The sounds of clanging weights and whistles echoed through the Apopka fieldhouse Monday and Tuesday morning as groups of players pushed through heavy lifts and worked agility drills outside under the Florida sun. 

For most programs, summer workouts are simply another step toward the upcoming season. For Apopka, they represent something bigger. 

After decades of winning football, the Blue Darters are coming off a season tin which they won just two games, a rare setback for one of Central Florida’s perennial powerhouse programs. Now entering his second season as head coach, Marcus Neeson is leading a young roster through the next stage of a rebuild with hopes of restoring the standard of Apopka football. 

The first week of summer training has already tested players physically. Monday focused heavily on strength training while Tuesday’s schedule shifted toward agility work and 7-on-7 preparation. The program will continue throughout June with workouts on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with7-on-7 competitions sprinkled throughout the summer. 

For Neeson, the message to the team is simple. 

“Putting in the work, being present, wanting to be here,” he said. 

The structure of the workouts reflects the challenge ahead. One group was filled with established varsity players and stronger lifters, working in the fieldhouse under offensive line coach Janko Beras. Outside, skill players and athletes competing for varsity spots ran agility drills under coach Kelvin “Big Baby” Joyner. Another group of younger players worked with veteran defensive line coach Matt Anderson in the Phil King weight room, as the program continues developing its next generation. 

That next generation will be asked to grow up quickly. 

Apopka enters the season with several key position battles still unresolved. 

“I just told the guys that everything’s open,” Neeson said, speaking of the makeup of the current team of veteran players, incoming freshmen and transfers. “I tell them the same thing that I tell everybody else, nothing’s given, everything’s got to be earned.” 

Competition has become one of the defining themes of the offseason. 

At running back, junior Jakyvion Kemp is among the players emerging as a leader despite still having two years of high school football remaining. 

“I feel good growing as a leader,” Kemp said. “We can come into the season and have a good season as a team, and I can teach the younger running backs that’s under me. I can teach them how to move, how to get shifty in the hole and do all this stuff that I’m doing. When I leave, I can pass the torch down to them like it got passed down to me.” 

Kemp said leadership starts with discipline and accountability. 

“I just want everybody to be disciplined and stay on track for this season so we can win, because we’re trying to go to states this year.” 

Kemp said his goals are to improve on last year’s yardage total and help Apopka get back to the playoffs, where the Blue Darters hope to make a deep run. 

He isn’t the only player stepping into a larger role. Neeson pointed to several players who have begun establishing themselves as leaders, including Kemp, senior lineman Wilgains Vaval, junior tackle Jay Rodrigues and Jinel Rivera. 

“There’s more vocal energy from certain guys that wasn’t expected,” Neeson said. “Jakyvion Kemp is one of the guys that’s starting to take on that vocal role. Wilgains Vaval is another one that’s stepped up and is a leader for the line. Jay Rodrigues is pushing guys. Jinel Rivera is another one that’s starting to grow into those shoes.” 

Vaval understands the challenge that comes with leading a young team following a difficult season. 

“Honestly, sometimes it may be a little hard,” Vaval said. “I’m just trying to get guys to try their best to persevere. We came from a tough losing season last season, so honestly, just trying our best to get back to winning — our tradition.” 

Despite the team’s youth, Vaval believes chemistry is already developing. 

“We have great chemistry considering that we’re a young group,” he said. “We like to joke around a lot, even though we know there’s times to lock in. I feel that helps us when we’re in the games because we know what the next person next to us is going to do based on the chemistry that we have.” 

The goals inside the locker room remain ambitious. 

“State championship,” Vaval said. “We want to go states. We gotta shoot big. We don’t want to aim for the lowest. We want to aim big. State champs.” 

Building toward those goals will require development from a roster that lacks some of the experience of previous Apopka teams. 

Few coaches understand that reality better than Anderson, who is entering his 27th season with the Blue Darters. During that time, he coached state championship teams and helped athletes get to the next level, including NFL players Jalen Carter and Trey Hendrickson. 

“I think the difference is we’re really, really young,” Anderson said. “We’ve lost a lot of those seasoned guys that would be either going into their senior year or juniors who have moved on to other schools, so we just got to look within and try to find that next guy up.” 

Anderson believes physical maturity will come with time, but the process begins during workouts like the ones taking place this summer. 

“We’re definitely not as physically mature as teams in the past, but we’re getting there,” he said. “We’ve got a group of guys that worked really, really hard all fall and spring. We’ll just see how we progress through the summer.” 

Part of that growth comes from enduring difficult workouts together. 

“The harder we go, as we start to ramp up into July and the workouts start to get tougher, I think the chemistry will come,” Anderson said. “Guys who need to be leaders will push themselves out front. Our saying is to lead, follow, or get out of the way.” 

The demanding nature of the offseason was already being felt by players on just the second day of training. 

“These workouts been really tough, man,” Joshua Taylor said with a laugh. “I know it’s only the second day too.” 

Taylor said the work doesn’t stop once players leave campus. 

“I have a hill in the back of my house I’m training on, continuing to put in work so I’m ready for hopefully a big season.” 

Those extra hours may prove important as Apopka prepares for a season that could determine the direction of the program under Neeson. 

The head coach knows last year’s results led some opponents to believe the Blue Darters had lost their edge. 

By August, he wants his team to prove otherwise. 

“Physical,” Neeson said when asked what identity he wants his team to have. “We’ve got a lot of payback to dish out to other teams that thought, ‘Well, Apopka’s down, we’re gonna run the score up on them.’ That won’t be the case this year.” 

As players moved from the weight room to the field and coaches pushed them through another summer morning, one thing was clear: Apopka’s effort to build back is in full force. They will be in 7 on 7 action next Wednesday, June 18, at DeLand.