MANATEE COUNTY-  Friday Football Fever is fast approaching and coaches kicked off the season with Suncoast Media Day. 2021’s Football season is already off to a better start than last year.

“We’re even more excited to have a full off season,” Braden River Coach Curt Bradley said. “Last year we went to spring break and never came back, so this upcoming season we had the full off season from the last day of the football season to the first day of the upcoming one. We feel like we’ve taken full advantage of the off season.”

Suncoast coaches say having spring and summer this year have helped them get to know their players better.

“We focused on building strength and speed,” St. Stephens Coach A.J. Brown said. “I feel like that’s one of the main things that we really needed this year for this team, to have a chance to be successful going forward.”

“Spring didn’t go quite as well as we wanted,” Booker High School Football Coach Baraka Atkins said. “Still missing some of the numbers, so we ended up having to cancel spring game, but that’s behind us now moving forward and looking forward to this 2021 season.”

Bayshore High is coming out of a division and going Independent as they look to rebuild this year.

“Where we’re at now as a program we’re at the bottom floor and just trying to build up things,” Bayshore High School Coach Jamaal Sanders said. “So, basically we’re just trying to build the foundation.”

As prepared as they are going into the season, things can always change once it starts.

“There’s always one of two guys that surprise you in a good way,” Cardinal Mooney Coach Jared Clark said. “And one or two guys that surprise you in a bad way, so I’m excited to put that pads on here in a week or two and see what we got.”

Friday Football Fever is back at the end of August with full coverage of the games every Friday on SNN TV.