Spirits were high Saturday morning, June 14, as local college and high school football players gathered at Lely High School to conduct the first Team Jacquem Academy Youth Football Camp for 145 campers. The camp was for players in grades three to eight.
“First one,” Jacques said at the conclusion of the three-hour camp that was conducted in mid-80s heat that was tempered by a steady breeze. “You know, I used to do the basketball camps, and Covid messed that up. We had a board meeting with the South Naples Trojans, brought up a proposition, and we threw this together for the kids in the community. All the kids, not just our kids in this area.”
Jacques is the longtime Lely basketball coach who has also made a name for himself as an assistant football coach. Jacques was a star football player at Lely before going on to a fine playing career at Kent State University. He’s spent his career giving back to the local community.
Five-year-old Marcus Frantz Dorcima was a camp favorite.
Team Jacquem is the brand name Jacques uses for his performance training. “When I work with somebody, they’re on my team for life,” he said. “So, all the kids I coach know they’re a part of my family for life if I train them.”
Joining Jacques in the one-day camp were current University of Florida starting cornerback Devin Moore and fellow cornerback Jonas Duclona of South Florida. Moore and Duclona played together at Naples High. Several current Lely football players, including running backs Nino Joseph and Ty Collins, helped run the camp. Sergio Morancy, a former Lely standout who just concluded an outstanding career as a wide receiver at the University of Northern Iowa, also helped lead the camp.
Jacques was thrilled with the event.
“Great turnout, man,” he said. “You see all the kids out here? All the smiles? We got to feed them a little bit. Got Gatorades. And thanks to all the people that helped us, who donated a little bit here or there. The Noel family was huge, the food bank in Fort Myers was huge for us.”
As Moore enters his senior season at Florida, he couldn’t help but harken back to his days as a youth football player in Naples as he put the players through drills.
Fritz Jacques puts the campers through warm-up exercises.
“It means the world,” Moore said, “just knowing I was in their shoes one day. Just chasing the same dreams they’re chasing and being able to live out mine, and just inspire them and help them along their process to get to where I’m at – and even farther. My parents always kept me active. I was just like these kids. Whenever there was an opportunity to go outside and run around, I was the first one in line for it.”
Moore was impressed with the amount of work that was accomplished in the three-hour camp.
“Just a great day of work,” he said. “Just working different skills that have to do with football. Things like explosion, foot speed, change of direction. I appreciate Coach Fritz putting this together, being able to connect with the kids and just inspire them as they inspire us, too.”
Moore offers the kids who look up to him some advice on how to achieve their football dreams.
“Just a whole bunch of hard work,” he said. “You know, there’s a whole bunch of days where I took it upon myself just to go outside on my own and put in the work. Learning from taking information from different people and just adding it to my arsenal, and continuing to just try and be better than I was the previous day and learn something new every day. It’s a lot of hard work, staying focused, also taking education very seriously because I know the University of Florida is a great educational school. I like to say the best in the nation, but I might be a little biased. But just staying focused, taking every aspect of your life seriously, making smart decisions off the field as well as surrounding yourself with great people who are going to keep you focused and help project you forward on your journey to get to that goal.”
Moore’s experience at Florida has been everything he dreamed it would be.
Jonas Duclona, a cornerback for USF, played locally at Naples High.
“It’s been that and even more to be honest,” he said. “I couldn’t even put in words how thankful I am just to be with the people I am there, just to have the opportunity to not only play football there, but also studying, getting my education from there and being around the types of people there.”
Many project an NFL career for Moore.
“The top goal will always be just to do whatever I can to make the team better,” he said. “And do what I’ve got to do to help us win more games and be as successful as we can be. A more personal goal is staying healthy the full season and just being as good as a leader as I can to the young guys, the guys my age, and even older than me. You know you’re never too young to lead, even if you’re younger than the guys you’re leading.”
Morancy and Moore competed against each other as youths in Naples and all the way through high school. Morancy recently completed his college career, gaining 1,626 yards receiving, 16 touchdowns, and an impressive 16 yards per catch. He enjoyed working with the kids Saturday.
“Today was a great day,” Morancy said, “nice and sunny. Great day to get all these kids out here. Show them the ropes. Let them come out, run wild, and have fun.”
Javon Milien looks like he’s in a great position to bring in this hotly contested pass.
Morancy saw lots of talent on display.
“You know there’s no talent shortage in our area,” he said. “I see my younger self and some of my friends and old teammates in these kids. They’re all fast out here, having fun, laughing. You know they want to play. They’ve got the drive. They’ve got the hunger. I was just putting the coaching to it, really.
Morancy is hoping he will have the opportunity to continue his football career professionally.
‘Right now,” he said, “I’m just working out, hoping to get an opportunity to continue on playing at the next level. I finished my last college career in 2024. I had some ups and downs, but my last game I finished on a pretty high note, so I’m happy about that. I scored four touchdowns. I took a punt back. That was my first score, and I caught three touchdowns.”