The five biggest games in North Florida this week

These are the five North Florida games this week that our team rankings rate as the best matchups on the board, and the players to watch in each one. We rank every game by where the two programs sit on our state and national team boards, rewarding a close pairing of two strong teams over a lopsided one, with extra weight for ranked opponents and unbeaten records. We do not rank these games by recruiting or offer counts. State ranks, national ranks and records above are from our team-rankings board for September 5, the earliest snapshot on file; no rating run had published as of September 4, the day this article first ran. Every figure here comes from our canonical database.

1. The Bolles School at University Christian

The Bolles School (Jacksonville, FL #15, 1-1, #122 nationally) visits University Christian (Jacksonville, FL #85, 2-1, #1154 nationally). A wide gap on the board this week, though both sides remain state ranked. 16 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 247 Division 1 offers between them.

University Christian players to watch:

  • Asher Ghioto, EDGE, class of 2028, 69 offers.
  • Xander Edwards, RB, class of 2028, 37 offers.

The Bolles School players to watch:

2. Mainland at Nease

Mainland (Daytona Beach, FL #65, 0-2, #915 nationally) visits Nease (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL #50, 1-2, #590 nationally). Both sides state ranked, with a moderate gap on the board. 14 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 169 Division 1 offers between them.

Nease players to watch:

  • Kash Kolbow, ATH, class of 2027, 25 offers.
  • Chase Phifer, TE, class of 2027, 23 offers.

Mainland players to watch:

  • Tamaj Woodard, LB, class of 2027, 21 offers.
  • Braylyn Simmons, ATH, class of 2027, 10 offers.

3. Trinity Christian Academy at Lincoln

Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, FL #68, 2-1, #923 nationally) visits Lincoln (Tallahassee, FL #131, 1-2, #2222 nationally). A wide gap on the board this week, though both sides remain state ranked. 10 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 125 Division 1 offers between them.

Lincoln players to watch:

  • Kahmaree Crumity, CB, class of 2028, 44 offers.
  • Trevor Jacobs, WR, class of 2027, 10 offers.

Trinity Christian Academy players to watch:

4. Raines at Ed White

Raines (Jacksonville, FL #12, 3-0, #105 nationally) visits Ed White (Jacksonville, FL #43, 1-1, #483 nationally). A wide gap on the board this week, though both sides remain state ranked. 9 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 109 Division 1 offers between them.

Ed White players to watch:

  • Jacquari Parks, CB, class of 2027, 29 offers.
  • Mark Shiloh, DE, class of 2027, 15 offers.

Raines players to watch:

  • Troy Butler, DE, class of 2027, 22 offers.
  • Zion Green, ATH, class of 2028, 21 offers.

5. Zarephath Academy at Bradford

Zarephath Academy (Jacksonville, FL #671, 0-3, #16197 nationally) visits Bradford (Starke, FL #61, 3-0, #807 nationally). A wide gap on the board this week, though both sides remain state ranked. 8 players across the two rosters hold at least one verified Division 1 offer, 50 Division 1 offers between them.

Bradford players to watch:

  • Jordan Cason, WR, class of 2027, 19 offers.

Zarephath Academy players to watch:

  • Omari Lawson, OL, class of 2028, 18 offers.

How we picked these

One top-10 North Florida program, Mandarin, is not on the board because it is idle this week. Three of the five games, The Bolles School at University Christian, Mainland at Nease and Trinity Christian Academy at Lincoln, were added from a program's published schedule after no schedule row was on file. Trinity Christian travels to Tallahassee, so that game is played in the Panhandle. Two players were removed before the counts were set because their team history did not place them at the listed school for 2026.

We rank each week's North Florida games by where the two programs sit on our team board: overall rating, state and national rank, record, and how far a team has moved this season. A close pairing of two strong, similarly rated teams rates above a lopsided one, and ranked opponents and unbeaten records add weight. We do not use recruiting or offer counts to make this selection; the Division 1 offer figures shown for each game are context, not the selection rule. Each player's own figure in the watch lists is their total verified offers on file, so a player's number can sit a notch above the Division 1 count shown for their team when a school outside that group has also offered. State ranks, national ranks and records were pulled from our team-rankings board for September 5, the closest snapshot on file to when this article ran; offer counts and roster attribution were pulled on 2026-09-04 from our own offer feed. Kickoff times are left off on purpose: no source we read published a time we could corroborate, so each game line prints the home city and state rather than an unverified time or an invented stadium. Home sites and dates come from each school's published schedule.

Full boards and every player page are at recruit-intel.io.

Editor's note, September 10: this piece was retitled and its selection note rewritten under our games-of-the-week standard; the games are chosen by our team rankings, not by offer counts.