popcorneater

Let me tell you what I saw at the scrimmage against Hunters Lane on Friday. I saw a depleted Franklin Football team who may very well be on the verge of the typical "post-state-slump". And this frustrated me, because I do not understand why they should be facing this uphill struggle. Obviously I understand that the season is a few weeks away, and many teams are still stumbling around to establish an identity, I also understand that many teams are trying to answer some tough questions right now as well. But most of all I completely understand that Franklin was "hit-hard-by-graduation" but all of these so-called explanations sound like "excuses". I see a team who returns arguably the best 3-back combo in the entire state of Tennessee, I see a team who also returns one of the best Left Tackles in the State as well in Isiah A. With all that said, I am having a hard time understanding why we are searching for an indentity, instead of simply picking up where Franklin left off last year, as one of the most controlling rush offenses combined with a death-grip defense. I also saw a team in Franklin that had trouble handling aggressive, smash-mouth, hard-hitting teams such as Brentwood & Oakland just last year. I expected Franklin to show that they were ready to play up close and personal with tough teams (unlike last year) instead of repeatedly getting run over. I expected a certain blood-thirsty demeanor for the first full contact scrimmage of the year. I must say that Franklin appeared soft in every aspect of the game. The defense missed numerous tackles, the O-line seemed un-wittingly slow... The entire team seemed "soft". I can not think of a better word to describe the Rebel team I saw Friday. While other teams are trying to find what works and patch up short-comings from lessons learned in the past, Franklin seems to be happy and content from last year's second place.