Bilt4Vandy

It's sad that we cannot settle these conversations on the field. Public schools are at the mercy of the TSSAA rules that count any loss against potential playoff seeding. That rule in itself stops a good amount of them from playing D2 teams and I don't blame them. The rule is ludicrous and should not be around. If it wasn't, I bet you would see more Public Vs Private games. Teams like BA, MBA, Ensworth, etc are negatively effected by this rule and therefore, they have to go out of state to play games. No one wants to travel to another state to play ever single non-region game. Plus, I've heard that they are having to pay $8,000 for TN teams to pay them. 8X4=32...so $32,000 a year?! That's crazy. One thing you have to keep in mind in regards to scheduling out of state opponents is "are they on the same realignment cycle as you?" If they are not, it's virtually impossible to schedule a game. I've heard that Alabama schools start a week later this year because they always begin the 1st Monday of August and it doesn't fall until August 7th. That has made Alabama teams scramble to find opponents that weeks match because their week 1 is our week 2. Back on Hoover, they have 2,770 students in their school. MBA has about 600, Ensworth 500 co-ed, and BA about the same. While those 3 teams are good, they would have a tough time against such a big school like that. Their 1's would stack up well but the depth piece would ultimately get them because their is a huge drop off between a big schools 1'2 and 2's and a small schools. That's just the truth. Nevertheless, I would love to see state-wide classics matching public and private powerhouses together with the revenue from the gate going to charity or disaster reliefs such as in Gatlinburg. Play them at UT, Vandy, MTSU, wherever an you'd attract people from miles and miles. This is a great state for football with unbelievable fans.

There is no question that Oatsvall is an incredible talent. 2500+ passing paired with 700+ rushing makes for a heck of a stat line regardless of who you are. You have to give credit where credit is due. He, like Robert Riddle, is very underrated and hopefully he shines in college. I've heard that he was offered by all 3 service academies and majority of OVC and Southern schools. Nevertheless, I wish him the best with wherever he ends up. If he sticks with AP, they will be getting a diamond in the rough. Riddle, I believe, has only been offered by Richmond. No idea how that is possible because he runs Potter's O incredibly. He's a coaches son that obviously knows the game well. As for other QBs, I was impressed with Oakland's QB Matthews, Stratford's Truehartt, WC's Meadors, and Lausanne's Nolan-Dillard. 3 of the QB's listed are coaches sons that have been around the game for their entire lives. Credit to their fathers for doing a great job managing fatherhood and the game. Ultimately, I think all of it applies to the "beauty is found in the eyes of the beholder" term though. All of these young men are exceptional athletes with bright futures!