BROOKSVILLE- Two months have passed since Hernando High played its last football game of the 2015 season. But for Jacob Valentino, the next phase is just beginning.on Saturday, Valentino will participate in the Brooksville Ballers’ first scrimmage of the upcoming campaign.
The Ballers, a semi-pro football squad in the United Football Federation of America, start play in 2016 against the Orlando Phantoms on Jan. 31. This will be Valentino’s second go-round with the Ballers. Last season while playing linebacker he recorded 16 tackles, 2 ½ sacks and forced two fumbles, working his way into a starting position.
“I enjoyed it a lot. I learned a lot more,” Valentino said. “I got to play in the all-star game. There were different things that came along with it.
“It was very different. They hit a lot harder. It’s way faster-paced. It was a big wakeup.”
Playing alongside adults helped put things into focus for Valentino. Having played football since sixth grade at Parrott Middle School, he spent two years on JV at Hernando before making varsity at the start of his junior season. However, frustration got the best of Valentino and he decided to leave the team only a few games into the 2014 schedule. So he ended up with the Ballers, and soon his perspective changed.
“I just think it was all about me. I didn’t care about anybody else,” Valentino said. “I finally did the team thing.” His father, Joe Valentino, who coaches offensive and defensive linemen for the Ballers, has seen the impact playing semi-pro has had on his son. The elder Valentino also noted the effects of the community involvement required by the Ballers organization.
“It has helped Jacob grow up and mature in that aspect,” Joe Valentino said. “It has helped him and helped a couple other young players we have. The discipline level as far as how to present yourself on the field… You’re playing against grown men, so you need to learn from what they have experienced.”
With a different mindset, Jacob Valentino returned to the Leopards this past fall. Initially a starting linebacker, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound senior eventually worked his way into the running back rotation, carrying the ball 118 times for 393 yards with four touchdowns. Defensively, he totaled 13 tackles, one sack and caused a fumble.
“I did my best. I tried my hardest in everything I did. I gave it my all,” Jacob Valentino said. “It could have went better. I wish we had more wins.” He hopes the Ballers find a few more victories under a new head coach, Clarance Clark, and that he can become an even bigger part of the equation.
Working with the Ballers serves another purpose, potentially increasing his profile amongst college coaches. “It gives him the game film he needs,” Joe Valentino said. “It gives him the experience of what it’s like at the next level. With doing this, it gives him that competitive edge to achieve his goals and he gets to talk to people who have been there and done that.”
It’s a definite dream of the younger Valentino’s to play at the collegiate level. “I’d like to stay close, but if there’s somewhere I can go to college and play, I’m going to take it,” Jacob Valentino said.
For now, the Ballers provide an outlet to keep playing the game he loves, so much so that he balances school and his work at Wagon Wheel Feed to make it happen.
“I just go day by day,” Jacob Valentino said. “I do what I got to do.”