gobigblue86

Sadly I know that because it was the year after I moved to TN in 99

Speaking of the LaVergne/Smyrna Game. Can anyone answer this fun fact. Is this the first time where both teams enter the game undefeated? Without looking, I'd have to say yes unless they have play on week 0/1 before.

I see your logic and understand your hesitation to not think much of LaVergne. And to be honest I have my doubts due to the bad defense I saw at the 4 team scrimmage at PJP2. But I just have a hunch they may get something going this year. I wouldn't put my house on it though.

I'm sure I'm not alone on this one but I'm getting so excited for Friday. I know it's not for real and we won't see much but its 7AAA football. Looking forward to seeing some of the teams I haven't seen so far this per season. Like Blackman and Siegel. I've seen Oakland, LaVergne and Smyrna and was impressed with the improvement of both Lavergne and Smyrna. Should be a fun game to watch early in the season. I also have not seen Riverdale but from what I've heard we should not expect to see the usual powerful Squad. Not sure what to think of them. And of courses I'm excited to see what Stewart Creek can do year one of their program. Not expecting much but you never know. I like Oakland to take the district with Siegel and Blackman fighting for 2nd. Smyrna, Riverdale and Yes, LaVergne will be fighting for that all important 4th spot with SC at the bottom this year. I think you will have at least 4 of this districts teams in the post season. Maybe 5 but that will require 2 of those 3 schools fighting for the 4th spot to win almost all their non district games.

Not sure Rod is the same type talent as Malone. But I get your point, they both can put it in the end zone on you in a hurry. However, I think Malone is on another level. They were about the same size, Malone being a bit taller and Rod being a bit heavier. However, Malone has a few more Major college offers and is ranked much higher national as a receiver. I think Rod was somewhere in the 60's and Malone is 16. Mostly Malone's is more athletic then Rod. He's faster then Rod, in fact Malone can flat out fly. His ability to stretch the field, his body control and ability to high point the ball is just at a different level then Rod. I think Rod is special and he was one of the few highly recruited kids in Mid-TN and I loved watching him play but Malone is just on another level.

Josh Malone is 6'2/190 and is the #16 WR recruit in the nation according to scout.com. Check out this list of schools: Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Memphis, Miami (Fl), Michigan, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, South Carolina, Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Tulane, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Washington State. You better believe he is use to teams rolling a safety over to his side.

I understand that Oakland was in base defense and didn't do very much. I also understand that it was cleaned up quickly. I'm not trying to sound the alarm with that post just stating some observations. If you really look at what Mccallie did offensively, it wasn't much either. Yes, They were in weird formations and ran a lot of motions but really it was dives, powers and option runs. And the pass game was posts and curls. Nothing fancy. I just fell Oakland was flat to start the scrimmage for the second time now. First against Station Camp and now Mccallie. They seemed to do some of that last year as well just hope that trend will not continue.

Saw SC scrimmage Oakland and they showed some spunk early. They may do some damage to some teams in that district this year. Looking forward to watching them and Beech play on ESPN2 the 25th

I may have wanted to write this post after tonight's scrimmage. Oakland's secondary had a tough time with the deep post. They gave up 3 or four big play early in the scrimmage that put them down 14 -0 early. Not sure those passes turn into big plays with Emanuel back there but it's hard to tell. However one of those "deficiencies" I wrote of earlier show up big time tonight. In addition the offense made some very silly mistakes to shoot themselves in the foot. Qb seem to be trying to force things. Needs to stay within the offense and not turn the ball over so much.

You can say Oakland always has Talent and your are right but like this? I have been in Tennessee since 1998 and I don't believe I've seen or heard of a "Public school" with this much "D1" talent. I know they have not played a game yet but that Offensive Line may turn out to be one of the best I've seen in Tennessee in 14 year or so. (again, Public School Team) A stable of RB's and some huge, rangy, athletic WR's on the outside. The Defense is nothing to look over either. They seem physical and really fast to the ball. Do they have their deficiencies, yep, but they are few and far between. I think this staff Coach has at Oakland is fine. I think the kids buy in to his tough, no non-sense ways. As a coach you can't and won't make everyone happy. Like you said if the folks in the locker room are with you, that all that matters.

Thanks

Not much talk about E. Smith's injury on here. Doesn't look as if it will keep him out of the Riverdale game but those type of shoulder injuries can linger. As talented as he is, Oakland still looks to be tops in this district without his services. (speculation!!! I think he will be fine) Must be nice to have depth like that. For most teams, a kid like that goes down, fold the tent up, put out the fire, the camping trip is over. I would not think that with this team. (Again this is not to say Mr. Smith's injury will keep him out very long. Just a talking point.)

What time is the Oakland scrimmage? And is it @Oakland? Thx!

Anyone willing to share the 7AAA scrimmage schedule for today?

Got to the Station Camp/Oakland scrimmage at about 5:40 last night and the scrimmage was already started. (I thought it was to start at 6:00) As I was walking up to the practice field, I hear the Station camp sideline very excited. Heard a player on their sideline yelling "they don't want none" and I was thinking what the heck is going on? I get up to the fence in time to see the Bison moving the ball and knocking on the door. Two plays later, they were in. Then Oakland got the ball and in a few plays Oakland throws a pick to Malone and he returned it, putting Station Camp back in really good field position. A few plays later, SC's big QB puts another in the end zone. 14 points just like that. However, that was it! Oakland put together a nice drive and despite a few holding calls and a 3rd and 15, Oakland ran a nice bootleg hitting K.Oliver near the sideline, Oliver broke a tackle, and put it in the end-zone. SC was then 3 and out and the route was on. From that point, I'm not sure SC made it out of their own territory more than once and I think they punted it, putting Oakland back to their 35. the Oakland put together another drive, putting it in the end zone. I like the reaction Oakland had to a bit of adversity. They seemed to stay calm and went back to work. Everyone is telling them how good they are and patting them on the back. They get a punch in the mouth and they responded big time. I like that!

you can be "flip" about the team building, coach Mac did with his players the last day of camp but that goes a long way with the kids. They had a very physical camp and its good to bond and and have some fun as a team before the grind of the season. They expect to be going long in to November by the way, so it could be a long season. 2 more points. 1: A lot of major schools do team activities for fun after camps. 2: They had a full morning practice on that day as well. Then the fun started around lunch time.

oh sorry, I thought that was a red zone drill at the start of the scrimmage. My bad!

He looked terrific on Friday against Oakland on the defensive side of the ball. I was more impressed with him on defense then I was on offense. Made some big time, explosive tackles when the rb's broke thru the first level. Did not see him make to many plays on the ball but I didn't see Oakland pass to his side very much either. I would be speculating here but I'd guess that with his athletic ability, his ball skills would be off the chart.

nice! I wish SC well. I hope they schedule smart out of district for the next few years, so the can feel some success. Not sure they will have much in district for a few years but you never know. BTW if you haven't seen the SCHS campus. It is very nice.

I will say that Coach Stevens jumped right on the kids when they were taunting. He pulled them right out, on the spot and had a coach with them doing up downs. He also seem to be very hands on with the defense, which seemed weird to me because I always thought of him as an offensive guy. I read in the paper that he turned the offense over to a former QB from Maryville but when I read it, I couldn't see him giving up the play calling but it looked to be the case, at least in scrimmage 1. And yea you're right some of that stuff you can chalk up to putting in a new offense and should get cleaned up but it has to be in a hurry! They have been doing some of that stuff for a long time though. Don't know of any other scrimmage time and dates for them but if I hear something I'll post it. I think the attention is well deserved. Oakland is loaded with D1 talent and should be the team people are talking about? When you have high expectation you get the most attention. Sometime it is good, sometimes it is bad, just depends on how your team handles it.

Well, went to see LaVergne tonight. And came away impressed with some of the things they were doing on offense. Ran a pistol, fast tempo, getting their speedy kids in space. But Defensively, they will have a tough time stoping folks in 7AAA if they don't improve on that side of the ball. On "O" they were very athletic. No surprise right? Very impressed with CJ Fore at Qb. Nice touch on the ball and can make some people miss when he decides to tuck it and run. they had 2 very solid RB one of them was a freshmen who I was most impressed with. Very tough runner, fought for every yard with some breakaway speed to go with his grit. WR is without question their strength. Very athletic with impressive ball skills with the ball in the air JJ Horton? (not sure i got his name right) was very impressive. I think there "O" will be their strength. BUT......they were also their own worst enemy. Lots of mistakes like lining up wrong, snaps over the QB's head and taunting penalties after putting it into the end zone. That stuff must get cleaned up or I can see the same old LaVergne again this year. But I will say this, it was a four team scrimmage with PJP2, Signal Mt. Coffee county and Lavergne and they moved the ball at will and almost scored at will on all of them when the weren't shooting themselves in the foot. Signal Mt. Was the best looking team there and Lavergne scores on their first 3 plays on the "from the 20" segment. Very impressive Defense. Not as impressive. Very average. Look solid against CC and PJP2 but Signal Mt and their wing t gave Lavergne fits. If Lavergne's "D" does not improve then they will have a hard time keeping teams out of the end zone and I'm not sure their "O" can score enough. Over all, good athletes and looks to be running a offense that fits their talent but they need to play smarter with less mistakes. Defense just need to do a better job tackling and Lavergne may have a pretty nice season.

that make sense, if they get the ball to him. An athlete like him needs touches. I'm sure they will in season but they we very vanilla today as can be expected.

I saw Oakland this morning and will be driving out to PJP2 to catch Lavergne 2nite. I will give y'all a update since it looks like ill be the only one outside of some of the kids families that will make the journey to Hendersonville tonight. That's OK, I'm excited to see LaVergne. I have a feeling they could surprise some folks this year. A lot of speed on the outside and coach looks like he's adjusting the offense to accommodate that speed. Nice Qb but the Line is very young and the RB is very young. However if they can stay healthy and make some strides on the defense, I think they will score some points and maybe finish a bit higher then most of y'all think. As for Oakland this morning. That team is going to be good! Did not see much of E. Smith under center however the QB that got most of the snaps with the one look serviceable for what Oakland want to do. The line looked a bit shaky at times. I only say that because it looked to me that they took some plays off. I'm sure that will clean up as the season nears. Now when they did come off the ball there were some big holes for the RB, no question! The Tailbacks and WR look solid. Tyler Black made some big time plays today with the ones and the twos. He looks to be a special player. The defense looked really good! If fact the Ones, WOW! Did the fly to the football. They bottled up J Hurd for a good chunk of the game. I think he only had 1 big play today against the Oakland D. I think J Hurd was more impressive on D today. Boy, did he have some big hits that were 20 to 30 yards down field. Haha To sum it up Oakland had a good first scrimmage. I think they have some work to put in and I'm sure Coach Mac will have them ready for the season. Big expectation for the Pats this year. It will be fun to see how they deal with them.

Well there is only about 75 people (total) that support LaVergne's football team and very few of them post on this website. I don't know where the Blackman folks are. Maybe they don't think it will be a game which would be easy for them to think. And maybe rightfully so. We will see.

I hope coach Shad is making the right choose by playing #4. I know seeding is at stake but the bottom line is Blackman is in the playoffs. I know all the reasons for wanting to win this one and the argument of "backing into the playoffs" but: if he has a set back with his foot in this game and limits him in the playoffs that would not be good. I would think he could get a win In this one without him. Is the risk worth the reword by playing him? Love to hear some of you thoughts.