05/18/2026
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Suiting up to play football for four different high schools would be impossible in most of the country. Florida is different.
Ah’Mari Stevens, a junior with two state championships under his belt, most recently switched to a Catholic powerhouse known for star receivers. School-choice laws in the state mean athletes transfer easily, often without losing a moment on the playing field.
“I love it, to tell you the truth,” Ah’Mari’s father, Frederick Stevens, said of Florida’s system. The teen announced in April that he will attend Louisiana State University.
The terms of Ah’Mari’s deal there weren’t made public, but packages for hotly recruited athletes at top programs like LSU can include free tuition, revenue sharing, endorsement money and parent stipends for travel.
Stevens said his son’s value on the college market was based partly on the personal brand he burnished at a string of high-performing football programs.
Others see an out-of-control system in which children barely out of middle school have agents and social-media strategies while education becomes an afterthought.
“Florida is a mess,” said Karissa Niehoff, the chief executive of the National Federation of State High School Associations.
“What about math? What about science?” she asked. “Kids are in high school to learn, not to play sports.”
Ah’Mari said he had little interest in typical high-school activities like prom or yearbook and kept his eyes on “the finish line”—his NIL deal.
His parents, a former UPS driver and former hair salon owner, said they had invested about $500,000 in his athletic development over the years and now consider managing his football career their full-time work.
Keeping him on track academically has been “a challenge,” his mother, Lakeshia Pointer, said. “When you’re going to all these different schools, some teachers teach differently.”
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