PowellPantherFan

The proof is in the pudding MLReb. Maryville does recruit there is no question about that. They WIN, state championship after state championship. If you're a daddy in Blount County and you have a son who can play, do you want them to go to Heritage, WB, or Maryville? The answer is simple. I believe that Maryville is an open school zone correct? So, GQ DOES recruit....by running a clean, disciplined program that wins. Parents want their sons to be a part of it. Success breeds success.

I agree Powell's offense should be solid next year. There are young capable receivers waiting in the wings to fill in for Wright, Wood, Logan, and both Owenbys (one graduating and one moving from WR to QB). My son said that Clay Leeper looked really good in the JV games he played in. Also, Christian Kidd started a game in place of an injured Landon Wright at Rhea County. The cupboard isn't bare there; it'll just look a lot different. As basketball mentioned, I can't imagine Strozyk doesn't play some receiver next year. Also, Powell basically brings back 4 guys on the offensive line because Micael Ashe played a lot of snaps this year. They did lose their top 2 though on the OL. The question marks really come on the defensive side of the ball. Coach Hawkins and Coach Lamb will have their hands full trying to replace the 6 guys they lost at inside and outside linebacker. Williams, Hammond, Agee, Mobley, Skeen, and Bunch are all gone and there doesn't appear to be a whole lot behind those guys. Scott needs to have another huge year, and some of those young guys are going to have to step up. My son tells me that the front runners to compete at inside backer next year are Jacob Story (a transfer who was inelibgible this year), Brody Husky, Josh Singleton, and Tyler Childers. He also said that OLB Donnie Tillman looked good in practice before suffering a season ending injury. The secondary should be strong. Sweat will probably stay at safety. He seemed to play well from what I saw of him at safety. Strozyk and Washington will be lock down at corner. I hear the coaches really like Mike Brown as well to compete for some playing time somehow.

How do you quantify "good" coaching? I don't disagree the Quarles is the best coach in the state. He is better than Rankin IMO. However, there are great coaches all over the state, and not all of them are head coaches. For instance, the Maryville offensive line coach is top notch. I have never seen a better coached high school offensive line anywhere. They always fire off low and hard. They always have great hand placement. They always have great footwork, and they always dominate bigger and stronger guys. You can see what happens when he gets a kid like the C this year. DOMINATE. I'll offer up Phil Wilks for consideration of my point as well. Coach Wilks was a college head coach for SEVERAL years, and, for my money, was the best linebackers coach/defensive coordinator in the state of Tennessee while he was at Powell.... There's no way to quantify that. Just wanted to put a little spin of this topic because there isn't any question who wins the Quarles/Bowers "debate."

I thought that TTU was an outstanding place to have this event. Locker rooms were super convenient to the players sidelines (according to my son and his friends), and the stadium was quaint enough that it seemed full in the 5A game. I'm not sure the game would have felt as much like a "big game" in MTSU's stadium. I was incredibly pleased with the atmosphere. That said, it does seem like a small advantage to the East teams to not have to travel as far. However, the kids in the East had to go to more school than the kids from out West did that day...more chance for distractions. I'd be surprised if Henry County's students went to any classes that day...just not enough time. Powell's students went to their first two and a half classes of the day. Something to consider. The field did look a little slick, and I'm told it was really really hard as well. Pros and cons to TTU vs MTSU, but at the end of the day we are still dealing with the T$$AA and the almighty dollar rules the day.

Mobley, as HTV has said numerous times on these boards, will be a full academic qualifier. That can't be the issue. He had a slight (VERY MINOR) disciplinary hiccup at the end of last year, but has stayed out of trouble completely since then. I could see that having some negative impact on his recruitment, but the kid can still flat out play. I haven't seen Ridgeway in person, though, I did watch them play a little bit online before posting this. There is no way they have 3 guys of Mobley's caliber. Also, Mobley's YPC is remarkable. Without seeing stats on the HC guys, I'd have to think that Mobley is averaging more per carry than they are. That being the case, your argument clearly doesn't "obtain" haha. Like I said, the HC skill kids looke really, REALLY good. I just don't think they have anyone with the size speed combo of Mobley (34 looks to be bigger than Mobley and maybe a little stronger and 7 looks to be faster but not one kid with the same combo)

From what I understand, Toledo was the first 1A to offer him. Memphis, UK, Cincinatti, Vandy and Mississippi ST had all shown a good deal of interest, and I believe have all come to see him play or practice at some point during the season. I believe that UK and Toledo are still the only D1 offers though.

I am by no means an unbiased observer. I am a true blue Panther fan. I have been looking at some things on YouTube, and these teams look very similar. I think this is going to be an epic football game. I see it coming down to the wire. I do want to address the Mobley factor here. I don't know the caliber of the other backs that HC has faced. I also think that Mobley is vastly underrated by recruiters. He is representing the East in the Toyota East West All Star Game. I believe that will help to bump his recruiting stock a bit. I have a hard time believing he will end up as a Wildcat, but time will tell. I just think he has a very, VERY rare combination of size and speed. He is as fast as any back that Powell has ever had (faster than Milligan, Watts, and Houston and at least as fast as Tudor is seems like), but Powell has had some fast backs over the years. They have never had one with this type of power to go with it. Mobley absolutely punishes teams when he runs (much like 34 for HC who also looks to be a monster in the backfield). On top of that, Mobley's vision is top notch. He sees cuts seemingly before they happen. I know I'm a homer, but it's an outrage that he wasn't even in the top three for Mr. Football if you ask me. Say what you will about the level of Powell's competition, but he certainly can't help that, and all he did was have one of the most prolific seasons in the history of Tennessee high school football. Lots of other backs in the region and they weren't doing that to these defenses. Not to mention, I firmly believe that AE, OR, Ootlewah, LC, and West are all very, VERY solid football teams. Sorry for the novel...I just don't like to see that kid mentioned as if he's not elite because he's the best player to ever play at Powell High School IMO. I absolutely CANNOT WAIT for this game Friday night.

Any info on what Henry County is running offensively and defensively OSU?

Panther D was incredible. Mobley played his butt off. What a great win for the Panthers. I thought that Powell defensive front just had an unbelievable game. 90 and 54 both played well at defensive tackle. 22 and 2 had some big, BIG hits on the QB for West. It was a great all around effort. All that talk from the West faithful....looks like it was your boys who were shocked. Sure looked like they didn't know what to do with that defense from Powell. Great job, boys. Lets go finish what you started when you were 8 years old.

Powell really got a tough draw. The number three team in the state in Columbia is the two seed in their quad. There are plenty of teams out there with high seeds that aren't as good as AC as well. This will be a really interesting game, especially considering what happened last year. I doubt that Powell will even see Mo West tho. Knox West will more than likely be the quad 1 representative in the semi finals. Columbia and Powell will be a whale of a game in the third round as long as Powell doesn't slip up with AC or whoever they draw in the second round.

Mobley has got to be in the running for this thing. 133 carries 1856 yards 13.9 avg 29 TD. The kid is a machine. Not to mention the fact that he has 4 2 pt conversions on the year. He's a monster, and he's going to show it in the playoffs