Nashville or Memphis.

[REBELRON]

Which city produces the best football talent in the state?

 

Memphis for years had the best talent. But! Due to the population explosion in Nashville. I think Nashville has passed Memphis up. 

Edited June 26, 2017 by REBELRON

[Haven04]

Due to the most recent championships in football, basketball, track, and talent playing on the next level in all those sports I would have to disagree with you.

[WilleTheWildcat]

If Rebel Ron was just talking about football talent then I agree with him. However Havengrad might be correct in his message as well.

Of course, we all know where the best football player from last season came from. OR T #5.

 

[REBELRON]

I was talking about football talent. Basketball there is no doubt Memphis is by far the best in the state.

[GWAVE1]

Are we talking city proper or surrounding area?  

[kwc]

14 hours ago, REBELRON said:

Which city produces the best football talent in the state?

 

Memphis for years had the best talent. But! Due to the population explosion in Nashville. I think Nashville has passed Memphis up. 

I don't think you can co strictly by population numbers ... besides, both are very close in numbers ... population wise.

The only thing you can go by would be the number of LOI's signed and executed. That being stated, this past season Whitehaven had twenty (20) LOIs and Cordova had fifteen (15 ) LOIs signed between the two institutions. Then you add in the five (5) from Lausanne, the four (4) from Memphis East, the three (3) from Treazevant, the two (2) from CBHS, and the two (2) from MUS. That's 52 LOIs from Memphis. That's off of the top of my head ... some of those numbers may be off ... but not by much. That's not counting the others I've left off because I just don't remember them all. Memphis Central usually has a few and so does Melrose. I don't know the final tally because I've been focused on Whitehaven's numbers. However, Cordova caught my eye when they had 15 this past season.

 

Can you produce numbers on Nashville?

 

Let me add this ...

I feel confident in saying this. Whitehaven isn't a fluke when it comes to this. If you go to the Whitehaven HUDL page and you read the Mission Statement, then you will understand. Last year we had 14 guys sign LOIs and the year before that we had 12 guys sign LOIs. I don't remember beyond that. Its what Whitehaven does. We prepare the young men for college, and we purposefully make sure the parents realize the importance of having their son's hit the camps in the summer ... and not just one camp. I've said it before and it bears repeating ... coach Saulsberry and his staff are the BEST at this in the entire state, bar none ... maybe regionally, when it come to getting players recruited. Coaches ought to be blowing up his email and his cell phone for him to teach seminars on this, because there is no coach in this state who can hold a candle to him in this regard. NO ONE. They have figured it out and the colleges are coming in droves. The Cordova coach had a very good season year last season .... I'm keeping my eye on them because 15 LOIs isn't a fluke either.

If there are schools in the Nashville area doing what coach Saulberry is doing at the frequency and consistency to which Whitehaven is doing this ... then perhaps Nashville is putting more guys in college then Memphis. I doubt it very seriously though.

Now ... if you are just talking talent alone, and not LOIs signed ... that debate will go on for eternity. That's way to subjective to measure because what one guy says is talent another guy might not.

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2017 by kwc

[WilleTheWildcat]

KWC...that was an impressive post by you. I can't imagine a school around the  East Tennessee area having numbers like the ones a couple of Memphis teams do. Maryville always has several very talented players then a bunch of players who have bought into their system and are willing to do whatever the coaches ask them to do to better the team. In Chattanooga, Baylor and McCallie usually have at least 5 or 6 but not 15 to 20.

[Blaze45]

I would say we are coming close to those numbers in Rutherford county. Between Oakland, Blackman, Smyrna, Riverdale, Siegel Stewarts Creek, Lavergne Eagleville and Middle Tenn Christian and I don't think our population is anywhere close to Memphis.  We may not be producing more but we are getting close 

[kwc]

20 hours ago, WilleTheWildcat said:

KWC...that was an impressive post by you. I can't imagine a school around the  East Tennessee area having numbers like the ones a couple of Memphis teams do. Maryville always has several very talented players then a bunch of players who have bought into their system and are willing to do whatever the coaches ask them to do to better the team. In Chattanooga, Baylor and McCallie usually have at least 5 or 6 but not 15 to 20.

Willie:

 

These past three years I've been tracking Whitehaven recruitment of players ... it's how I know. You run across what other local schools are doing just from that alone. Twitter is a wonderful thing and coach Saulsberry has managed to use it extremely well to market his players, as well as, keep them aware of what camp is where,  and how many, and where to register, and all of that. The players at Whitehaven have come to know how the recruitment process works and their part in it. They play a major part in this. Coach Saulsberry  is a twitter savant when it comes to contacting coaches and publishing local and non-local camps, as well as, ACT tutoring and tests and all things academic that will concern the player.  There aren't too many college coaches he doesn't follow and vice versa. He's been on full player exposure alert 'from get go'. During the dead period he has been on a mission. The Whitehaven Football Twitter page is how I keep up mostly. Then all of the players have them and they are tied to the Whitehaven Football twitter page ... and so on and so forth.

 

I tell you ... he's got this thing figured out.

 

However, none of this works without the parents involvement. The HC can only make available the opportunities to get exposure. The players and parents have to see the value and go to as many camps as possible.

 

It's easy to get motivated when you see your HC putting in the GRIND for his team. All you have to do is look and see how hard coach Saulsberry works at this ... the players can see the results of the past few years of recruitment. How could you NOT 'get your grind on' if you are a player. Are you going to let your HC 'out grind you when it comes to recruiting?' Surely ... when you see how hard he is grinding ... you follow suit. Because ultimately ... the college coaches want to see your get-up and  go. Coach Saulsberry's work ethic is evident and on full display. No other high school coach puts it the work in this area like does. The college coaches can SEE IT Vividly. Are you (a Whitehaven player) going to learn from your HC, and put the necessary work in?

That's the question ... because the HC is fully vested ... and it's is obvious and on display for all to see.  If you play for coach Saulsberry ... you better be prepared to put the work. Don't let your coach out work you!

Edited June 27, 2017 by kwc

[kwc]

2 hours ago, Blaze45 said:

I would say we are coming close to those numbers in Rutherford county. Between Oakland, Blackman, Smyrna, Riverdale, Siegel Stewarts Creek, Lavergne Eagleville and Middle Tenn Christian and I don't think our population is anywhere close to Memphis.  We may not be producing more but we are getting close 

The only way to actually tell is to produce the numbers to see. You wold be surprised how many teams with talented players DON'T get recruited. I adjure ... do some investigation for yourself. I know that I was amazed when I really started looking into it.

 

It revolves around the HC in most cases. This is HARD WORK and it is a LOT of additional time. I don't think coach Saulsberry gets compensated for the EXTRA work he puts in on this. That ... and renting vans to take 10 - 12 players to a camp in Chicago, or Nashville, or New Orleans ... to name a few he's gone to with his players. 

 

IT'S WORK. EXTRA WORK. LONG HOURS FROM HOME .... WORK. UNCOMPENSATED ... WORK.

That alone kills most HCs from doing what he does.

Edited June 26, 2017 by kwc

[Blaze45]

2 hours ago, kwc said:

The only way to actually tell is to produce the numbers to see. You wold be surprised how many teams with talented players DON'T get recruited. I adjure ... do some investigation for yourself. I know that I was amazed when I really started looking into it.

 

It revolves around the HC in most cases. This is HARD WORK and it is a LOT of additional time. I don't think coach Saulsberry gets compensated for the EXTRA work he puts in on this. That ... and renting vans to take 10 - 12 players to a camp in Chicago, or Nashville, or New Orleans ... to name a few he's gone to with his players. 

 

IT'S WORK. EXTRA WORK. LONG HOURS FROM HOME .... WORK. UNCOMPENSATED ... WORK.

That alone kills most HCs from doing what he does.

So after some research I was able to nail it down to 32 but that is 5 schools. But here is the caveat Rutherford county has a population of 288k vs Memphis 656k...Argument could be made we produce as many college players per capita. But it is not about population...I still think we are getting there 

[FBfan26]

To put my two since in I understand what your saying but we can agree and disagree. Instead of saying Nashville I would just say 615 and that would add the surrounding counties. It's not just Metro Nashville it's also the counties on the outside which most of the families are from Nashville but have moved. We "Middle" have been on a run with NFL players on the past 5 from jaylen Ramsey,Corn elder, Barnett etc. Now when it comes to the 901 you have to take your hats off to some of the coaches in the area. Especially schools like Whitehaven. Memphis mostly his size and speed and should dominate the state and titles in basketball and football. I've always heard it's not the lack of talent from memphis. It's trying to keep the Memphis kids in school. That's another story but middle has a way to go but the gap is closing.