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Their relationship is similar to that of a father and son, and it has featured many teaching moments -- like when Butts gave Blackman a summer job at the funeral home. Blackman learned a lot about developing a strong work ethic, running a business and how to handle unpleasant situations such as working with corpses.
“I said, ‘James, I need you to go back there and help one of my other workers move somebody from this place to this place,’” Butts said. “That normally takes about 10 or 15 minutes. He went back there, came back in about 30 seconds and said, ‘Man, I gotta make it to the league. I can’t do this.’”
Butts is one member of a team of adults who have helped Blackman navigate his life.
Fletcher, 30, handles the recruitment for all the football players at the high school. While earning her master’s degree from Florida International University in Miami, she was an intern in the athletics department. Part of her duties there required her to meet prospective recruits interested in FIU. It’s how she gained a strong knowledge of the recruiting process.
She and Butts were at the mortuary when Fisher and defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins came to Belle Glade to visit Blackman. They were also there when coaches from other schools came by to see if they could sway him into choosing their school.
Fletcher tries to help in other ways as well.
“When you know a kid like James -- and some of the kids around him – some good, some bad, some horrible, some on drugs at the age of 16, some catching gun charges the age of 17,” Fletcher said. “He treated every last one of them like they were his equal. It was to the point where I used to tell him, ‘You need to watch the company that you keep.’
“He still was a kid. He didn’t see that at the time.”
Fletcher remembers a time when Blackman wanted to go to a party with friends. Once he told her who he was going with, she nixed the idea. She told Blackman he could go to the party, but it would be better to either go by himself or with other friends to avoid any potential problems.
“I saw the potential. I saw what he had in front of him,” she said. “I didn’t want the mistakes of someone else to jeopardize that for him.”
Every teenager encounters peer pressure. Not every teenager faces the expectations that come with playing football at Glades Central.
Glades Central is one of the most illustrious programs in state history. The Raiders have won six state championships, which is tied for the sixth-most among all Florida high schools, according to the Florida High School Athletics Association’s record books.
Several players from Glades Central have reached the NFL and achieved the highest levels of success. Benjamin starred at FSU and caught the famous game-winning touchdown pass in the Seminoles’ national championship win over Auburn. Holmes was a breakout player at Ohio State who later became a world champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also hauled in a game-winning catch in Super Bowl XLIII.
“As an AD, I’m trying to change it to give them other things to look forward to,” Fletcher said. “But that’s the breeding ground here. I’m going to keep it real: [Football is] what keeps the lights on at the school, it’s what keeps the bills paid at the school.”
Fletcher said it’s common to see former players spend their afternoons watching football practice. She said they’ll line up their trucks on a road near the practice field and set up lawn chairs to observe what’s going on.
The pressure to succeed at Glades Central is immense. From 2000 to 2010, the Raiders went an impressive 126-19. Because they only won two state titles in that period, the program went through four different coaches.
Butts said many Glades Central fans view losing as “unacceptable.”
“I’m going to tell you how serious it is. You don’t want to come back from a game and you lost,” Fletcher said. “Your car is probably not going to be in the best shape when we get back. I just sent an email on Thursday telling all coaches to find rides to school that day and to not leave cars on campus.
“Because these people are serious. The only law and rule you have as a football coach is to not lose.”
'He can still beat you'
Talk to any Palm Beach County high school coach who has studied Blackman, and they all revel about the same thing: His accuracy.
Bueno, who coaches at Royal Palm Beach High, said the tricks he uses against most high school quarterbacks were useless against Blackman.
“He’s probably the best guy we saw in the last two years in terms of overall ability to throw a football,” said Bueno, who went 33-5 and won the 2000 state title when he coached at Glades Central. “What stood out was his ability to make any throw. You don’t come across that too much. He’s so tall, so long, and he could seem to make every throw.”
T.J. Jackson, who is the head coach at Atlantic High in Delray Beach, said Blackman is dangerous because of his accuracy and mobility. He said Blackman has the arm strength to hit out-routes and post-corner routes with ease.
But if a defensive coordinator decides to get cute, Jackson said, Blackman has the speed and wherewithal to take off at a moment’s notice.
“We had some great defensive ends, and it was about trying to mix our coverages up and choose when to apply pressure,” said Jackson, who was a defensive back at Virginia Tech from 1998 to 2003. “He can still beat you. He’s very, very accurate and definitely has a great deep ball. His arm strength is phenomenal for a young player.”
Palm Beach County has long produced talent, but as of late, it’s become a hub for FBS quarterbacks. Former North Carolina State star Jacoby Brissett played at Dwyer High in Palm Beach Gardens. And then there’s Louisville’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Lamar Jackson, who played at Boynton Beach.
Mastrole, who works with many top quarterbacks in South Florida, believes Blackman could be next in line. He said the Florida State freshman possesses a number of “dynamic” abilities that make him versatile. He can move well in the pocket, he has the mobility to extend plays and also the arm strength to make difficult throws look easy.
“The things he did and steps he’s taken is to understand the game in terms of coverages, keys and tips, and that’s what the college game is about,” Mastrole said. “It’s about having a pre-snap read and knowing what to identify. It’s getting a basic understanding of protection.”
Blackman burst onto the scene in Palm Beach County during the spring between his sophomore and junior years. Right away, there was talk that Glades Central had a potential star in the making.
He threw for 2,111 yards and 24 touchdowns as a junior and was named to the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s All-Small Schools first team for Palm Beach County.
Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell said Blackman, who Rivals rated as a four-star prospect, started to become known in recruiting circles between his junior and senior seasons. He said Blackman performed well at 7-on-7 tournaments and in regular camp settings.
“He started getting early spring offers from impressive schools like Miami and Louisville," Farrell said. “He never truly blew up when it came to national offers. When you look at his offer sheet, you don’t see Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida. Those schools came on late. He wasn’t a guy who got 30 offers in two months.”
Farrell said Blackman weighed about 160 pounds as a junior and added 20 more going into his senior year. Blackman still was skinny, but his delivery, mechanics and arm strength made some colleges overlook his slender build.
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FSU was interested in Blackman after seeing his film, but the Seminoles really fell in love with him when he worked out at Fisher's summer camp in 2016. Fisher immediately offered him a scholarship, and Blackman committed to FSU in early August.
As a senior, he completed 60 percent of his passes and threw for 2,158 yards and 14 touchdowns. Blackman was named to the Palm Beach Post’s All-Small Schools first team, and other colleges started showing more interest.
On National Signing Day, he followed through on his commitment and signed with the Seminoles.
“I just think he is a quarterback that people did not put a lot into,” Mastrole said. “All these kids who are in Elite 11 or the Under Armour All-American Game, and James is a kid that people identified with a ton of upside. He’s a great player, but he just wasn’t spoken about on the national level.
“He’s just a guy everyone recognized as a kid coming to FSU, and nobody knew much about him.”
