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Armwood football picks up transfers Devin Black, Jabreel Stephens

 
Quarterback Devin Black took the school choice route to go from Lennard to Armwood in time for the upcoming season.
Quarterback Devin Black took the school choice route to go from Lennard to Armwood in time for the upcoming season.
Published June 13, 2016

SEFFNER — In each of the past three years, Armwood has fallen to state powerhouse Miami Central in the Class 6A state championship football game, unable to keep up with the ever-athletic Rockets on both sides of the ball.

Two offseason additions to one of Tampa Bay's most decorated programs, however, could help the Hawks compete for a different outcome this go around.

Longtime Hawks coach Sean Callahan confirmed Monday that former Lennard quarterback Devin Black and former Jefferson defensive end Jabreel Stephens will attend Armwood this fall. Callahan confirmed that Stephens is a Seffner resident and thus zoned for Armwood. Black comes to Armwood via school choice, which is decided by a lottery system.

"We only got one kid all year on school choice," Callahan said, "and that's Devin Black."

Black, a 6-foot-2, 160-pound rising junior, started at quarterback for Lennard his freshman and sophomore years, throwing for a combined 3,698 yards and 23 touchdowns while helping deliver back-to-back winning seasons to the Longhorns — just the second and third winning seasons in school history.

Black, a pocket passer, is different from the typical run-first quarterbacks the Hawks have started lately. The addition of Black will likely mean a change of roles for rising senior Darrian McNeal, Armwood's starting quarterback from last season who threw for 1,697 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for 1,238 yards and 21 more scores.

McNeal, who played wide receiver his sophomore season, is being recruited as an athlete and has 23 Division I offers, including ones from Louisville, Rutgers, USF and Virginia Tech.

"He'll be involved as a receiver, he will be playing cornerback, he'll be playing punt returner and it's a possibility he'll be playing kickoff returner. He goes from doing one thing to three or four other things right now. He is (excited)," Callahan said about McNeal. "I always take my best athlete and teach them to play quarterback. Darrian has listened to his coach and bought into playing quarterback for the good of the team."

As for Stephens, who has 18 Division I offers, he'll join an Armwood defense that lost its top five leading tacklers from last season. He was a first-team All-Hillsborough County selection last season by the Tampa Bay Times.