It didn’t take long for Dr. Phillips to find a replacement for Rodney Wells, the winningest head football coach in school history. The administration did not have to look far.

The school announced Tuesday it has promoted assistant coach Caleb Walls to take over the football program at age 27.

Walls has coached under Wells for the past three seasons, and like Wells, played at Dr. Phillips. He was a senior receiver on the 2016 state runner-up team. He went on to play at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, where he was an All-Sun Conference kick returner.

Walls becomes the youngest current football head coach in the Orlando area and one of the youngest in area history. The youngest was Zach Barrett, who was 25 when University High hired him in 2021. He coached for one season.

“It’s truly a blessing. Nine years ago or whatever it was, when I was playing for coach Wells, I always wanted to be like him and for this opportunity to be presented it is nothing short of a blessing,” Walls said.

Walls, who is the son of former NFL and Orlando Predators star Herkie Walls, was DP’s receiver s coach for the past four years. He also played for the Predators after his stint at Keiser.

Dr. Phillips lifer Rodney Wells steps down as head football coach

Walls replaces Wells, who was head coach at DP since 2011, compiling a 137-48 record, including a state title in 2017.

Wells said he was very pleased that the administration promoting him despite his young age.

“You know, with God, all things are possible, and I feel like I was the right guy because I relate to the kids, the kids love me and they love playing for me,” Walls said. “I feel like I bring that energy that these kids want. I have all the confidence in the world.”

“It’s an honor that the AD and the administration and the principal are willing to take a chance on me for being so young, but I take that with pride and I will definitely give them my all.”

Walls said is philosophy will be “faith, family, education and football,” and the mentality will be to play fast.

“We’re gonna play fast, Panther Fast, so everything we do from taking the field in practice, to taking the field for warm-ups to taking the field off the bench, everything is going to be fast,” Walls said. “We’re gonna get the plays in fast, we’re gonna execute at a high level and we’re gonna be disciplined, and physical, as well.

“We’re going to keep the standard that Wells set and just keep the ball rolling.”

He said his offensive philosophy will provide a mix.

“It’s gonna be a combination of everything. We’ll announce the offensive coordinator here pretty soon,” Walls said. “We’re going to take shots when we can take shots, but we’re going to emphasize running the football . But I know receivers will love playing here, as well.”

Walls will begin to put his staff together in the coming days.

“I will evaluate some things and meet with some coordinators and see what’s best for the program and what’s best for our players,” he said.

Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.