sheppy

Thoughts and prayers to Coach Aydelott and his family. Have known him for years and know that he is a first class teacher/coach and person. Wishing for a speedy recovery.

Thought that by now there would be plenty of talk since the TSSAA has met in East & Middle Tennessee explaining the Limitations on Contact for fall 2015. Go read what Alabama has just implemented...they get 90 minutes per week (I think that is what my source told me). They also have pre-season limitations. Bet by 2017, we have pre-season limitations too.

They ran run & shoot offense, Watson at QB, Mack & Otis Phillips at Rb (I think), Tucker at WR/TE and wore our butts out. And like I said earlier, they don't let me forget it!

UCM, Yes Cookeville, 1967

Knoxville Halls finished 14-1 in '96. Don't have the schedule and scores but I think we only gave up 60 points in regular season and 90 total. Cumberland Co. scored 10 and Pearl-Cohn scored 18 in the first half. Only 2 teams to score in the first half against us all year.

Think they only played 9 regular season games and finished 10-0. They beat us, Clarksville High School, in the Civitan Bowl in Cookeville at Tucker Stadium, 27-7 and we went 9-1-1. Watson, Mack and Kevin Tucker remind me constantly.

TheInsideScoop, I think the actual length of most football plays is more like 6 seconds. I don't believe the intent of the rule is for coaches to add up the length of plays and see how many plays equal 30 minutes per day per group. I think most coaches will probably have a 1st offense and a 2nd offense going against two groups of scout team defensive players, hence the term per group per day.

I understand the statement about the TSSAA not being able to monitor the length of practices. That is just like the NCAA has no way of MONITORING illegal recruiting practices in college, but they punish schools rather frequently in many different sports. It comes down to this. Will you follow what the rule is or do you say screw it, I'm not changing anything from the way I've done in the past. Coaches WILL CHANGE. Will all of them change and follow the rules to the letter of the law, NO. And hopefully those that don't follow will NOT HAVE any serious injuries that will cost a coach his/her job. Guys, 50 years ago old coaches thought water at practice would ruin the game, making players soft. Last time I looked the game was still doing good! You can still get plenty of live, full speed contact work in a week's time by folowing the rules, i.e., HOLDING a dummy does not stop live contact work, it can go on forever; or at least that is the way I read the rule.

I understand the statement about the TSSAA not being able to monitor the length of practices. That is just like the NCAA has no way of MONITORING illegal recruiting practices in college, but they punish schools rather frequently in many different sports. It comes down to this. Will you follow what the rule is or do you say screw it, I'm not changing anything from the way I've done in the past. Coaches WILL CHANGE. Will all of them change and follow the rules to the letter of the law, NO. And hopefully those that don't follow will NOT HAVE any serious injuries that will cost a coach his/her job. Guys, 50 years ago old coaches thought water at practice would ruin the game, making players soft. Last time I looked the game was still doing good! You can still get plenty of live, full speed contact work in a week's time by folowing the rules, i.e., HOLDING a dummy does not stop live contact work, it can go on forever; or at least that is the way I read the rule.

The days of going in shorts and shoulder pads or full pads, twice in a single day is longer going to happen. I believe the fine print says if you go in pads twice in the same day, you CAN NOT HIT BOTH PRACTICES. Better read the fine print!

This new contact rule is going to cause quite a bit of controversy. From what I understand about the rule, live contact does not mean you have to take the offensive player to the ground. It simply means if you are going full speed blocking into another player, and that is defined as full speed contact. Now, the above mentioned statement about full speed contact with a player "holding a dummy", is correct from my understanding. I wish the NFHS would come out with a stand on what they consider "full speed contact" and require each state to adopt a single rule that is universal throughout. What Georgia adopts may be completely different from what Ohio adopts. Now some states don't play NFHS rules and therefore are responsible for adopting their own "live contact" rules, i.e. Texas. Texas plays under the guidelines of UIL which stands for University Interscholastic League. They play college football game rules.

A very odd situation happened last week at Northeast HS. I had a graduating senior football player transfer from another school in our system, into one of my classes. Every system I have ever worked has allowed a graduating senior to remain at his school if he/she transfers after the first semester has ended. I jusy can't understand why anyone would go to a new high school within the same system on February 28th and graduation is 3 months away. Now if it a very long drive across the county I understand but these are adjacent zones. Makes one wonder....

News travels fast. Just received an email from the President of the TnFCA yesterday asking to view a letter describing possible changes in "full contact", "thud", "live" practices from the National HS Federation. Seems four states have already adopted a policy, two of which are Texas and Alabama (I think). Might be interesting to find out people's perspective on this possibility. My first question would be, how are they going to police everyone's practices? There is enough under handed stuff going on now. Second question would be, are they going to limit pitchers on pitch counts in baseball? There seems to be more Tommy John surgeries now than ever before at the high school levels. Granted, concussions are a far more lethal health issue, but still where does this go from here. After reading the letter there are suggestions of 60 - 90 minutes per week of full contact, BUT the possibility of added time during the pre-season practices. I would anticipate this being a hot topic in the very near future. Just went back and looked at the letter again. Alabama, Arizona, Maryland and Texas have "varying limitations" on contact prior to the 2013 season. Studies have shown a significant DECREASE in concussions.

I was fortunate enough to work with Wood during my tenure at Halls High School. There is much sadness in my heart tonight. I talked with Denise 2-3 times this past weekend and she was hopeful this last procedure on Sunday would turn the tide in Wood's favor. But evidently the big man upstairs needed someone to sit by his side and there was no better choice than Elwood Pennington. I knew as soon as my phone rang yesterday morning with a call from Chad, that the news was not going to be good. He slipped into the streets of gold in less than 2 hours after we hung up. If you knew him - feel blessed. If you didn't know him - feel slighted, but look him up when you arrive. RIP Elwood Pennington Gary Shephard