High school football: IMG Academy names new head coach as Pepper Johnson leaves Ascenders for USFL

One of the premier programs in high school football has named its fourth head coach in four seasons as special teams coordinator Billy Miller was named Tuesday to replace Pepper Johnson at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.).

Johnson took a position with the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits as the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach. In his only season as head coach he led the Ascenders to a 9-1 record and finished ranked at No. 17 in the final MaxPreps Top 25 rankings.

Johnson was the defensive coordinator for the Ascenders during the 2020 season when they went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the MaxPreps Top 25. He was promoted to head coach after Bobby Acosta took the same position with Del Valle (Texas) last spring.

Miller is the fifth in program history joining Chris Weinke (2013-14), Kevin Wright (2015-19), Bobby Acosta (2020) and Pepper Johnson (2021). He's been with the Ascenders since 2014 and previously worked with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Rutgers University under head coach Greg Schiano.

“For the past eight seasons Billy has shown exceptional head coach traits with his development of our student-athletes both on and off the field,” IMG Academy Athletic Director Scott Dean said in a release. “His passion and success on the field as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator is equally matched by his dedication to his players off the field through directly assisting with college placement and recruiting. We couldn’t be more excited to have him guide our program into the 2022 season.”

The Ascenders enter next season as one of the nation's most talented teams with expectations of entering the year as a top 5 team in the preseason MaxPreps Top 25 rankings.

They have eight players from the Class of 2024 ranked in the Top 100 of 247Sports composite rankings, led by Desmond Ricks (five-star CB), Jordon Johnson-Rubell (five-star CB), Stacy Gage (five-star RB), Ellis Robinson IV (five-star CB) and David Stone (five-star DL). They were all selected to the MaxPreps Sophomore All-America team last season.

IMG has eight players from the Class of 2023 rated as a four-star recruit or higher in 247Sports composite rankings, headlined by Francis Mauigoa (five-star OT), Samuel M'Pemba (five-star ATH), Carnell Tate (five-star WR), Will Norman (four-star DL) and Jordan Hall (four-star LB).

The Ascenders still have holes on their 2022 schedule but already have games against Central (Phenix City, Ala.), De Smet Jesuit (St. Louis), East (Salt Lake City), Jones (Orlando), St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) and Venice (Fla.).

Only St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) has a longer active streak (eight) of finishing ranked in the MaxPreps Top 25 since 2010. The Ascenders have finished in the MaxPreps Top 25 seven straight years heading into 2022.