Reached by the Orlando Sentinel via text message Sunday evening, Burnett replied, “All is well, personal matter that led to the decision of stepping down. Tough decision, but a decision where my immediate family needed me.

“I will be back coaching sometime in my life. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right for me to step in and lead my alumni at EHS.”

Harrison, a former Oak Ridge standout, previously was an assistant for nearby Mount Dora Christian. He also assisted at Lake Mary.

“We found an extremely talented individual that has what I feel is exactly what Eustis needs,” Panthers athletics director Michelle Long said.

The Eustis press release read, “Coach Harrison brings with him a wealth of experience, coming over from Mount Dora Christian Academy where he coached track and field and football. He played at Oak Ridge High and is in the Oak Ridge High School Hall of Fame. A four-year letterman for football and track,  Coach Harrison has been coaching football and track for 25 years.”

According to Long the rest of the coaching staff will remain intact.

Harrison played college football at Western Illinois and previously coached at Lake Mary.

Burnett was hired this past spring to fill the vacancy left by Frank Scott, who is now at Leesburg.

After Burnett’s departure, Leesburg initially offered offensive coordinator Jabari Dunham the job as interim head coach. Dunham turned down the offer. He said before Monday’s announcement that the staff was “kind of coaching by committee” in preseason practices.

Burnett played cornerback and was a kick returner at University of Central Florida upon graduation from Eustis in 2005. He was named all-American as a senior in 2008 and is in the UCF Sports Hall of Fame. He had 16 interceptions in four seasons. Burnett went on to play in the NFL for three years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants, and seven years in the Canadian Football League.

Chris Hays can be found on X @OS_ChrisHays. He can be reached via email at chays@orlandosentinel.com.

Jackson, who is ranked No. 10 in the Sentinel’s 2026 Central Florida Super60, is one of more than 30 players to transfer to TFA this summer, and the Royals are looking to make a big splash in Class 2A.

He is the third commitment to UF’s 2026 recruiting class, joining Tampa Jesuit quarterback Will Griffin and Seffner Armwood cornerback Jaelen Waters. Verbal commitments are non-binding.

He’s only a junior, but Jackson said he was comfortable committing early with the Gators, especially because the coaching staff was on him early in his career.

“Coming into my freshman year, when I still had a lot to learn, Florida still gave me an offer. It was my fourth offer,” Jackson said. “I grew and got older and Florida continued to show the same amount of love, so I felt like it was actually home.”

He said he wasn’t necessarily a Gators fan growing up, but the staff certainly has made an impression on him during the past two seasons. Jackson attended every home game in Gainesville last season.

“I was a fan of football and the teams in Florida … Miami, Florida State and the Gators,” Jackson said. “I see myself dominating and helping out the team and getting things right and winning a national title.”

He knows the current predicament with which the Gators are faced, coming off a third straight losing season for the first time since 1937. They have one of the most difficult schedules in the country this season, but Jackson said he’s confident coach Billy Napier and crew can get things going in the right direction.

Sports Illustrated’s James Parks ranked the Gators schedule as the most difficult of all Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

“I trust in coach Napier. I see what he’s building and I trust that he’s going to get everything good and right,” Jackson said. “The team was young last year.”

Jackson said if the situation does not go well this season and Napier ends up being fired at the end of the year, he will remain true to his commitment.

“I trust that the Gators are going to win this year and I trust that they’ve got something special,” Jackson said. “If it comes down to that, though, the Gators will always be the Gators, no matter what. So, even if he does leave, I’ll still stay and help build the program.”

Jackson said part of his decision was helped by the success of last year’s UF freshman cornerback Jordan Castell, a former West Orange teammate of Jackson.

“Jordan, just seeing him play, seeing him show up as a freshman … I just knew it was possible for me to come in as a young guy and make those same big moves and do the big things that he did,” Jackson said.

With the decision made, he’s now ready to get to the task at hand with his new team.

“I’m very excited and ready to get back into the fall season and to just play ball and show everybody what I got,” Jackson said.

He said he won’t have a problem fending off the onslaught of recruiters who will still be coming at him, trying to sway him away from UF.

Transferring to TFA wasn’t an easy choice. He is one of at least three players who have left West Orange this summer, including athlete Larry Miles, now at Jones, and defensive back Artavius Riley, who is at Tavares.

“I just felt like it was a better opportunity with the books and everything and I feel like they will help me prepare better for college,” Jackson said. “It was a difficult decision because I didn’t really want to leave where I came from, but then I got to thinking that I wanted to better myself, and knowing they were going to make me better. I decided to go ahead.”

He’s excited about the upcoming season and he says to look out for TFA.

“I think we can do very well. I definitely believe we are going to shock all of Orlando, and even the outsiders,” Jackson said. “We have a Tennessee game and a Georgia game, so we have a national schedule and we really think we’re going to be good and show everybody what we got.”

The Royals are in Class 2A, where at the end of the road awaits three-time defending state champion Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna.

“We’re not really too worried about Chaminade,” Jackson said. “I know what we got and I’m really not familiar with them boys. I just know that whoever steps in front of us is going to get stepped on.”

Chris Hays can be found on X @OS_ChrisHays. He can be reached via email at chays@orlandosentinel.com.

CHICAGO — A few years before Devin Hester began to etch his name into the NFL’s record book with one spectacular return after another, Mark Sadowski was scouting a Miami-North Carolina State game for the Chicago Bears in 2004.

He watched as the Hurricanes’ speedy sophomore took the opening kickoff 5 yards deep in the end zone. And in a flash, he was gone.

Hester sprinted up the right sideline and cut to his left on his way to what was officially a 100-yard touchdown. And he kept on going, all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“It was the fastest thing I ever saw live,” Sadowski said. “I was just like holy smokes, this dude is for real.”

Hester, a graduate of Suncoast High in Riviera Beach, will put the ultimate exclamation mark on his career on Saturday in Canton, Ohio, when he becomes the first player inducted primarily as a return specialist. He is one of three former Bears in this year’s class, along with Julius Peppers and Steve McMichael.

The NFL had never seen someone like Hester when the Bears drafted him in the second round in 2006. And the league still has not.

Hester was one of the most feared players in the NFL despite standing just 5-foot-11 and weighing 190 pounds. He returned a league-record 14 punts for touchdowns and ran back five more kickoffs for scores during an 11-year career spent mostly with the Bears.

Hester’s most memorable moment came at the end of his rookie season in Super Bowl 41 in Miami. He became the only player to date to return the opening kickoff in a Super Bowl for a touchdown when he ran it back 92 yards against Indianapolis.

By then, he had already established himself as one of Chicago’s most dangerous weapons.

Hester scored six TDs on returns in each of his first two seasons, including a 108-yarder on a missed field goal as a rookie in 2006 when he helped Chicago advance to the Super Bowl. He was so good teams would go out of their way to avoid him, leading to stray kicks and punts and a short field for the offense.

“He’s the first pure return guy to get into the Hall of Fame, and that’s because he’s the best there ever was,” former longtime Bears college scouting director Greg Gabriel said. “And that’s just a hell of an accomplishment, to be the best at one certain skill. And now the rules changes the way they are, I don’t think anybody will ever match him.”

Hester’s electric returns made him as popular as any player on a team that featured Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher along with stars such as Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman and Olin Kreutz. He earned the nickname “Anytime” because he could break off a touchdown return at, well, you know. And in a city where the Bulls’ Michael Jordan and the Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg wore No. 23, Hester did justice to that number.

Not bad for someone who was tough to grade coming out of college. After all, as Gabriel said, he “didn’t have a real position.”

Hester played running back, wide receiver and defensive back at Miami. But he didn’t establish himself at those positions on a team that had a deep, talented roster. On special teams, however, it was a different story. Hester’s speed and explosiveness stood out.

“There was a little bit of reluctancy of what is this guy, what are you gonna do with him and how high do you take a guy that does have some return ability,” said Sadowski, now Pittsburgh’s director of player scouting. “And some of the antics he does in college, is it gonna work in the pros?”

By the time the 2006 draft rolled around, the Bears were convinced. They went in knowing they wanted Hester, and they nearly had their hopes dashed by Tennessee after making a calculated gamble.

Chicago used its first pick to take Danieal Manning at No. 42, thinking there was a good chance Hester would still be available with their second selection of the second round, Gabriel said. The Titans, however, nearly foiled that plan. Tennessee apparently called Hester to tell him it was drafting him at No. 45, only to go with running back LenDale White. Chicago grabbed Hester at No. 57.

“I didn’t know this until I called Devin, and I said, ‘Devin, you know, we’re on the clock. We’re about to take you,’” Gabriel said. “He goes, ‘For real?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, why wouldn’t that be for real?’ And he said, ‘Well, Tennessee called me and they said they were going to take me and and they ended up taking a running back.’ To myself, I’m like holy s—-. But it worked out well.”

So well that Hester has a place in Canton.

While saying additional protections are needed, the State Board of Education on Wednesday ratified a plan approved last month by the Florida High School Athletic Association that will allow high school athletes to get paid through name, image and likeness, or “NIL,” deals.

Board of Education Chairman Ben Gibson said the athletic association, which regulates high-school sports, must prioritize the protection of student-athletes, most of whom will be minors.

“This could be a great opportunity for some student-athletes, but we want to make sure they do it in a manner that they are protected and not exploited,” Gibson said.

The plan, which overhauls a section of the association’s bylaws that govern “amateurism,” will allow student-athletes to brand themselves for commercial endorsements, promotional activities and through social media.

High schools won’t be able to use promises of NIL deals to recruit players.

State Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said the bylaw changes were “not taken lightly” and warned against companies trying to use NIL deals that “circumvent the process and take advantage of our students.”

Board member Esther Byrd suggested the association require students to register when participating in NIL deals.

“I am very concerned about the bad actors,” Byrd said. “Obviously, they have already popped up. We know it is coming. We know they don’t care about our rules, and they are going to do what they want to do.”

​Craig Damon, executive director of the association, said bylaws continue to be updated, noting that issues involving what are known as “collectives” were amended this week in reaction to a national group found recruiting and collecting money in multiple states including Florida.

Damon said that for most students, an NIL deal would be equal to having an afterschool job, while at the college level “you see student-athletes getting compensated for their name being on a roster.”

“We don’t foresee kids making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars off this,” Damon said. “However, there will be that 1 percent of elite athletes that possibly may have that opportunity. But for the majority of our student-athletes, it will be something local with a local business.”

The association plans to post online videos to share information with parents and students about how NIL deals operate, Damon said.

NIL deals have helped transform college athletics across the country in recent years. Florida lawmakers approved NIL regulations in 2021 that were revised last year to allow universities to become more involved in the process.

As part of the high-school bylaws, student-athletes and their families will be encouraged to seek legal counsel and tax advice when considering NIL activities.

High school athletes would still be prohibited from being paid for on-field activities, hiring agents and receiving awards unapproved by the athletic association.

Also, student-athletes who transfer after starting a sport will be prohibited in most cases from securing NIL agreements during that season.

Students won’t be able to use their team uniforms, logos, mascots or any other identifiers of their schools as part of NIL deals. Also, deals would have to end when students graduate from high school and would have to hold harmless schools, school districts and the athletic association from liability.

Students will be prohibited from endorsing services during school-sponsored events or athletic activities and can’t enter into deals tied to adult entertainment, gambling, firearms, tobacco, marijuana or NIL collectives.

Violations will result in warnings for first offenses. Second offenses would result in student-athletes being ineligible to represent schools for one year. Third offenses could lead to student-athletes being barred from competing throughout their time in high school.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound quarterback and shooting guard averaged 19.5 points as Oak Ridge went 4-0 against strong competition in Atlanta.

Whether or not CJ jumps from Hawthorne, a small school outside of Gainesville that won the past two rural division football championships, to 7A big-school basketball state runner-up Oak Ridge remains to be seen.

Ingram’s father, Cornelius — himself a Hawthorne living legend as a former University of Florida football and basketball player and NFL tight end — said his son enrolled at Oak Ridge to be eligible to play for the Pioneers in the Section 7 and Georgia coaches association scholastic showcases that drew droves of college coaches to Glendale and Atlanta.

“We wanted to put CJ in front of college [basketball] coaches and that is paying off,” he said in a phone interview with the Sentinel on Tuesday night. “The coaches are really rolling in now.

“CJ did enroll at Oak Ridge and yes, that is a possibility. But don’t be surprised if he finishes at Hawthorne. He’s loyal to the community. I’m the head football coach here. We’re thinking about every avenue.”

The Rock, a Gainesville independent school that plays outside the FHSAA, also is in the picture.

“It’s a difficult decision. We’re going to wait it out to the end of the summer to make a decision,” Cornelius said.

CJ has close ties to Oak Ridge basketball coach Steve Reece, who directs the Florida Rebels travel team program Ingram has played with since eighth grade. He is scheduled to play for the Rebels in upcoming Nike EYBL events, including the prestigious Peach Jam tournament from July 13-21 in North Augusta, S.C.

SEE INGRAM HIGHLIGHTS HERE 

If Ingram does choose Oak Ridge for his senior high school year he’d continue to play alongside 4-star senior prospects Jamier Jones and Jalen Reece, also fixtures for the Rebels.

Jones, a dynamic 6-6 slasher, is No. 29 on the 247Sports 2025 composite prospect list — which includes ratings from other major outlets. The Orlando Sentinel player of the year committed to Providence in May — choosing the Friars over Ohio State, Houston, South Carolina, LSU and Kansas.

Reece, son of the Pioneers coach and a do-it-all point guard, is No. 69 on that list. He was offered by Arizona State last week, adding the Sun Devils to a list of more than 20 major colleges that includes Cincinnati, LSU, Alabama and UCF.

“Those three guys [including CJ] play off each other very well,” Cornelius said. “He’s known Jamier and Jalen for a long time. They all start for Florida Rebels. They have chemistry.”

Is 7A basketball final four, with No 1 Columbus and Oak Ridge, FHSAA’s best ever? | Varsity Insider

Ingram, a 3-star prospect on most lists, received an offer from Florida on June 14 and added offers from Arizona State, Georgia, Murray State, Pittsburgh, Rice, and Vanderbilt in the past two weeks. He was upgraded to 4-star status by ESPN on Tuesday.

Kansas and Kentucky are showing interest, according to Cornelius.

CJ also boasts a UF football offer. He was the 2023 Florida Dairy Farmers Class 1R football player of the year after totaling 44 touchdowns and nearly 3,000 yards running and passing for Hawthorne (13-0).

He averaged 24 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.7 steals for the Hornets’ 16-5 basketball team.

Since spring football practice ended CJ has focused solely on basketball.

“It’s been real successful being able to display how hard I play, my playmaking ability and shot-making, slashing,” CJ told 247Sports for a story posted this week. “Everything is starting to come together since I decided to put the football down. I am just very happy to see what is coming in the future.”

Cornelius, also head coach for a Hawthorne girls basketball team that won state titles in 2020 and the past two seasons, played in 19 UF basketball games as a freshman but focused on football after that.

“As of right now CJ probably won’t play [2024] football,” Cornelius said. “All of this is his decision. I’ve told him, ‘Do what you feel in your heart. I’m going to support you.’”

Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com. 

Moore announced his intentions Wednesday to sign with coach Billy Napier’s program instead of Florida State and Miami, despite his South Florida ties and the proximity of Pembroke Pines to the Hurricanes’ Coral Gables campus.

Verbal commitments are non-binding.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Moore offers prototypical size and top-end production, totaling 100 catches for 1,869 yards and 20 touchdowns the past two seasons, according to MaxPreps. He is the nation’s 25th-rated receiver and No. 197 overall prospect, per 247Sports composite rankings.

Receiver depth is a concern for the 2024 Gators.

Eugene Wilson III is poised to become a star. After catching 61 passes and scoring six times in 2023, the 5-foot-10, 181-pound sophomore seized center stage during the spring game, finishing with 8 receptions for 128 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown.

Eljhah Badger, an Arizona State transfer, will push to fill the void left by first-round NFL pick Ricky Pearsall, who compiled 98 catches, 1,626 yards and 12 total touchdowns in two seasons after also transferring from ASU.  The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Badger totaled 135 catches for 1,579 yards and 10 touchdowns the past two seasons.

Wisconsin transfer Chimere Dike, who spent three seasons with Gators quarterback Graham Mertz in Madison, is in line for the third starting spot. Sure-handed former walk-on Khaleil Jackson is a proven veteran.

Moore eventually could join the mix with a cadre of promising young receivers, including sophomore Aidan Mizell, a former Orlando Boone standout, fleet-footed true freshmen Tank Hawkins and TJ Abrams and redshirt freshmen Andy Jean, who has battled injuries.

Moore is the seventh commitment in the Gators’ 2025 class, joining fellow 4-stars Jalen Wiggins, an edge rusher from Tallahassee, and Tampa Plant tailback Waltez Clark.

The Gators are pushing to land Orlando Jones star receiver Vernell Brown III, the son of former Gator Vernell Brown Jr. Brown, who has an offer from receiver-rich Ohio State, caught 70 passes for 1,363 yards and 10 scores in 2023.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

EUGENE, Ore. — It was a classic case of going from the outhouse to the penthouse.

Less than an hour before her semifinal at U.S. track trials, 400-meter runner Kendall Ellis from Pembroke Pines was trapped in a porta-potty, banging on the door, screaming for someone to let her out.

Thankfully, somebody did. She won that race in a personal-best time, then came back Sunday to top that mark and win the final, along with the national championship and the spot in the Olympics that comes with it.

“Crazy things happen right before something great is about to occur, so maybe I needed that to get all the nerves and adrenaline out,” the St. Thomas Aquinas graduate said.

Nobody saw that coming.

Nobody could’ve seen this performance coming, either.

Ellis’ time of 49.81 seconds in the semifinal Saturday marked her first personal best in six years. In the final, she bettered that by .35.

Now, the 28-year-old who was considered mainly a relay specialist will go to the Olympics to compete for a title all her own.

“Just believing in myself,” she said when asked what sparked this sudden resurgence. “The workouts haven’t changed, the results in practice haven’t changed, but finally something clicked up here that said, ‘You can do it. You can go out with the best of them and you can finish better than anyone else.’”

Funny thing is, for the past six years, she’s had the video to prove it.

Even today, if you type some combination of the words “greatest” “track” and “comebacks” into the browser Ellis’ video from the 2018 NCAA championships will come up somewhere high on the first screen.

In that race, Ellis made up 30 meters over the homestretch to lead Southern California to a win in the 4×400 relay.

Halfway through the last lap of that 2018 relay, she was in third place, barely in the screen. A few seconds later, the TV announcer all but handed the race to the Purdue runner in the lead: “There’s no way, unless they drop the baton, Purdue’s going to win this, which we certainly didn’t see.”

Ellis had a couple of things going for her. She knew the Purdue runner was a middle-distance specialist without the same closing kick as she has.

“And I wasn’t listening to the announcer or anyone else,” she said. “I’m always going to be optimistic about my chances. I mean, if I don’t believe in me, then who else will?”

The win that made Ellis something of a mini-legend in the track world. She made a number of national teams in part on the strength of her relay prowess. In Tokyo three years ago, she won an Olympic gold by running in the prelims of the women’s 4×400 and also got bronze in the mixed 4×400.

But one memory that sticks from that year was her fourth-place finish at trials — a .07-seconds defeat that left her on the outside looking in on the individual race.

“I remember being so heartbroken,” she said. “I’d have rather gotten fifth place or sixth. But it was certainly a learning lesson, and coming into today, I told myself I did not want that feeling again.”