Three boards, one region

Tampa Bay opens its 2026 season this week. Recruit Intel built three verified boards for the region: the best player at every position, the recruits holding real offers with no star rating anywhere, and the programs producing the most Division 1 offers. Every number below comes from our canonical database and is stated with the sample it rests on. One note on the map: our Tampa Bay region follows the database tag, which spans Hillsborough and Pinellas and reaches out to Clearwater and St. Petersburg, down to Palmetto, and east to Seffner, Riverview and Zephyrhills.

The best at every position

One player per position slot across the 2027 through 2029 classes. These nine hold 245 verified Division 1 offers between them. Offer counts are distinct college offers, re-verified against the current roster on 2026-08-16. We hold the safety slot open rather than fill it: no safety in the current pool cleared our bar for a ranked line this early in the season, and we would rather leave the spot empty than pad the board.

  • QB, Cooper Hayes, Berkeley Prep (Tampa), class of 2027. Committed to Furman, 14 verified offers.
  • RB, Hezekiah Davis, Jesuit (Tampa), class of 2027. Committed to Dartmouth, 16 verified offers.
  • WR, Jordyn Murray, Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa), class of 2028. 29 verified offers.
  • TE, David Hill, Jesuit (Tampa), class of 2028. 13 verified offers.
  • OL, George Selvie III, Sumner (Riverview), class of 2028. 26 verified offers. Linemen are ranked on offer volume.
  • DL, Antonio Thomas Jr., Carrollwood Day (Tampa), class of 2028. 48 verified offers, the most of any player on this board.
  • LB, Theo Wilson, Armwood (Seffner), class of 2027. Committed to North Carolina, 35 verified offers.
  • CB, Nazir Pitchford, Palmetto (Palmetto), class of 2027. Committed to North Carolina, 22 verified offers.
  • ATH, Kameron Battle, Carrollwood Day (Tampa), class of 2028. 42 verified offers.

Carrollwood Day owns the top of this board. Antonio Thomas Jr. and Kameron Battle, both 2028s off the same roster, carry the two largest offer sheets on the page at 48 and 42. Neither has committed.

The recruits the rankings have not caught

These ten hold 77 verified Division 1 offers between them and carry zero stars on 247Sports, On3, Rivals and ESPN as of 2026-08-16. It is a ratings gap, not a discovery claim: the programs recruiting these players found them first. Nine are 2028s and one is a 2029.

  1. Amir Smith, RB, Lakewood (St. Petersburg), 2028. 16 offers.
  2. Merino Samnik, OT, Carrollwood Day (Tampa), 2028. 9 offers.
  3. Pancho Easley, CB, Armwood (Seffner), 2028. 9 offers.
  4. Emason Tui, DE, Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa), 2028. 8 offers.
  5. Kesean Smith, RB, Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa), 2028. 7 offers.
  6. Christopher Pressley Jr., WR, Armwood (Seffner), 2028. 7 offers.
  7. Sanjae Green, WR, Lakewood (St. Petersburg), 2028. 7 offers.
  8. Josiah Carter, QB, Zephyrhills Christian Academy (Zephyrhills), 2029. 5 offers.
  9. Macho Dile, ATH, Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa), 2028. 5 offers.
  10. Luke Wilson, ATH, Clearwater Central Catholic (Clearwater), 2028. 4 offers.

Amir Smith leads the board. He is a 2028 running back at Lakewood with 16 offers and no star rating at any service. Tampa Bay Tech places three names on this list, more than any other school.

The programs producing the offers

Recruit Intel ranked the region's top 10 high schools by offers produced across their 2023 through 2026 classes. Across those 10 schools sit 80 recruits holding 726 Division 1 offers between them, an average of about 9 offers per recruited player.

  1. Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa): 119 offers across 9 recruits
  2. Armwood (Seffner): 91 offers across 11 recruits
  3. Carrollwood Day (Tampa): 91 offers across 12 recruits
  4. Lakewood (St. Petersburg): 74 offers across 6 recruits
  5. Clearwater (Clearwater): 73 offers across 7 recruits
  6. Clearwater Academy International (Clearwater): 71 offers across 7 recruits
  7. Jesuit (Tampa): 68 offers across 9 recruits
  8. Clearwater Central Catholic (Clearwater): 52 offers across 9 recruits
  9. Sumner (Riverview): 47 offers across 5 recruits
  10. Gaither (Tampa): 40 offers across 5 recruits

Tampa Bay Tech sets the pace at 119 offers, and it is no coincidence that the school also supplied the position board's top receiver and three of the unrated names. Lakewood is the efficiency case, 74 offers from just 6 recruited players.

How we counted

Every number here comes from the Recruit Intel canonical database. Offer counts are distinct college offers per player rather than raw offer rows. Every player named on the position board and the unrated board was resolved to a single database record by id before publish, then re-verified against the current roster on 2026-08-16 for class year, school, offer count and star status at all four major services. Common names return many separate records, so we never match on a name and school alone.

The position board is the best player at each slot across the 2027 through 2029 classes, ranked on a blend of production and offers, with linemen ranked on offers alone. One slot, safety, is held open this cycle because no candidate cleared the bar for a ranked line. The unrated board is limited to 2028 and 2029 players who carry real offers and no star at any service.

Kickoff is this week

Tampa Bay opens the 2026 season this week, one of the Recruit Intel regional preseason previews rolling out in kickoff order. The unrated board above is dated on purpose. When these players get rated or add their next offer, the timestamp on this page is the receipt.