disciplined. We’re not as talented as last year — we lost 32 seniors last year — but there are a lot of seniors coming back this year and we should be ready for the first game of the season, Wekiva. It’s gonna be a tough challenge and we got a tough schedule, but we’re ready.”