bbulldog

When Maryville scored their only touchdown, Oak Ridge had subbed down to their twos. Maryville might have been playing with their ones, but Oak Ridge was not.

I wish he would. He scares me to death

Both teams looked very nonathletic or unathletic or however you say that. Not much speed on either side. OR's offence was horrible. I know at least one running back did not play. I hope they have more because as tough as the guys were who ran, they just arnt very fast. The QBs looked okay to me. Neither one was great. #7 is still the best one. I hope some of our receivers are in track. The O-Line looked decent at times and not so good at times. I guess some or all of this is to be expected in a spring scrimmage. I hope we have a good field goal kicker and a heck of a defense if this spring was any indicator of what our offence will be like. The defense looked pretty good. Defense is always ahead of offence at this point I think. The D looked more aggressive than last year. There was a lot of moving aroudn before the snap. I dont know if it will do good, but it looked pretty neat. Bearden did not move the ball at all on the defense, but Bearden is not very good. They are not even close to the team they had last year. They will struggle, even in that upper east tennessee weak region. I can't say I'm very optimistic about this year. Our region is tough, and right now, I don't know for sure that we coudl beat anybody. I hope I'm wrong. I hope the guys that are out make that much of a difference. Time will tell. And yes, the difference in numbers was very noticeable.

Not looking forward to playing you guys this year. The QB and RB are good. I'm sure there are others.

I wish you were right 3Knocks, but their freshmen and JV teams have been really good lately. They're really tough up front on offense. They have another running back, I'm not sure what number he is, but he was a junior or sophomore last year. He may not be as good as Sterling, but he was the fastest player on the field when we played them last year period. I don't think William Blount will be nearly as good as last year. I'm not saying they won't be good, but they won't be AS good. It may not affect their record much though because I believe the entire region will be down this year. Ooltewah is interesting. They've had incredible athletes the last two years. After seeing their kids in warmups, I don't know how anyone beat them. I don't know why it didn't translate into the game. McMinn is always scary. There are so many athletes there every year it seems. I think the new coaches did a great job last year modernizing McMinn's game, and after a year or two in their system, McMinn is going to be very tough to beat. I hate to say it, but Oak Ridge is way down from what I'm hearing around town and what I've seen in JV and Freshmen games. Does anyone know what's up Soddy? I'm guessing they hired a new coach, but I missed his name. Bradley is a complete unknown to me. Heritage seems to be coached well, but they just don't have the horses to run in this region. So, my predictions (for what they're worth haha) are: 1. Farragut 2. William Blount (DEFENSE) 3. Ooltewah (if they play as a team, they will be #2 or #1) 4. McMinn County (if I had any guts, I'd make them #2) 5. Oak Ridge (it kills me to say this, but I'm going with my head on this, not my heart) 6. Bradley (unknown, but they seem to be getting better under new staff) 7. Soddy-Daisy (no idea about them - new coach?) 7. Heritage A little while back I didn't think this region was very tough, but with the addition of Meadows, Farragut getting out of the 1980s, Benny Monroe at Ooltewah and the athletes they're getting, and the coaches at McMinn, it has become a struggle to make the playoffs. Normally the top four teams in this region are some of the best in the state. I'm glad it's this way though. It makes it fun to watch. They have a name for this region aside from 2-5A, but I can't remember what it is. Can someone help me out?

I appreciate all the replies (or the few replies I guess I should say). I have to agree with Nicky O, what concerns me most is the lack of excitement, or even interest for that matter. What has happened? Still, does anyone know the status of any of the coaches? How are things going with off season strength and conditioning? I'm hearing this is looking like a down year regardless of the coach. Is this accurate speculation (if there is such a thing)? And 5A football fan must not have watched much OR football in 2005. In fact, his judgment must be made solely on the state championship game because had he watched many of the regular season and playoff games he might even think the opposite. That was a good football team from top to bottom. No reason they should not have won it all. Give credit to Ravenwood. They outplayed and outcoached a better football team that night.

Kidsntaxi - We would love to have him at Oak Ridge!!!

Thank you for writing your posts normal. These other Maryville guys are really starting to get annoying.

I've heard a lot of the same complaints from people at Oak Ridge. What kinds of things does he do/has he done to make so many people feel this way? And with the principal being from West, I'm guessing the new coach will come from there. It sounds like many of the teachers are transferring from West.

Hard to speak out against their record. I don't care what A or B or whatever you are, their record is impressive. What does being an official Nike school involve?

Oak Ridge won several games with it under Lussier. No championships, but a lot of games. What good teams are still running it? Riverdale? Wilson Central? I really don't know

First, anyone calling bounder and/or Ole dad not true fans is silly (I know this is a response to the other thread on this forum, but the other points are not). I may not agree with both of them all the time, but they are Oak Ridge fans. Being of the opinion that things are not the way they should be right now does not make anyone not a fan. If I didn't know something about them, I may agree with you or at least not say anything, but both of them are longtime supporters of Oak Ridge Football. In their cases, they just believe that things are not going the way they should be in Oak Ridge right now. When did objectivity constitute not being a fan? Unfortunately this disapproval seems to be the prevailing opinion amongst Oak Ridgers right now (and I don't mean a segment or group of the population, I mean the majority of Oak Ridge fans). Second, why do you (anyone from Oak Ridge) think the administration is turning their heads to the obvious problems with Oak Ridge football? Is it intentional (are they trying to de-emphasize football)? Do they just not care? Are they just not aware? And anyone who claims there are not obvious problems is either blind, biased, removed from the situation, or just plain stupid. There are obvious game mismanagement (ridiculous use of time outs and silly play calls and decisions), discipline problems (penalties, not being able to line up correctly, players disrespecting coaches on the field in front of everyone and still playing, and the whole Clinton situation which has yet to be explained or dealt with to my knowledge - which is admittedly limited), booster issues (no, I'm not talking about misuse or misappropriation because nobody has given any real proof of that that I know of and if that had happened I am confident it would have resulted in termination, I mean lack of involvement from parents and the head coach, and local businesses and contributors feeling mistreated), losses (say what you want, but the last two years have been underachieving), and general unhappiness from parents, players, fans (sure, everybody cannot be made happy, and even though their may be fans who are "biased" against certain individuals many unhappy fans cannot fit into this category, but something is wrong when a vast majority of the community and kids are not happy with the current situation. Third, I was hoping some of you "insiders", if there really are any, could answer some rumors I'm hearing around town. 1. I'm hearing coaches are leaving (specifically the father and son and the defensive linemen coach - trying to stay away from using names, but I would imagine most fans would know these people because they are coaches and I think all 3 actually played football for Oak Ridge). Any truth to this? Are they being fired? Leaving on their own? Not leaving at all? 2. I'm hearing a local little league coach is being added to the staff. Anyone heard this? Can you confirm? 3. I've heard discipline is getting better. Will we just have to wait and see? 4. How is off-season conditioning going? Fourth, and I'm really interested in hearing answers to this: those of you who are fans of teams that play or scrimmage Oak Ridge, have you noticed a difference in Oak Ridge Football lately (good or bad) aside from the fact that some of you that didn't beat them very often are beating them now? Not trying to make anyone mad, just trying to see what is going on, and if I have said something that is inaccurate, you are more than welcome to correct me.