After 18 seasons under Mike Gottman, Claybo Varnum has taken over as head coach for the Durant Cougars in 2021.
While Varnum will be a new name alongside the head coach designation, his name is far from a new one around Durant’s program. Playing for Durant and graduating from the school in 2011, Varnum immediately began working with the program as a coach for their junior varsity team. Over the next decade he continued contributing, alongside joining Durant’s staff as a teacher, all leading up to his penultimate promotion this past offseason. Even Durant’s weight room bears the Varnum name, in reference to the generations before him that have left their mark on the high school.
A third generation native of the Pinecrest/Plant City area, Varnum takes pride in Durant’s community. He recalled standing along the stadium’s fenceline at just eight years old, watching as Durant made their run to the State Final Four in 2003, and sees that long-time connection as a major positive for the culture that he wants to establish as he steps into his new role.
“I went to school with kids from every neighborhood that comes to us,” Varnum said. “I went to school with kids from Keysville, I went to school with kids from Pinecrest, kids who are from Valrico, kids who are from Plant City. I think that one of the best things about me taking over as the football coach here is that I don’t have to get familiar with that stuff. I know these people, I grew up with these people and hopefully they know me through the influence that I’ve made here at some point in time.”
Durant has avoided players transferring out in Varnum’s first year, a point of emphasis for him, and truly believes that they will be “hard to handle” if they can overcome the often difficult task of staying healthy. Durant lost some players to graduation, as every school does, but has a significant amount of starters returning.
The Cougars’ offense, if nothing else, will bring valuable experience with four returning seniors and one junior along the offensive line, starting quarterback Marcus Miguele heading into his senior season and all but one player at their skill positions coming back.
“All of these guys have been a part of the program since they were young,” Varnum said about Durant’s offensive line. “And they’ve gelled together to where we’ve got one of the best offensive lines in the county. From a size standpoint, from an aggression standpoint and from a mental standpoint, these guys are smart, they’re all 3.0 and higher (GPA) students. So the offensive line is huge.”
A key difference in Varnum’s first year will be the Cougars’ offensive philosophy. The scheme has been reworked a bit alongside offensive playcaller Jackson Barwick, inching away from the run-dominated system that Durant has been known for in the past.
“We want to change the narrative,” Varnum said. “For years we’ve been hard-nosed, run the ball 90 percent of the time, when you come to Durant it’s going to be low scoring. Those concepts are good but we’ve got to be able to throw the football. It’s 2021, we’ve got to sling it. We want to incorporate more of our quarterback’s strengths, throwing the football, we’ve got a great group of skill guys and we’ve got to get them the football. We can’t rely on one or two running backs to get the job done so we’ve got to be balanced and take what people give us.”
Barwick added to Varnum’s statement.
“One that’s balanced,” Barwick said about what Durant’s ideal offense looks like. “The hardest offenses to defend, they can throw it when they need to, they can run it when they need to, that really takes advantage of what the defense is giving you.”
Across the rest of the offense, Varnum and Barwick both pointed to Miguele, wide receiver Jeremiah Gines and running back Alex Daley as guys that will likely be major cornerstones for Durant this season.
“Marcus Miguele at quarterback, he’s a two-year starter for us, I’ve coached him since he was on JV all the way up,” Varnum said. “He’s got great feet, his arm’s coming around, he’s the guy that should lead us. On the outside, Jeremiah Gines is a guy that we’re really excited about. He came to us last year, his older brother played for us at one point in time and he’s got some big play ability. Then one of our running backs, Alex Daley, who’s out right now. We hope to have him back against Brandon (Week 3), he’s going to be a sophomore, he’s going to be a good one. He’s going to be hard to handle.”
Durant’s defense has made the move from a base 4-3 to a 3-4 in recent years and will remain that way, along with their key points of emphasis. Each player playing hard, staying disciplined, staying within their assignments and tackling reliably will always be the focus.
“A perfect defense is just hard-nosed, perfect execution and 11 hats to the ball,” defensive coordinator Frank Lane said. “We strive to do the little things right so with that comes reading your keys, your assignment and understanding the basis behind what we’re trying to do. So we do a lot of set reps, we do a lot of film watching, the kids watch film on their own and they’ll always communicate to their position coach. We always try to set that mentality of doing the little things right which will bring together that bigger picture.”
And Varnum added which players the defensive side of the ball will likely lean on for success this season.
“Jacob Reed, our starting (inside) linebacker, he’s probably one of the best that I’ve ever coached,” Varnum said. “Instinctual, fast, strong, yes sir, no sir, just does it all. Austin Bovee, another one of the inside backers is doing a great job for us. Zaevion Jordan at corner, he’s a great corner. He’s a little bit on the shorter side but he’s aggressive, strong, had a huge interception in the Tampa Bay Tech playoff game last year. And up front, Austin Lewis, he’s a junior. We’re pretty young on the defensive line but they’re tough. Austin Lewis, Greg Smith’s going to tough and then Leo Tabakovic to kind of round us off.”
SCHEDULE
Note: All games are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Games are broadcast live online at
NFHSNetwork.com.
8/27: vs. Sumner
9/3: @ Lennard
9/10: vs. Brandon
9/17: @ Newsome
9/24: @ Sickles
10/1: vs. Riverview
10/8: @ King
10/15: vs. Plant City
10/22: vs. Middleton
10/29: @ Plant
THE DETAILS
Location: 4748 Cougar Path, Plant City
Established: 1995
Head Coach: Claybo Varnum
(first season with team)
2020 Record: 5-5 (1-3 district)
ROSTER
(from MaxPreps.com)
1 Marcus Miguele QB Sr.
2 Zaevion Jordan RB, CB Jr.
3 Jayden Forte CB, WR So.
4 Elian Gonzalez RB, FS Jr.
5 Jeremiah Gines WR, CB Jr.
6 Jayden Cornelius CB, WR Fr.
7 Quentin Johnson RB, OLB Sr.
8 Xavier Peavy ATH, Jr.
10 Tanner VanDorn K So.
11 Jaiden Gappy SS, FS, RB, Sr.
11 Ty Merkle QB Jr.
12 Calub Connell QB, SS Jr.
14 AJ Elliott K Jr.
15 Jaylin Torres WR So.
20 Season Nichols K Sr.
21 Matthew Reynolds CB, WR Sr.
22 Derrick Gaskin OLB, FB Sr.
25 Bryson Pearce RB Plant Sr.
26 Alex Daley RB So.
27 Luther Scarlett WR, S So.
28 Tyler Wiggins DB Jr.
32 Leo Tabakovic DE Jr.
35 Jordan Fernandes OLB Sr.
36 Jacob Reed MLB, FB Jr.
40 Jerome Parham DL So.
42 Austin Lewis DE, DT, TE Jr.
44 Austin Bovee ILB, FB Sr.
45 Brant Bovee OLB So.
48 Simeon Echavarria OLB, MLB Sr.
49 Connor Perkkio LS, DE Jr.
50 Josh Alderman OL So.
52 Gage Aroz DL Jr.
53 Jovan Ortiz LB So.
55 Greg Smith DT Jr.
57 Ajai Brown T, DE Jr.
58 Andy Valentine OL Sr.
63 Luke Machristie OL So.
66 Tanner Peirce OL Jr.
68 Logan Mayo OL Sr.
71 Alexander Smith OL So.
72 Nash Sollmann T Sr.
74 AJ Hancock OL So.
77 Cade McClellan OL Sr.
78 Tyler Newell OL Sr.
80 Jesse Donnell WR So.
Steven Williams So.
Blake Chancey T, G, DT So.
Gabriel Wojciechowicz
Tony Migliorini So.
Hunter Smith QB Fr.
Joshua Spence So.
Jarelle Franklin RB, MLB Fr.
Luke Bever Jr.