SwvaOG

Any rumblings? Who would be your pick?

As for the lack of younger coaches, we should have anticipated a positive correlation between a decrease in youth football participation and a lack of younger coaches. We are seeing that manifest now. I'll also argue that there are a lot of 60-70 year old that won't let it go. I coached a youth sports team with a guy who was 65 and the game had moved on from his coaching style but he wouldn't let it go. I was in my late 40's at the time and our other coach was in his early 30's. I told him, "you gotta let the younger guys get a chance". Damn near broke his heart to give anything up.....which I thought was a bit selfish. The "young buck" coaches were in their late 30's. It is their time. Hell, you had a long run, be thankful.

As the political divides continues, and it will, the next battle ground is going to be homeschooling vs public schooling. Currently, 20 states allow home-schooled kids to play high school sports (TN is one of them), five states allow it with the approval of local districts, five allow it if the students are partially enrolled in a public school program (my preferred option) and 20 states bar home-schoolers from public high school sports (of course Virginia and WV are in this group). Ask yourself, how many kids are only going to public schools so they can play sports? It is quite a bit. Now, the smart states will get in front of this early before a competing league is established. The answer is to allow them to play as long as they are partially enrolled (which will allow the states to receive increased funding). The backwards answer is the complete ban/bar which, of course, our state does.

March 31st, 2032........but you didn't hear it from me.

The pendulum swings too far both ways. I would not want to go back to the 70's type coaching. To be brutally honest, a lot of damn good kids were "run" off for a myriad of bad reasons. Looking back at that era, it was complete inflexibility and kids had no options. Now, the kids have too much influence and coaches are too beholden to the parents in a hope of retaining talent. Be consistent, fair and coach up and develop your kids. Some will leave, it happens. Stay the course. If this guy was hired simply because a kid liked him, it will work itself out.

I'm thinking they'll announce assistants next month after the next school board meeting. Several new staff with a few holdovers...well, counting HC as "new" since he is new to that role.

Kick that cup of tea on over and fill us in.

Trenton Adkins is also at UPike.

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.

Sage Blevins (DL), Abingdon, signed with Emory & Henry. He was the only local kid to sign with them after signing 4-5 last year. UVA-Wise added Parker Bandy (WR) and Tyler Cole (DL), both from Honaker. I have no indication if these are walk-ons or if they are scholarship kids. The D-2 world offers varying amounts of "football money" usually coupled with academic and other types of financial aid. Doesn't appear ETSU added any local kids. About 60% of their incoming class are transfers. I don't see anything on Concord's site for local kids, as of now. I don't see any local kids on Bluefield State's signings, as of now.

Not much in the charisma or personality department for sure. Lol.

Does anyone know what he is up to these days? Is he still in coaching?

Richlands is on the come up. It will take a year or two but I still stand by my prediction that are +4.5 in wins this year and an additional +2 the following year.

This. The guy has commitments currently and it definitely working on assembling a staff. I think you'll see something in the next couple of weeks and some of those decisions have already been made.

Good pick up for them. I wonder if the new staff is prioritizing some local talent. Well, local SWVA talent...they seem to hit up East TN fairly well.

That is a lot of money being put down (no pun intended) in Tazewell county. Richlands is in dire need of new turf...that stuff is like outdoor carpet.....and it would be nice to see the field color actually match the school colors.

Whoever the coach is he has to agree to let the McAmis girl play QB.......in a wildcat........with no other RBs or WRs on the field. Those are the terms.

We could do it but it would need some moderator attention. Basically pin it to the top and make it a sticky thread like the two they have now.

I highly doubt Ronnie made this decision based off a kid from another school. I doubt that was a factor at all. We learned something this year. If you build a culture and work on developing your kids you can win. The college football national championship showed us what player development and culture looks like. It is this simple. If Davis rolls up his sleeves and puts in the work, stays positive but holds his kids' accountable he will turn it around. If he asks the same of his assistants and stays away from daddy/buddy ball, he will turn it around.

Well, I think it is obvious that what is going on at Lebanon is centered around keeping that kid and his dad as a coach. Look, throwing a kid in an offense that passes a lot is one thing but developing that kid and teaching him how to correctly make reads and dissect a defense and understand the subtleties of playing that position is another thing. Exactly who in this region is the quarterback whisperer? It was Mance...he is gone. My apologies to anyone at Honaker or Lebanon, but who there makes you think they will turn the kid into a D-1 prospect? One dude has the prior experience of working with and developing QBs and look what RV did to him. At this point the kid is already behind his fellow QBs. He hasn't worked with good speed WRs...so timing is already poor. He doesn't see man/press coverage so he has zero experience throwing against man or even reading if the defense is in man. He certainly hasn't seen disguised coverages nor has been given read/check down authority in a game. Every QB at the 4A and above level has already seen this. And most of them have a dedicated QB coach. If the goal is for pops to coach his kid......that's a bad strategy. If the goal is to have his kid developed.....there really is only one dude around the area that has that resume. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

What are the moderators' thoughts on a sticky topic of "Locals at the College Level" where we can track area kids playing college football? It could be a spreadsheet or something similar: Player Name High School Position College Class/grade/eligibility Notes: John Doe RichRidge HS (2023) LB ETSU (R)Freshman Redshirted 2023/2024 season Jim Doe Battleview HS (2022) WR Concord Sophomore Backup WR, 15 catches, 230 yards, 2 TD I think that we have enough people on here to cover all the schools in the coverage area.

Yeah, foot speed was a big issue there. Good frame but was way off in speed and quick twitch and, oddly enough, didn’t dominate or take over games at the 2A level.

I didn't catch that. If he is 2025, that's a different story. I would say that is an offer, not yet committable, contingent upon meeting some requirements. "If you work on your speed and get down to a 4.8" or "We want to see this or that out of you by next fall" then the offer is committable.

This. We went through this. We heard "We're only taking one high schooler at your position" and "We're heavy in the portal". There are certain positions that colleges just go to the portal for. My oldest was behind a 25 year old 2x All Conference kid this past season. I've been also hearing that D-2 is the new D-1 and kids haven't accepted that yet. Recruiting has morphed from being all about potential to being all about risk. There is much less risk in a 21 year old that understands the college environment, has been in a college S&C program for three years and isn't a risk to flunk out or bail after the first semester. The portal and still lingering affects of COVID red-shirts have made life hard for the high school kids. You'd better go where you're wanted.

I saw that. I'm not too sure about that choice. I don't think that was a full-ride (judging by the verbiage)....could be wrong. If it is a PWO, I don't know if going as PWO for Deion is a good move, especially if some of his other offers are committable full-rides. I watched his film and couldn't decipher if they see him as TE or DE. I bet they like that 6'5", 220lb frame that also plays basketball, though. Speaking of walk-ons....has anyone heard how the Union DE from last year (Gabe?) that went to UVA is doing or how Brody Jone at VT is doing?