lawdawg

Where's this list at or could someone post the lists? I haven't been able to find it on the Tennessean, Knoxville News-Sentinel, TSSAA, or TSWA web sites.

Look through the old posts to find the first team. It was posted about a week ago, There was a second team, I'm not sure who all made it and haven't heard.

I think Furman, MTSU, and Carson-Newman all have camps just for linemen.

Joe Sanders has been hearing from Ole Miss, Vandy, MTSU, and Arkansas among others. I don't know if he's gotten any offers yet. Taron Henry last time I checked was getting recruited by several SEC schools, but hadn't been offered yet. Gabe West has been offered by Air Force. Vandy and Georgia Southern have been showing interest lately as well.

I'd say the folks in south Georgia got tired of playing second fiddle to the Atlanta suburb teams. 99.99% of schools in the nation would be thrilled with a career record and even a 4-year record like that. But this season Parkview has become a household name in Georgia, and across the nation for that matter, when it comes to HS football and Valdosta knows that could easily be them. It would be interesting to see if this has a trickle-down effect on Tennessee HS football. There are some good coaches in this state that would be solid candidates for that job. Definitely one of the best HS jobs in the country. Also, Coach O'Brien won't be unemployed long, I'd take him at my school if I was an AD in a heartbeat. [Edited by lawdawg on 12-12-02 3:05P]

There was also no Daniel Brooks or Steven Jones from what I saw and both of those guys have been named as two of the top players in the country, let alone the state. Of course, the TSWA is the list that everybody cares about. But I was disappointed by the TFCA lists.

UncleBuc- That is one of the funniest posts I've seen. If I had a good mark, I would've given it to ya.

Those rankings were done by Tom Lemming. And while I think Lemming does a good job finding the very top players in the nation. I think its a lot of work for one man to cover recruiting all across the nation. FYI- Tom Lemming had John Inman from Knox Webb listed as an All-American this spring. IMHO if you want more comprehensive and thorough rankings, I would recommend checking out www.borderwars.com or www.Unapproved Website. Both of those sites have several analysts working for them in every region. If you're a free rider like me, border wars has the most free stuff that you can access. BorderWars provides the rankings for CNN, Sports Illustrated, and maybe the Sporting News, also their main man Jamie Newberg is on Countdown to Signing Day on Fox Sports South. Rivals does work for Fox Sports Net nationwide.

A lot of colleges are starting to have junior and senior mini-camps. I suspect over the next year or two, every college will start having the one-day camps. MTSU has a combine and they are thorough with the testing. Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Auburn, EKU, and Wake Forest are a few others. Clemson is the only school nearby that I know of that lets other colleges come in and look. I think UVA and a couple of places out west do the same thing. A lot of colleges keep the results to themselves so their recruiting "secrets" won't get out. If you make all-state, all-region or your coach feels like you have a legitimate shot at playing D-1 you might be able to get your coach to recommend you to the Nike camps (wwww.studentsports.com). They are the combines to end all combines. They are free and pretty much every major D-1 school in the country gets the results. But they're invitation only. I think Unapproved Website is also starting to put together camps similar to the Nike camps so look at their site around February for details. Last but not least, there is also the Countdown combines in Georgia in the summer. You can keep an eye on www.borderwars.com during the summer for details on when/where they'll be. If you're a rising senior, whatever you do save your money and avoid the week-long camps. The one-days camps are usually on a Saturday and only cost about 15-30 dollars which is a fair price for a t-shirt and lunch. The week long camps can get pretty expensive. [Edited by lawdawg on 12-5-02 1:37P]

You've gotta include Mark Wattenbarger and Co. turning around Cumberland County. 1999 record- 0-10 2000 record- 1-9 2001 record- 5-6 2002 record- 8-3

I doubt some of the guys ranked from 12-25 will ever smell a Div. 1-A school yet, they left off guys like Aaron Grimes, Taron Henry, Gabe West, and John Inman. I know at least three of them have D-1 offers from top 25 caliber schools. So needless to say, this list isn't worth using as toilet paper in the woods in my book.

There are some good OLs in Tennessee. I know that Kenyon Buford (Riverdale), Gabe West (Cumberland Co.), and Steven Jones (Brentwood) have all received some solid D-1 offers. Buford has been offered by Ohio State and others, West has been offered by Air Force, and Jones has been offered by everyone under the sun. I wouldn't be surprised to see more schools offer Buford and West as we get closer to signing day.

While I would never second guess a coach who signs a kid because he's a great player, no matter what his size is. If you look at the schools that recruit just for height, weight, etc. you'll see unemployed or losing coaches. For example, look at Duke's starting OL. All of their OLs are either 320+ or in the 6-6 to 6-7 range. But yet, they get whipped week in and week out up front. Duke hasn't won a conference game in 23 games and their coach will be lucky if he has a job in two weeks. OTOH, look at UT, Nebraska, and Alabama, all teams that traditionally have had solid OLs, and some of their best linemen are 6-2 or 6-3 (i.e. UT's Scott Wells and Nebraska's long line of great guards). Last year, Maryland's breakout seson was behind an OL that was short on stature, but big on talent. I doubt you'll see any 5-10, 180 lbs. OLs any time soon, but I do think if coaches ever step back and look at their programs and see what players pan out and which ones bust, they will see recruiting on size alone is a mistake and you'll see more players that have a boatload of talent, but aren't the tallest in the world getting signed. If you sign a 7 ft tackle that can't block a nosebleed in H.S. because he's bumbling and stumbling all over the place, what makes you think he'll block a 250-270 lbs DE or LB that runs a 4.6 40. Just like you can't coach size, you can't coach God-given talent.

First off, congrats to all of the finalists. I do have one bone to pick. In 5A, 2 of the 3 finalists for Mr. fball lineman were linebackers. To my knowledge there were no OLs on the 5A lineman list, unless the Riverdale DL plays both ways. I also know that one year there was TE that was basically the go-to receiver on his offense that made the linemen list. Shouldn't you classify LBs and all receivers even if they are TEs as backs for purposes of the lineman award? Maybe if there's someone more familiar with the award, they can clear things up for me. But again, congrats to everyone. [Edited by lawdawg on 11-12-02 7:48P]

I believe its exit 317 to get to CCHS. Get directions off of mapquest.com or maps.yahoo.com though. As for places to eat, I've been to a couple of good places in Crossville. Believe it or not, Crossville has a Ruby Tuesday's about a mile off of exit 317. It has a lot of old Curt Watson and CCHS memorabilia, which might be worth the stop in itself. If you want something different there is a great Mexican restaurant, Cancun, located maybe 3 or 4 miles off of 317. There's also a pretty good Italian place, Manchino's, that is located in a shopping center downtown where the movie theater is at. The only place open after the game will be Ruby Tuesday's, the other places you'll have to hit before the game.

It seems like UT takes a "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" attitude towards in-state prospects. It paid off when they used to have Rodney Garner and had a pipeline to Atlanta, but not any more.

I believe it is Adrius Bowman from Notre Dame.

AAAAA Kicker- Andy Bailey, McMinn County AAAAA Lineman- Kenyon Buford, Riverdale & Gabe West, Cumberland County AAAAA Back- nobody has jumped out at me this year, so I won't jump to a prediction on that one

The kicker for McMinn should win it just for the game-winning kick he had against Cumberland County.

Any reason why he resigned? He's done a good job at McMinn Co.

If I remember correctly, CC was ahead late and lost the game on a fumbled punt or kickoff return. Either way it should be a another great game this Friday.

go to mapquest.com or maps.yahoo.com and get directions to 660 Stanley St., Crossville, TN 38555. That's the high school address. Stadium is right across the HS parking lot, can't miss it. But get the directions, because after you get off exit 317, you have to drive through several stoplights, make turns, etc. for a few miles. BTW- who is that QB from Lincoln Co.? He looked good. And yes, it was a tale of two halves. 1st half- CC looked like the CC of midseason when you could've argued they had the best team in AAAAA. 2nd half they slacked. That won't cut it in the playoffs.

Go ahead and chalk up the weather as another homefield advantage for CC. It gets cold on the mountain in October. Especially when the sun goes down and the cold wind starts blowing.

Clarkrange kids play football for York if they want to.

This year's Parkview team would squash the 2000 Red Bank team. I think Parkview against the Riverdale teams when Eric Locke played would be a good matchup. I'd like to see a couple of Cumberland Co.'s OL this year square off against a couple of Parkview's OL this year in a little Oklahoma action.