RIVIERA BEACH – Charles Phoenix knows what he is doing.
It is about having some kind of connection with a college football head coach, and the recent Suncoast High School graduate found that with Graceland.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound hybrid defender went into the reason why he wants to play college ball at the Lamoni, Iowa-based institution.
“I made my decision to go to Graceland after many talks to with the head coach Nate Robinson,” Phoenix said. “I felt like I was at home and fell in love with the culture. After these talks I felt comfortable about being 1,200+ miles away from home. I also like the direction the program is starting to go in.”
Despite Graceland (NAIA school) finishing this past season with a 0-11 record, the football program seems to be happy with its recent hire of Robinson, who is a Palm Beach Lakes (West Palm Beach, Fla.) 2005 alum. It is safe to say that Robinson’s level of knowledge and understanding of the game, plus him being raised in the same area (West Palm Beach-Riviera Beach) as Phoenix, helped make this situation possible.
“Nate is a straightforward coach, always being completely honest with you,” Phoenix said. “He is a caring coach, doing his best to help his players become the best men they could possibly be on and off the field. He’s always willing to help you with pretty much anything you need.”
Phoenix felt the same way about his most recent Suncoast head coach in Jimmy Clark.
“Coach Clark builds strong bonds with players,” Phoenix said. “The bond we developed with him spills off into the team, which causes us to become closer and perform better. One thing I love about Coach Clark is how he isn’t all football. He makes sure work is done in the classroom first. Him striving to get us to perform to our best ability in the classroom and on the field is the reason he continues to have many students-athletes at Suncoast go on to the next level year in and year out.”
In 10 games played, Phoenix had 52 tackles, 10 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 safety. His best game was in Week 4’s 41-0 win over Village Academy, when he recorded 9 tackles (1 TFL), 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery.
The win over Village Academy gave Suncoast a two-game winning streak at that point.
“I felt like that game, along with the Spanish River game (28-0 win in Week 3), was what gave the team confidence in that we could win games. It boosted us.”
Suncoast would go on to finish its season with a 5-5 record.
“What stood out to me is how we came together after our 0-2 start,” Phoenix said. “We formed stronger bonds and worked hard to turn our season around.”
Phoenix, who will be majoring in business management and accounting at Graceland, reflected on his senior year as a whole. This includes the coronavirus pandemic that forced his entire class to graduate virtually.
“Well I can see I’ve always wanted to walk across the stage, but unfortunately that didn’t happen,” Phoenix said. “It let me sit back and realize that everything in life isn’t gonna go the way you want it to go. But the bigger picture is that I graduated and I am now moving on to college.”
