Ah’Mari Stevens, a 16-year-old football player from South Florida, boarded a helicopter with a videographer one day last spring. As the chopper circled Miami, the cameraman explained the purpose of the shoot: “Everybody and their mama wants to know where he’s going to play ball next year.”
Ah’Mari, a whip-fast sophomore wide receiver with two state championships under his belt, peered out the window as various high-school campuses passed below. He listed their attributes—NFL alums, college stars, state titles—and then pointed out Edison High, an inner-city public school whose coach at the time boasted of negotiating multimillion-dollar deals, where he planned to enroll.
“Sometimes a man gotta create their own path,” he said in the video, made by social-media company Footballville. Edison would be Ah’Mari’s third high school, but not his last. After a few games, he switched to a rival Catholic powerhouse known for star receivers.
Suiting up for four different high schools would be impossible in most of the country, thanks to state interscholastic rules that can require transfer students to sit out a year of competition.
Florida is different. School-choice laws mean athletes transfer easily, often without losing a moment on the playing field. In the age of Name, Image and Likeness compensation, the result is a first-of-its-kind high-school transfer portal that some insiders warn may be the future of scholastic sports in America.