The best high school football player in Tampa Bay this year was UCF quarterback commitment Pete DiNovo.

That's the assessment of the Tampa Bay Times, who named the East Lake signal caller their Offensive Player of the Year for 2012. He was featured with a front page sports story in the Christmas Day edition of the newspaper.

DiNovo (6-3, 205) set Pinellas County records for career passing yards (6,733) and touchdowns (59) and the season record for passing yards (2,980). He led East Lake deep into the state playoffs before falling to No. 1 Dr. Phillips.

An early graduate, DiNovo will enroll at UCF in January and be among the quarterbacks competing during spring practice. Since his commitment last summer, DiNovo has become one of the ambassadors of the recruiting class and has played a role in securing further commitments, particulary with prospects from the Tampa Bay area.

"I feel our 2013 class is one of the best in the country," DiNovo told UCFSports.com last week. "I feel we're going to come in, work hard and be successful over the next few years. We're going to win some championships."