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2D First Round: #7 Tazewell @ #2 Ridgeview


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15 minutes ago, BandanaPartyBoyDavis4321 said:

I'm going to give you Graham boys a name that maybe, even you don't know about, or I would bet some of you haven't heard of him.  Did you know that Graham had a kid in the 80's named David Sweeney that was in the Graham school system up until the 10th grade (played at Graham, started as a sophomore), then moved to Salem, became an All State Defender at Salem, then was recruited by UVA, and became a 3 year starter and All ACC defensive end at UVA?  Coach Rags and his father hunted some, and his father, if I recall correctly, worked for the railroad (Norfolk and Southern) and transfered to the Salem/Roanoke area this kids senior year.

Yes, he had a brother named Mike Sweeney.  I won't bother telling you David's nickname in High School....lol. Graham also had a couple of brothers by the last name of "Knaus"  Scott and Tom, that moved away, I believe that would have contributed greatly to a very good 84 Graham team.

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12 minutes ago, Mountain Football said:

Cam wouldn't have won a state championship and neither would Graham. That was a great fit for Graham.

I agree.  Graham had a ton of talent on that 18 team to compliment Cam.  Tazewell would have benefited greatly having Cam, but they didn't have the talent to surround him.

 

 

 

 

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36 minutes ago, Mountain Football said:

I guess we could all talk about the kids that got away as much as we could talk about the transfers. Layth Ghannam a 4* O-Line recruit that's committed to Tech. Layth is a monster. Left Graham in middle school and moved to Charleston, where he plays for GW. The Jollay brothers that play at GW in Wytheville right now left around the same time. Imagine how good Graham would have been had all 3 of them stayed.

 

 

 

Layth comes to some of the Graham games once in a while to support his friends. He would have been something to watch with this team.

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25 minutes ago, Mountain Football said:

Cam wouldn't have won a state championship and neither would Graham. That was a great fit for Graham.

 

 

 

 

 

But one could argue that it left Tazewell in one heck of a lurch.  They sure don’t go 3-7 in 2017 and 2-8 in 2018 if Cam stayed where he originally was.  That’s EH31’s point.  Tazewell would have been much better than it otherwise would have.

 

Honestly, I’m not sure that Ghannam or the Jollay boys would have improved Graham’s trajectory at all this season.  Graham did go 10-0 without them, and may end up with a state title without them.  Hard to improve on a championship.  Then again, perhaps other schools don’t have players poached if they stay.  Difficult to tell.

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5 minutes ago, UVAObserver said:

No, he started playing for Graham during his 7th grade year.  

Some places 6th or 7th is still elementary school but okay 2nd year of middle school then, lol. Tony Palmer wasn’t even the coach at Graham then. 

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40 minutes ago, Mountain Football said:

Cam wouldn't have won a state championship and neither would Graham. That was a great fit for Graham.

 

 

 

 

 

They definitely wouldn’t have been as good but would have won region D and possibly state. Radford took out Appo that year and nobody came within 20 points of Graham for the entire postseason. Graham’s backup QB was the 2nd best Qb in the region.

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1 hour ago, UVAObserver said:

It may be a generational thing.  I don’t see my son having that same issue now, thank goodness, but perhaps that’s because all the kids are together from K on up.  It was a very real thing in my parents’ generation and mine.  It manifested itself in ways large and small.

Never did with my kids and we lived in West Graham and Tazewell road  short of Springville. 

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5 minutes ago, Gfan said:

They definitely wouldn’t have been as good but would have won region D and possibly state. Radford took out Appo that year and nobody came within 20 points of Graham for the entire postseason. Graham’s backup QB was the 2nd best Qb in the region.

Cam Allen is the greatest football player  of all time at Graham in my opinion. People remember the 63 touchdowns but forget that he was also the state defensive player of the year that season.

 

A lot of factors go in to that discussion. How much better was the rest of Graham’s players because they went through all those practices with the state’s O & D player of the year? If he plays at Tazewell then those lean years probably wouldn’t have been quite as lean and more of the talent that was walking the halls might’ve decided it was worth their time to come out to play. If he wasn’t on Graham’s team then there’s a good chance they would’ve not beat Richlands in Cam’s junior year, which was ultimately started the downward trajectory of their program. Kids might’ve kept coming to Richlands and they might’ve kept their stranglehold on the SWD & Region D. 
 

We never know what could’ve happened in hypotheticals but we’re all naive if we don’t agree certain athletes don’t have the power to change the trajectory of multiple programs by switching schools. 

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5 minutes ago, EH31 said:

Cam Allen is the greatest football player  of all time at Graham in my opinion. People remember the 63 touchdowns but forget that he was also the state defensive player of the year that season.

 

A lot of factors go in to that discussion. How much better was the rest of Graham’s players because they went through all those practices with the state’s O & D player of the year? If he plays at Tazewell then those lean years probably wouldn’t have been quite as lean and more of the talent that was walking the halls might’ve decided it was worth their time to come out to play. If he wasn’t on Graham’s team then there’s a good chance they would’ve not beat Richlands in Cam’s junior year, which was ultimately started the downward trajectory of their program. Kids might’ve kept coming to Richlands and they might’ve kept their stranglehold on the SWD & Region D. 
 

We never know what could’ve happened in hypotheticals but we’re all naive if we don’t agree certain athletes don’t have the power to change the trajectory of multiple programs by switching schools. 

Bullet Bill Dudley and Ahmad Bradshaw would have a lot to say about Cam being the greatest player of all time at Graham, in my opinion, but you make valid points.  Cam made other players around him better.  Graham did have a great supporting cast on that 2018 team.  Ahmad was called "Ahmad the Squad" his last couple of years for a reason, he carried that team on his back a good bit.  But I think the trajectory of Graham changed with T. Palmer became the head coach and Jamorya Cousin came in with the work ethic that he had.  Their upward trajectory started in 2015, I believe.  There have been a bunch of talented players go through Graham in the few short years since then.  Allen, the most talented of all of those, I do believe.  Graham has some youngsters with a lot of potential coming up the next few years.  If Tony and the crew stay in tact, I look for Graham to continue the success and continue to be near or at the top of Region D for several more years to come and a couple or more runs at the state semis and finals.

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19 minutes ago, Real Sasquatch said:

Bullet Bill Dudley and Ahmad Bradshaw would have a lot to say about Cam being the greatest player of all time at Graham, in my opinion, but you make valid points.  Cam made other players around him better.  Graham did have a great supporting cast on that 2018 team.  Ahmad was called "Ahmad the Squad" his last couple of years for a reason, he carried that team on his back a good bit.  But I think the trajectory of Graham changed with T. Palmer became the head coach and Jamorya Cousin came in with the work ethic that he had.  Their upward trajectory started in 2015, I believe.  There have been a bunch of talented players go through Graham in the few short years since then.  Allen, the most talented of all of those, I do believe.  Graham has some youngsters with a lot of potential coming up the next few years.  If Tony and the crew stay in tact, I look for Graham to continue the success and continue to be near or at the top of Region D for several more years to come and a couple or more runs at the state semis and finals.

Don Danko, U of Kentucky, Graham 1960s, First Team High School All American. 

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4 hours ago, EH31 said:

Agree. Imagine if Cam Allen would’ve stayed at Tazewell. 

 

4 hours ago, BandanaPartyBoyDavis4321 said:

I'm going to give you Graham boys a name that maybe, even you don't know about, or I would bet some of you haven't heard of him.  Did you know that Graham had a kid in the 80's named David Sweeney that was in the Graham school system up until the 10th grade (played at Graham, started as a sophomore), then moved to Salem, became an All State Defender at Salem, then was recruited by UVA, and became a 3 year starter and All ACC defensive end at UVA?  Coach Rags and his father hunted some, and his father, if I recall correctly, worked for the railroad (Norfolk and Southern) and transfered to the Salem/Roanoke area this kids senior year.

He was a roanoke kid to begin with. He only went to Graham in 9th and 10th grade. Went to Salem as a junior. Was definitely a good one but Graham never got to benefit from him.

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3 hours ago, EH31 said:

Cam Allen is the greatest football player  of all time at Graham in my opinion. People remember the 63 touchdowns but forget that he was also the state defensive player of the year that season.

 

A lot of factors go in to that discussion. How much better was the rest of Graham’s players because they went through all those practices with the state’s O & D player of the year? If he plays at Tazewell then those lean years probably wouldn’t have been quite as lean and more of the talent that was walking the halls might’ve decided it was worth their time to come out to play. If he wasn’t on Graham’s team then there’s a good chance they would’ve not beat Richlands in Cam’s junior year, which was ultimately started the downward trajectory of their program. Kids might’ve kept coming to Richlands and they might’ve kept their stranglehold on the SWD & Region D. 
 

We never know what could’ve happened in hypotheticals but we’re all naive if we don’t agree certain athletes don’t have the power to change the trajectory of multiple programs by switching schools. 

While top 5 he's not #1 or #2. Not yet anyway. #1 is a HOF, #2 won 2 superbowls. Competition is tough.

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4 hours ago, Real Sasquatch said:

Yes, he had a brother named Mike Sweeney.  I won't bother telling you David's nickname in High School....lol. Graham also had a couple of brothers by the last name of "Knaus"  Scott and Tom, that moved away, I believe that would have contributed greatly to a very good 84 Graham team.

Name of a popular movie in the early 80s? Bahahaha

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18 minutes ago, CPF said:

While top 5 he's not #1 or #2. Not yet anyway. #1 is a HOF, #2 won 2 superbowls. Competition is tough.

Just basing it on high school playing career. Not anything after.

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19 minutes ago, EH31 said:

Just basing it on high school playing career. Not anything after.

Ahmad was also opoy and dpoy his junior year of high school. And a 3 time 1st team all state. Very few people who actually saw dudley are still alive. But he was an all American at uva and the #1 pick in the nfl draft I believe.

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6 hours ago, CPF said:

Ahmad was also opoy and dpoy his junior year of high school. And a 3 time 1st team all state. Very few people who actually saw dudley are still alive. But he was an all American at uva and the #1 pick in the nfl draft I believe.

He was also a 4 time all pro in the NFL. In college he was Maxwell award winner and lead the nation in scoring and interceptions.

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9 hours ago, Dobb83 said:

how did this turn into a graham page? lets get back to talking how bad tazewell is going to get beat down saturday!!

The funny thing is it’s  usually not even Graham folks who get the Graham talk started but we’re quick to chime in when we see our name, lol. Yeah, unless Tazewell shows up with their A game and a winning mentality then Tazewell watches next week at home. If the Ridgeview that played Gate City shows up, Tazewell still watches from home even with their A game IMHO. 

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