Exclusive: Cocoa QB Blake Boda announces his college commitment

Editor's note: Cocoa High School senior Blake Boda wrote the following first-person story to announce his college decision.

The 6-foot-3, 175-pounde quarterback helped lead Cocoa to the Class 2S state champiosnjip and was named the Class 2S Florida Dairy Farmers Player of the Year in 2022. He broke program records with 4,028 passing yards and 49 touchdown passes and also tied for the team lead with five rushing touchdowns. Boda had four touchdowns — two passing and two rushing — including the game-winner in overtime in the Class 2S championship game.

Boda's offers include, in alphabetical order, Coastal Carolina, UNLV and USF.

The last six months have been a rollercoaster of emotions for me.

Having the season end with a state championship and then starting to get involved in the recruiting process, it’s been quite the journey.

Around the end of my junior year, I never really had thoughts that I wouldn’t be good enough, but I just knew I had to find the right situation for me to be successful. Looking back, I wouldn’t change anything about my high school process at all.

Transferring to Cocoa was the best decision in my football career. Having that bridge to transfer into a powerhouse like Cocoa was a blessing and the brotherhood on top of relationships I built and having a coaching staff that wanted me to be successful was great.

It felt good to play well this season, but obviously winning was the ultimate goal. We had playmakers everywhere. It came over time. At the end of the day, we focused on winning and I was blessed enough to have accolades and accomplishments fall in line with a ring.

The recruiting process got rough at times but I had to be patient. Seeing people committed and posting offers. At the end of the day, staying focused was the most important part. I knew my time would come.

That first offer was definitely a blessing. It feels great to get any kind of offer. UNLV was my first offer and I appreciated that. With the business of college football, staying positive day by day was my focus.

It’s great to get recognition from colleges, just knowing that I placed myself on a platform where I had to perform at the highest level and prove I could play at the college level. I had to prove that not only was I going to be good enough but to be able to succeed and win.

I want to thank God first. All glory to God. I want to thank my family – my mom, dad and brother. I want to thank all the teammates I ever played with. Being on the field with them was a blessing. I want to thank my coaches, the coaching staff at Cocoa – Coach Schneider, Coach Franco and Coach Hooks etc. – for being able to play for them and the success to win a state championship.

I’m excited to announce that I am committed to Coastal Carolina University.

Coach Trickett and Coach Beck have a huge resume of successful NFL caliber quarterbacks. There’s a lot of guys they’ve worked with, like Joe Burrow and Sam Ehlinger.

My relationship with them has been outstanding and I can feel that they want me there. Just to know how wanted I feel and to be part of their first recruiting class, the first quarterback they chose for their process, is an honor. Especially with guys that have resumes like that, it shows me that they want me to be as successful as those guys.

Getting to learn from a guy like Grayson for a year is a huge advantage because of his success he’s had in college football.

When I went on my visit, the unconditional support and love that was felt from the coaching staff and players, it felt like a brotherhood. Being at Coastal just felt like home.

#chantsup

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Exclusive: Cocoa QB Blake Boda announces his college commitment