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The Freeport Bulldogs have begun preparations for year number two in the 2A classification. After a solid campaign in their first year back outside of the Rural division, the growing town of Freeport has growing expectations for the football team, and rightly so.
For ninth-year head coach Shaun Arntz, the growth that the program has experienced in recent years is one of the things he is most proud of.
“Four years ago, I had a staff of six, including myself. I was pretty much the offense and defensive coordinator dating back to 2019. Now we have a full-time offensive coordinator, a full-time defensive coordinator, a full-time strength and conditioning coach, and then a completely separate offensive and defensive staff. For us to develop into that over the course of the last couple of years, it’s a great thing.”
Boasting one of the nation’s top tight ends, a legacy quarterback, a homecoming transfer and a full staff under Arntz, the Bulldogs are gearing up for 2025 with pieces to make some noise.
Five seasons ago, the Freeport Bulldogs made the 1A Regional Semifinals behind sophomore quarterback Ashton Nunes. Now, his brother Carter Nunes returns as one of the top preseason field generals in the Panhandle and looks to bring the Bulldogs back to the heights his brother helped bring them to.
Throwing the ball well a season ago, Nunes totaled 1,796 yards across ten games. Averaging over two touchdowns per game, he scored 17 times through the air and four times on the ground. Also returning as the leading rusher, the rising junior is a dual-threat quarterback who can do a little bit of everything.
One of the only concerns last season was the interceptions. His touchdown-to-interception ratio sits right about 1:1 after throwing 15 picks a year ago. However, Nunes has excelled in taking care of the football in the action he’s had this summer. In a recent 7v7 tournament, the gunslinger threw 22 touchdowns with just three interceptions. If ball security continues to improve for the young QB, the Bulldogs could have a real gem on their hands.
Freeport will, sort of, return rising junior Dylan Louthain, who looks to take control of the starting running back position. Two seasons ago, Louthain starred for the Bulldogs as a freshman, rushing for 434 yards and averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
He then spent his sophomore year up the road at Walton High School, where he ran for 574 yards and seven scores. The former Walton back even ran for three touchdowns on just seven carries against Freeport last year when the two squads matched up.
Now, for his junior season, he is reuniting with Coach Arntz at Freeport High School. Louthain has excelled thus far in summer camp, emerging as a solid pass-catching threat out of the backfield for the Bulldogs’ offense.
“He’s like a Christian McCaffrey type of player on offense,” said Arntz. “He’s very hard-nosed, a downhill runner with deceptive speed, and some of the best hands on the team.”
Fellow rising junior Talen McElyea will also be a candidate to get carries this season after running 13 times last year and scoring once.
The Bulldogs’ sophomore receiver trio of Caleb Leonard, Bryant Robbins and Anthony Guard will all return for their junior years after producing for Freeport last season. Leonard led the pack with 326 yards, 27 catches and three scores, while Robbins and Guard both brought in over 100 yards receiving.
But perhaps the biggest weapon for Freeport in 2025 will be tight end Julius Miles. According to On3 Sports, the rising senior is the number one tight end in the state of Florida. It has been an eventful summer for Miles, as he committed to play Division I football at the University of Louisville next year. After a monster junior year with nearly 900 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, Miles already boasts school records for single-game and single-season receiving yards.
Entering the 2025 season, opposing defenses are surely already having nightmares about covering the 6-foot-6, 220-pound pass catcher who held 27 Division I offers. With an experienced quarterback now comfortable at the helm, and an array of star returners at receiver, the Freeport passing game has a chance to be one of the best in the area this season.
Freeport football made the most of its summer, with players competing at numerous camps and tournaments.
Starting with an offensive and defensive line unit that has shown big growth, Lanier Little, Easton Parnell, Braxton Durgin, Carson Galpin and Lucas Lollie attended Down and Dirty camp, as well as Florida State and FAMU Big Man Camp to get ready for the upcoming season.
Coach Arntz recognized both the offensive and defensive lines as the most crucial units heading into the season, with high praise for Galpin as he enters his junior season.
“Carson is a silent leader you can always count on,” said Arntz. “He plays as hard and as smart as he can on every play. He is one of our most dependable players.”
While those camps were going on, the rest of the team was competing at the FCA 7v7 tournament at South Walton High School. Coach Arntz’s guys went 6-0 on their way to winning the tournament against solid competition.
“Our summer was very successful in terms of player development, commitment and just overall production,” said Arntz. “We won a 7 on 7 tournament, which was a big deal for us. We needed that success and that momentum heading into preseason.
Freeport’s sevens team also competed at the University of South Alabama. The Bulldogs went undefeated in pool play before they ran into an extremely good Choctaw team.
Last year’s Freeport defense featured a vast majority of now-graduated seniors. Both Blake O’Donnell and Zakade Schiro racked up over 90 tackles a season ago, with Cody Campbell contributing 81 of his own. Coach Arntz and the rest of the Freeport staff will be tasked with replacing that production.
One of the keys will be the two-way players who contributed last year. Starring on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, Julius Miles, Anthony Guard, Caleb Leonard and Bryant Robbins finished the season with a combined 74 tackles and four interceptions.
“We lost our three leading tacklers,” said Arntz. “This year, I’d say for the first week or two, we’ll probably have four guys playing both ways. One is a defensive lineman, one is a linebacker and then two are in the secondary. We do feel like we have a few guys to replace them; they’re just not there yet at this point in camp. We’re going to keep trying to balance out reps between the ones and the twos for those particular positions so that we can have 11 fresh on offense and 11 fresh on defense. That’s ultimately the goal.”
This leaves an opportunity for new talent to make a name for themselves as the 2025 season quickly approaches. Players like rising junior Wade Digges, who has had a tremendous camp, and Ryland Willig have chances to build on the small sample size they enjoyed a year ago.
The Bulldogs also add newcomer Oliver Boyko from the Oklahoma 3A state champions, Lincoln Christian. Boyko has been tabbed as another player who has had a great summer and has the chance to make big plays on both sides of the ball.
The Freeport schedule is very similar to the one that saw them go 5-5 in 2024. The Bulldogs will open up with two home games against North Bay Haven Academy, who they beat last year, and Jay.
The district games are where the Bulldogs struggled last season, going 0-3. Their first chance at winning their first district game in 2A will come against reigning district champions Pensacola Catholic in Week 6. After a bye week, they get their second district opponent in a row, as they will travel to South Walton to play in their new stadium.
Their final district game will be at home against Walton in Week 10 before closing the season at recently-added North Florida Christian.
With the number of veteran athletes at their disposal on the offensive side, including the number-one tight end in Florida, one can expect this Freeport team to put up a lot of points. It will likely be a matter of how well the defense can turn over as the Bulldogs look poised to make a run to the playoffs in 2025.