Tampa-area school full of top prospects

Riverview (Fla.) Spoto is a relatively new school, having only been open since 2006. However, that has not stopped the Spartan football team from becoming a traditional contender in the Tampa area. The 2010 season could end up being the best yet for the team.

Head coach Dale Caparaso has a quintet of seniors that are major Division I prospects. They have remained a bit under-the-radar to recruiting fans, but not to college coaches.

"We have four kids right now that have been offered," Caparaso said. "They been recruited heavily and have been offered by numerous schools. SEC schools, Big 10 schools and some others have all offered these kids. Anywhere from Washington State, Iowa, Iowa State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, you name it, these kids have offers from them."

The top two recruits on the team are players that line up at numerous positions for the Spartans, according to Caparaso.

"We've got Nick Addison," he said. "He's a special kid. He's 6-2, 170. He plays a lot of positions for us, but he's a big kid that can play cornerback. Colleges like that. He had seven interceptions last year. He has offers from Ole Miss, Iowa State and Washington State and a bunch of others are looking at him.

"The other kid is Danny Taylor. Danny is 5-11, 190. He's a running back and he's an outside linebacker for us. In our scheme, our outside linebackers are strong safeties so he's been looked at as a strong safety."

Taylor is one of the fastest players in the state of Florida and he has seen his stock rise heavily over the past few months. In fact, he appears to be close to picking up an offer from a big in-state power.

"Danny's a unique kid," Caparaso said. "He has a 44-inch vertical and he's a pretty phenomenal athlete. He runs a 4.42 forty. He runs a 10.2 100-meters. He's a pretty special kid.

"Danny's been offered by Iowa State, Washington State, Iowa and then Ole Miss as a running back. I believe within the next week, as soon as they can talk to the kids again, Florida State is going to offer him as a defensive kid. They love him. They came down here and looked at the film and they just love him.

"He's probably the one kid that is going to have the most choices when it's all said and done. He and Nick will. They can play multiple positions. I can see Danny playing corner at the next level. Because of his speed and ability, I can see him playing strong safety."

The offer from Ole Miss as a running back came as a bit of a surprise to Caparaso, but he has no doubt Taylor can play the position.

"A lot of the schools think that he can play running back," he said. "I guess Ole Miss just graduated a kid at running back that was 190 pounds so they're used to the smaller-type backs. Nowadays, at the college level, they seem to like them at 220 or 230. I guess Ole Miss has had some success with the smaller running backs. I guess if you get the offensive linemen like the big Blind Side guy, you can do that."

Spoto also has a talented defender with a handful of offers.

"Another kid we have is Donald Smith," Caparaso said. "Donald is 6-2, 210. He's a safety. He's been offered both as a safety and as an outside linebacker depending on which school looked at him. He'll knock your head off. He's also big enough and fast enough to play the safety spot.

"When he was a sophomore he played linebacker for us. When he was a junior he played safety for us. We're going to probably play him at linebacker again this year. That's more because I think that's where a lot of the colleges are going to look at him because of his ability to hit people. He's an extremely fast linebacker. He's a pretty special kid.

"He's been offered by Washington State, Iowa State, Iowa and Wake Forest. He has others but I can't remember them all off the top of my head. Those are a few of them, though."

The Spartans are not lacking on offense, though, as they have an athletic receiver with offers as well.

"Another kid I have is a wide receiver named Tyron Baker," Caparaso said. "He's 6-2, 190. He has offers from Arkansas and Washington State. Those are the only two right now, but I'm sure more will come in."

Perhaps the most intriguing prospect, however, is a transfer to the program.

"We had a kid that moved in that is going to have offers, too," Caparaso said. "His name is Marcus Walker. He came from Leon High School in Tallahassee. He's 6-1, 170 and he jumped 6-8 in the high jump in the state track meet last year. He's going to play some running back for us. He played some receiver and some running back up there (at Leon), but mainly he's a defensive back. Considering the competition that we play where everybody seems to be running the spread down here in Hillsborough County, we'll play him at corner."