It was the fall of 2013 when Apopka High Coach Rick Darlington noticed a man approaching him after a Blue Darters game accompanied by two boys. Darlington eyed the youths, each of them standing in the 6-foot-3 range, and in Darlington's estimation weighing 240 pounds or more. Their baby faces belied their enormous physical presences.
Curtis Barnes brought his son William and his good friend Ed Montilus to watch the game, telling the eighth graders, "One day, you can be out there playing for the varsity." It was a big deal in the suburbs northwest of Orlando to play football at Apopka, which had just won the 2012 Florida State 8A title and would collect the championship again in 2014.