The Scene

Carrollwood Day School: 6:30 a.m.

It's still dark outside at this hour but there's a small crowd of family and friends gathered in the school's main lobby for senior quarterback Deuce Gruden. And that family includes his mother, Cindy, and a famous dad, former Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden. Also on hand were grandparents Jim and Kathy Gruden.

They were here to see something they all knew would happen one day, the signing of a college scholarship by Deuce.

Despite his 5-foot-6, 175-pound frame, the Patriots' quarterback, linebacker and any-other-position-needed Gruden is headed to Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. And mom and dad couldn't be prouder.

"He's put in a lot of hard work and he's had a lot of help from his coaches and teammates along the way but this just puts an exclamation point on a great career here at CDS," Jon Gruden said.

Bill Ward

Tampa Catholic: 8 a.m.

Of the three players who signed, Mikey Scheerhorn has to be one of the most unlikely to have landed a scholarship.

After his eighth grade year, Scheerhorn learned he had a tumor on the C6 vertebrae in his neck. The tumor turned out to be benign, but he was forced to sit out his freshman year of football at TC. Instead of playing the offensive line like he had hopes, Scheerhorn became the team manager for the Crusaders, carrying water bottles and doing whatever odd jobs coach Bob Henriquez needed.

He saw limited action his sophomore year and even in 2010, his junior year, Scheerhorn was still undersized for a lineman, with just 180 pounds on his 6-foot-1 frame. But after that season, Scheerhorn said he "got married to the weight room" and worked out like never before. This season, he became a full-time starter and grew to 6-5, 270. His development was so fast, TC assistant David Lewis asked Scheerhorn is he was doing something like steroids or growth hormones. Scheerhorn assured Lewis it was simple hard work and a late growth spurt.

In October, Scheerhorn got a call from Valpraiso's coaching staff. After a visit to the school earlier this month, he chose the school over Stetson and Minot.

"If you had told me a year ago I would be here signing a scholarship today, I would've told you that you were crazy," Scheerhorn said. "But I really worked at it this last year."

Bill Ward

Jefferson: 9:45 a.m.

One by one, the six members of Jefferson's signing class stood before the school's packed media center, thanking family, coaches, teammates and other supporters for putting them in position to sign a college scholarship. On most occasions, it took only a matter of moments for the eyes of each player to swell with tears, particularly in the case of Jawuan Coffee.

The senior receiver was overcome with emotion as he delved into his past, detailing a one-time stint with homelessness, the death of both his parents — first his father, Christopher Coffee, in the fifth grade, and then his mother, Tabitha Rice, just before the Dragons' run to a state championship in 2010 — and serious academic trouble.

But on Wednesday, Coffee stood proud to announce he was signing with Becker College in Massachusetts, becoming the first of his siblings, which includes five brothers and sisters, to go to a university.

"Luckily, my aunt (Ella Coffee) was there for me and she helped bring me up and wanted the best for me," Coffee said. "For me to be able to sign a letter of intent to go to college, it means a lot because I know I can make the best out of my situation."

Adam Adkins

Gulf: 1 p.m.

It wasn't your normal national signing day over at the Bever-Hicks Center for Gulf defensive lineman Jeff Kruse.

The 6-foot-2 lineman walked around school earlier in the day sporting an Eastern Michigan sweatshirt, and at one point was wearing a Havard T-shirt. Kruse kept the suspense going heading into the signing gathering.

Kruse seemingly at first announced he would be selecting Princeton as his college of choice and continued to put on a hat and T-shirt representing the school. Right after Kruse made the announcement, however, three friends of the senior lineman shouted out 'No!' and rushed down with a briefcase and inside was the attire of the school he would be attending. Kruse eventually chose Cornell.

"Well we knew we had to do it pretty big here because it has been up in the air awhile," Kruse said. "When I was first thinking about Cornell I was thinking how lame it might be. It was far away, but I went up there and fell in love with the place."

Andy Villamarzo

Gaither: 1:30 p.m.

For every ounce of effort Gaither's Mikhail Reece gave out on the gridiron, he gave equal to his work in the classroom. The payoff was huge.

Reece finalized his commitment to one of the nation's most prestigious academic institutions, Yale, where he'll also get a chance to continue his football career. For Reece, who is on pace to graduate with a GPA greater than 6.0, it was finding and maintaining a proper balance between academics and athletics that put him on the path not only to college football, but an Ivy League education.

"It was all about time management, spending your time wisely. A lot of people goof off, but I just spent my time on what I had to do. That was the main thing," said Reece, joined at the signing ceremony in the school's media center by football teammate Tyler McCollum, who signed with Colgate, and girls soccer player Kaycee McGuire, who signed with Thomas University. "This (earning a scholarship) helps you live by the mantra hard work pays off and finish what you've got to do."

Adam Adkins

Bloomingdale: 3:15 p.m.

When Rebecca Oser signed her letter-of-intent to Stetson, it marked an end to a 12-year tradition for the Bulls girls soccer team. Since 2001, there has been an Oser sister in uniform for the team, a streak that had Bloomingdale coach Sue Peet admitting she "could barely remember a team without an Oser."

Oser's mother and father, Angela and Brad, along with one of her sisters, Lauren (a 2004 Bloomingdale graduate), watched as the youngest daughter, who started out as a ball girl for the team nearly a decade ago, committed to the Hatters.

"I have been around Bloomingdale soccer for so long," Oser said. "I knew I had a lot to live up to continuing the Oser tradition."

Jarrett Guthrie