HS football: Atlantic High football documentary follows players on, off field
DELRAY BEACH — The high school version of “Last Chance U” and “Hard Knocks” has made its way to Palm Beach County.
The Sturdy Group, a Delray Beach-based multimedia group, has chronicled the Atlantic High School football team for more than a year. A teaser trailer featuring more than 10 minutes of footage and exclusive interviews premiered Friday night at the Elks Lodge.
Camera crews have followed the players on the field and in the classroom. Everything from speeches to classes on correct dinner etiquette and how to properly eat spaghetti — with spoons, of course — will be featured in the documentary, which has a working title of “Atlantic Community High School: Football Doc.”
“You really don’t notice (the cameras) that much,” said senior linebacker Micaiah Joseph, who recently committed to Tennessee State. “I feel like you see them, but it really doesn’t bother you that much. … I really never see them unless the camera’s actually in my face.”
Senior defensive lineman Henry Bryant III, a Louisville commit, couldn’t hide his enthusiasm about finally seeing some of the footage.
“All this recording, I never got to see anything yet,” Bryant said. “So just to see 11 minutes of it is a lot (of fun).”
The documentary blends the Eagles’ on-field success with their achievements in the classroom. Ninety-eight percent of the football players have met or surpassed the NCAA’s SAT or ACT requirements. Eighty-five percent are on the honor roll, and 20 of last year’s 32 graduating seniors earned academic or athletic scholarships.
Bryant and Joseph intend to graduate in December and enroll early at their respective universities.
“Football is important to us, but education is more important to us,” Atlantic coach TJ Jackson says in the documentary. “We try to really focus on education and get their mindset on education.”
And what does Jackson, the Eagles’ head coach since 2013, think about constantly dealing with cameras?
“I hate it,” Jackson said with a grin.
Jackson said he isn’t the biggest fan of seeing himself on TV, even if it’s on the local news after a resounding victory. But he views the documentary, which does not yet have a release date, as a “blessing” and an opportunity to showcase his players’ talents beyond the football field.
Joseph compared the project to Netflix’s “Last Chance U,” the popular documentary series about junior college football. Both, he said, provide fans with a chance to see the inner workings of football teams.
It all starts with Jackson, an Olympic Heights graduate who played at Virginia Tech and spent time with the Dallas Cowboys.
“Coach TJ, he’s more than a coach,” Joseph said. “He’s actually like a father figure to us. … He talks about football, but he’s more on us about our grades and how we act outside of school and how we need to carry ourselves around other people.”
The documentary also tackles the theme of loss. Atlantic defensive back Marc’Allan Derac died in May 2018 from injuries sustained in a dirt-bike accident. Many of the team’s players, the documentary explains, are near or below the poverty line and are raised in single-parent households.
But the team, principal Tara O’Campo said, is full of passionate fighters. The Eagles went 10-0 during the regular season last year before falling to Davie-Western in the first round of the playoffs.
“I have the most amazing kids,” an emotional O’Campo said. “I really do. They are my heart, soul, they are everything to me. … I’ve seen where they have come from, as far as when they came in in ninth grade and where some of them are today, even some that just came to me, they have the biggest hearts.
“They are so passionate for each other, they’re passionate for the school, they’re passionate to do the right thing and, of course, they’re passionate for football.”
