BlueDevil58

The cutoff changes every classification cycle. They want to divide the schools equally into 6 classes, so there's no way to give a static number. Right now the low end for 4A starts somewhere around 700ish.

Where did I ever say "dominate?" I didn't. I simply think they can handle Greeneville up front well enough to run the ball with consistently and milk the clock. I don't think South wins this game. I just think they milk the clock enough to hang around longer and keep it closer than people are expecting. Greeneville won't have time to score 70 on them because South's going to have several 5 minute drives in there. I also don't think you have to be big to be a good OL. Plenty of big fat guys can't move or block. Plenty of small, strong kids get moved from FB or LB and turn out good. One of my own teammates in HS was our C who dominated a Parade All American NT in 3 separate meetings at just 190lbs and the LG beside him was our second best OL at just 180lbs--he was a converted FB who squatted over 500lbs. You're preaching to the choir on that. South's OL are both strong and big. I'm basing what I said about Greeneville from what I'm told about the Sullivan Central game. Central is tiny up front but I've heard their OL handled Greeneville's starting front 4 pretty well except for a couple of missed blocks.

This will be closer than people think. South is huge up front on both sides of the ball and I think they have the advantage against Greeneville on the ground because of that--Greneville is not nearly as good up front as they have been. Both teams are fairly one dimensional, with South getting the edge on the ground due to that big OL. South has no passing game, but Greeneville's passing attack isn't the same without Cade Ballard throwing the ball--the difference is that Greeneville still has athletes everywhere who can score from anywhere when they get a crease. My prediction is that South comes out and successfully plays 3 yards and a cloud of dust, and shortens the game, keeping it from getting out of hand until the 4th. A healthy Reed could be a difference maker, but South's backups RB is decent. Meanwhile, Greeneville has a habit of coming out flat and making mistakes in the first half that get them in a hole against average teams. I look for those Greeneville athletes to be the big difference, limiting South to few explosive offensive plays while ripping off a bunch of their own when they get in the open field. 42-21 Greeneville.

Not really. If you hold a kid back and have them play in youth leagues outside of the TMSAA and work out so they're bigger and stronger when they get to HS, they're still eligible for 9th grade. That still happens quite a bit. It's nowhere near as big a deal as recruiting, though. Holding a kid back is perfectly legal and there are non-sports related reasons to do it. Schools don't like doing it in MS now because they're afraid it can backfire and hurt their HS graduation rates. Recruiting, though... that goes on everywhere. Show me a dominant program and I'll show you some type of recruiting. The TSSAA does not want to do anything about it besides paying some lip service to the rules against it every now and then, but there are tons of ways to get around that rule. Cozy up to the people running the local youth leagues to get them to steer kids to your school, get the school to set up a sham "academic program" nobody else offers so any kids who want to do so can attend your school as if they're zoned for it, hire a MS coach or parent onto the coaching or school staff to get his players, have players and boosters do your recruiting for you, etc. All of that is perfectly 100% legal or at least easily deniable if you're caught.

Tennessee allows the same thing, though there are "tuition" fees they'll have to pay. It's benefited places like Elizabethton, Greeneville, Dobyns-Bennett, and especially Maryville and Alcoa. Tons of Maryville's starters on their championship teams didn't live in Maryville's zone.

Does anyone closer to the school know what the heck happened? It's pretty disgusting if they just shut things down simply because they were being blown out. Did all the kids quit or something? Glencliff has to have some deep, structural/cultural problems to have struggled the way they have, but to just throw up your hands and take away the football program from the kids entirely is absurd.

Central is super small and soft up front and they just can't stop the run. They've given up like 400 yards on the ground to everybody and they've not played an offensive line or RB like what South has. I think the North QB had over 200 yards on them and they made Volunteer look like Alabama. South's going to cruise to a very easy win this week and clear the bench.

Grainger will be lucky to keep it within 50. This is Elizabethton's year to beat Greeneville and make a real run at state.

South picks the score in this one. Julian Reed will break his new rushing record by going for 400 on Central. Probably in the first half. South 91 Central 0

Only if he wants to take a huge pay cut and start over with a whole new staff of assistants, which I don't see him doing. When Science Hill hired Carter, they gave him a sweetheart deal where he got a lot more money than he was making in Sullivan County, tons of money for the team, brand new facilities, and the ability to get just about any ssistant coaches he wanted (like the Nelson brothers) and pay them more to be his assistants than head coaches get paid in Sullivan County. Sullivan County will have new facilities going for it, but that's it. That system is lousy about supporting athletics these days and the pay is only about 75% of what Johnson City pays. They probably will hire someone promising from outside the system, but it won't be Stacy Carter.

Really? Science Hill is having a down year after heavy graduation losses and a couple of weak freshman classes. Stacy Carter knows what he's doing. In a year or two they'll be right back where they were before. It's not like they've ever been a Maryville. Or even a Dobyns Bennett.

Boone will be lucky to hold GHS under 50 or score 2 TDs on GHS's first team D. GHS 56-13 with Boone scoring once or twice in garbage time.

Science Hill is weak up front on both sides of the ball this year. That's going to be their achilles heel, especially as they get into 6a play. Crockett's style of offense could actually work in SH's favor because of that, though. Crockett would much rather pass first, which means that SH won't have to worry as much about being pushed around. Where it'll show up is in Crockett's defense vs. SH's offense. Chandley knows how to defend spread offenses like SH's and SH will have a hard time getting anything going on the ground or protecting their QB. SH's QB is a good athlete, but he hasn't shown the best decision making or accuracy yet. I expect SH's offense to look sloppy and misfire a bunch while Crockett strings together just enough plays on offense to win. DC takes it 28-21.

Yes. They can and will. Crockett might not go as far as they did last year, but this is still the best team in their school's history. Science Hill, on the other hand, is in for a long year.

I think it's mostly Science Hill being so bad combined with EHS getting better. SH is going to be way down this year, especially up front. I seriously doubt they'll finish over .500 after the way they've been getting embarrassed in scrimmages by mediocre teams.