Lights! Camera! Action! Manatee's on ESPN tonight

BRADENTON — The equation usually goes as follows:

The first day of school results in a miserable practice.

Well, not this year, and not at Manatee High, where the Hurricanes hit the field this week with four little letters dancing in their heads.

ESPN.

For the first time in their storied history, the Hurricanes will go live all over the country when ESPN broadcasts tonight’s 7 p.m. Kickoff Classic against Tampa Plant.

“We probably had the best practice for a first day of school in all my years of coaching,” said Joe Kinnan, set to enter his 26th season coaching the Canes.

Tonight’s game is one of eight in the ESPN RISE High School Football Kickoff, which also features teams from South Carolina, Texas and Ohio.

And though the Hurricanes-Panthers clash is a preseason game, the rematch of last year’s Class 5A state final has plenty of appeal, beginning with the players. Plant running back/linebacker James Wilder Jr. is arguably the best prep player in the country and a week removed from verbally committing to Florida State.

Manatee running back Mike Blakely, like Wilder, was named to ESPNU’s list of the country’s best 150 recruits, and he will have roughly 40 Division I suitors to choose from come National Signing Day.

Manatee has won four state titles, Plant has won three. Manatee is ranked eighth in USA Today’s Super 25, Plant is ranked sixth.

Manatee is 19th in the Powerade Fab 50 ESPN RISE rankings, Plant is second.

“Usually, we have a game that has only one or two of those factors,” said Dan Margulis, ESPN’s director of programming and acquisitions. “So we’re excited about it.”

The popularity of college football coupled with how the exposure given to February’s National Signing Day — which Margulis referred to as college football’s draft — is slowly turning prep sports into a national phenomenon, which is why ESPN has ramped up its coverage of high school athletics with a magazine and a website.

And it’s also why tonight’s game is on the main network even though it means nothing in the standings.

“We do high school football games to really feature the players more than anything,” Margulis said. “Take Wilder — if I’m a Florida State fan who doesn’t live in Florida, I want to see him play. I want to know what the deal is.

“To us, it’s serving a collegiate audience.”

For Manatee’s part, Kinnan said he is treating it like any other Kickoff Classic — the starters will play most of the way in preparation for next week’s regular-season opener in Woodland Hills, Pa., and players fighting for a job will get some looks, as well.

Yes, the Hurricanes want to put their best foot forward in front of a national audience. But their long-term goals stretch way beyond tonight.

“The guys that we’ve got to go to war with, those are the guys that are going to get a vast majority of the work,” Kinnan said, “because that’s what we usually do.”

Nonetheless, the excitement during Wednesday’s practice was palpable.

“The last few days, everyone has been coming out and busting their butt,” said senior defensive lineman Drakkar Wilson. “We’re planning to play a good game.”

Especially since the whole country will be watching.

“It all starts in the locker room — everybody has got to have the same focus,” Wilson said. “We’re going to get our minds right before the game. ... It’ll be fun. It’ll be a good competition, and there is nothing like a good competition like that.”