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I'm not a fan of turf at any level. We have well over 20 years of data that strongly suggests increased injury, especially in younger people who haven't fully developed. But it's the trend and I don't see it going away anytime soon.

My son , Brock Alley (Tazewell) committed to Ferrum College on Wednesday evening

You never know about kids. Some surprise in other ways. Keep your eyes on the former Graham player at ODU named Gage Sawyers. He was kind of an under the radar player in the region even though he was first team All State. I've heard good things about him at ODU. You may see a situation kind of opposite of Adkins where this kid takes off. He was highly underestimated in my opinion coming out of High School. Mike Compton out of High School was good and an All State type, but few thought he would become a first team All American and 11 year NFL starter and a near miss for All Pro (next guy up that got outvoted) 5 times. Sometimes, they go the other way. Heck, Bill Dudley if we go back to the 1940s is an example. A scrawny little kid UVA just took a chance on and a "good" High School player but nothing special or elite, and of course....NFL Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, more times than not, it goes the other way and the above are exceptions to the rule. Jury is out on Sawyers. He's one to keep an eye on.

Some of these kids have a terrible group of people surrounding them as well. They hitch to the kid's wagon in hopes of some huge NIL deal or even further, NFL contract. They will put thoughts in the kid's head that they are a P5 talent or the League is a no doubt outcome to their career. I see it damn near every day and the kid is the one who suffers in the end.

It's far more common for kids in P5 or G5 schools to end up on a path similar to this when entering the Transfer Portal. Should be a cautionary tale but all we see from ESPN is Cody Shrader puff pieces. Young people that haven't developed critical thinking skills yet, see those pieces and think everyone is doing it. So they leap and end up falling out of sight.

Once had official visits to Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee among others... now relinquished to an NAIA school. Glad he's getting a chance somewhere, but so much potential wasted is a shame.

Hearing similar things. It will be a joint venture with tcps and the town of Bluefield, Va. It will be used for rec leagues and school functions, similar to the gyms behind Graham High School. Just hope they make it nice and don't try to do the bare minimum.

I've been told by multiple folks in the know the money will be there to finish the stadium.

Turf complete by August is my understanding and they’re getting a track around I believe. Stadium will come later financed by the community. 🤞🤞🤞🤞 Someone can correct if this is fake news! 😂😂😂😂

I predict that work on all three Tazewell County fields will come down to the wire.

Can we all agree that the two teams representing region D will be decided by the refs and who decides to show up and play in the region tourney. There is no margin. There are 6 teams that I see could earn the state birth. GC, Graham, Va high, Central, Union, Lebanon. I also wouldn't be shocked if Marion or RV upset one of them either.

And people still wonder why kids from our area aren't recruited.....

I just want to know where are all the turf in the devil people on this tread? Shouldn't everyone be playing on grass? That is the way the game was meant to be played right, on grass and the illegal forward pass.

This. I was told this by two local college coaches directly. The wash out rate is very high, significantly higher than non-locals. One coach said the sweet spot was 3-4 hours away.

EPA is called DEQ in Virginia. Department of Environmental Quality. No project over 10,000 square feet involving disturbance of existing ground conditions in Virginia can go to construction without a permit from them. If school board just approved the contracts for design and construction last fall, design has barely even begun at this point. The engineers have barely had enough time to get survey data back to begin design. If this is indeed the case, construction will not begin before 2025. What was once a 6-month process to get from field survey to construction is now 18-months. Especially considering most state agencies in charge of review and issuance of necessary permits to go to construction are still working from home. I'm not involved in the Tazewell County projects but I've been directly involved in a number of turf installations over the years in other localities.

I applaud your enthusiasm but my 25+ years of experience in the engineering world tell me, everything reasonable goes out the window when design and construction involve state and federal agencies. Tree removal, sediment basins, and retaining walls all require DEQ permits before construction can begin. DEQ review of construction plans is a minimum, 9-month process. More often than not, it's longer. If they require changes to the plans, the calendar starts all over again.

It’s gonna take longer than you think.

Nevada has a "None Of These Candidates" option on primary ballots. Nikki Haley lost to "None Of These Candidates" making her the first candidate to lose to nobody since that option was added to the ballot in Nevada in 1975. It's getting harder and harder to tell actual politics from satire these days. https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/06/nevada-will-hold-presidential-primaries-caucuses-creating-voter-confusion-little-suspense/

Every team meal at Bonanza has resulted in a LOSS, so much that, we haven't took a team to eat there in nearly 25 years. We consider the place cursed. But the buffet is almost worth an occasional L

Fun fact, the song "Russell County Line" was actually written about the buffet queue at Bonanza.