TotallynotLEO

PF has a better line up than what they've shown. They've got a few weak spots but they'll be fine.

He's wrestled 6 of his last 8 matches at 165lbs. It's unusual but he started at 150lbs this season, went 157lbs some, then 165lbs. At least, based on results that is. I figure he'll go back down and those were for duals.

I've seen him in person, he's legit and has progressed. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go 159lbs soon. He was a bit small at 165lbs early in season. 165lbs small school I have: 1 Howard PF 2 Tucker Ross SD 3 Dameion Levell CHS 4 Quenston Davis Munford HS 5 Nikolas Taylor WHH 6 Cole Darnell Eagleville Outside looking in, in no order... Lane Cope SESI Ethan Steele Cheatham county Hayden Simmons Carter HS Kale Honaker Tennessee HS Colton Ferrel Crocket HS

Sigh* Lighten up Francis. No need to be so emotional, it's an observation and I offered input. You actually confirmed my point that there isn't time to pay attention to small school. So why even do them then? It's not like all you do is talk about the same big schools every. single. year.

I appreciate the work but there must be less focus on small school rankings. I see 3 kids that have dropped weight classes, one of them on Dec 16th at Bruise Brothers. Other misses are a kid that went 1-3 (all by fall) at the Soddy Showdown. I'd really start paying attention to the Levell kid at Clinton, a transfer this year from Kentucky.

I had him pinning for 6 at 126. If he drops he still pins for 6 at 120 but then McCallie likely pins at 126 so it's a wash. Not trying to start anything, I don't have a favorite. I literally know one kid between the two schools. The Austin Weaver kid for FR is a very nice young man, met him last year. I was just basing this off current line ups and rankwrestlers

I don't have a dog in this fight nor do I know each team in depth but from my perspective McCallie pins at hwt, 215, 190 and probably 175. FR Dec at 165 and pins at 157. They trade Dec at 150 and 144. 138, 132 and 126 are pins for FR. McCallie pins at 120 and at 113. FR with 6 at 106. Close enough that if someone gets unexpectedly caught it could mean the difference. Am I close?

Good question. Soddy is 107 students away from the big school threshold. The number changes each classification cycle though. Take every wrestling school in the state, rank them by enrollment numbers and find the middle, that's the number. My thought is they should make consolidated schools count the amount of eligible students towards classifications. If Signal has 100 8th graders enrolled, those should count but not the 6th or 7th graders since they can't be used.

Fair point. Maybe I'm a bit pessimistic. The coaches were nothing but nice and professional with my kids down there. I can't say that I agree with everything that's happened in the past and I do question priorities. Overall it's a good program but they don't always have the horses. Like next year.

I expect 5-5 or 6-4 next year. They'll beat the bad teams. Lose to the good ones. This year they were a shadow of the year prior. They had a few good pieces and got the most out of them. Barring some stud transfers, they'll be down talent wise next year compared to this year. Losing Bradshaw and Nelson on the line, Moog, Hall. Most of the offense production is gone. I know you don't want to hear it but AC will be down. It's a cycle where they get a class or two of good kids that come through together every 5 or 6 years. Everything has to align just right like it did in 2022. 2023 could have been almost as good but a couple of AC kids decided to play for Oak Ridge last year. They would be Juniors this year. For perspective, the QB at OR set the all time passing record as a soph, in oak ridges system. In AC system it would have been more. Thems the breaks though. Before you think I'm all negative, I'm just being real. I'm here to see it in person, I know the kids, many personally. They're good kids, great kids even. With good coaching, great coaching even. But they don't have the horses. It is what it is.

They have some solid freshman that are contributing and a mix of older kids that are doing well. Sam is a hammer. Right now, I'd say it's PF and Seymour going to state duals out of that section. If PF gets a couple kids on the roster that we haven't seen yet this year like Jackson and Carbal can they challenge Soddy?

I saw that. PF clearly in the lead at that sectional. Seymour looking good too.

I said before this season, 6-4. I see, in person, what they have. They will not have as many athletes next year. AC is always 1 or 2 key injuries away from going 5-5. I'll say continue to enjoy last year, it'll be a while before it comes around again. They had to recruit a qb last year because the presumed starter is playing for oak ridge now.

Unless AC gets a lot of transfers, they'll struggle even more next year. They're not going to compete for a title for a while.

Is Kobe Smith not wrestling this year? Figured for sure he'd be in the mix.

Whaley beat Howard convincingly at 165lbs Saturday at Heritage tournament finals.

Anything interesting? Looks like Jimmy Taylor has dropped quite a bit. He was 195lbs for DB last year. He should be competitive at that weight. I know Adams from Jeff County dropped from 220lbs last year to 175lbs this year too. That's a huge cut. Did DB not bring many varsity?

Things I've noticed to this point in the season. I'm also choosing to focus small school stuff mostly or some of the lesser talked about programs. You want the sport to grow? it needs to grow everywhere at all levels. In region 1, Cocke County has made great strides from where they were till now. I know, I know, small school and all. Still, for such a small area that hasn't produced large numbers it was nice seeing them with so many kids on a team. Just filling a roster is a challenge in a lot of small schools. Can they get by Greeneville or Crockett? How about Scott County. First team ever, first year in the sport. They've won a couple duals already. So who cares if it's marginal competition. That's a positive. Good for them. 175lbs is pretty tight right now and I've already seen several kids making the way down to 165lbs. How many of the 190lbs try for 175lbs? There's a lot of movement right now in all weight classes. I mention these classes since we changed this year from the old 170 , 182 and 195 to the current 190, 175, 165. Be interesting to see how it shakes out and which one gets most crowded. PF looks pretty good with hammers sprinkled throughout the line up at various weights. Clinton has a really impressive kid at 165lbs that will compete with anyone at that weight or 157lbs. I can't speak to Gibbs but I suspect they'll be strong in the lower weights. Seymour looks to be improved. I know Maryville is down but Seymour beat them in duals. I know Jeff County is big school but they've still got a few kids that look good, maybe enough for Science Hill but not to challenge DB. There's several other changes this year with kids getting injured or moving, choosing not to compete this year but it's not fair to talk about that here. They can tell their own story or not. It'll work itself out. This board needs to liven up some.

The Catholic Invitational and Beatdown in the Mountains. 2 individual tournaments that will have a big impact. Halls, Cleveland, Bradley, Soddy, Pigeon forge, Gibbs all expected to be at Heritage. The Catholic one has less firepower but a lot of really good kids if FR, Boyd Buchanan, BGA show up. A chance for them to mix it up with some of the public schools.

It'll be interesting to see how much this weekend changes some of these. Someone should put the Levell kid from Clinton on here, he'll be top 5, possibly top 3 (small school) before long at 165/157. Very impressive.

Little, that's actually a really nice way of putting it. My way may have come off a little chippy. Not my intent.

As little as people care for who wins big school titles, they care less about D2. People are uninterested in big school because it's Cleveland and then everyone else. That's the definition of flagship. People don't even know who Baylor is, nor care.

I have tried to explain this exactly like this on here. Take a hard working, motivated kid from a small school that has some athleticism. Maybe he has ok coaching, limited workout options/facilities and few if any good partners to work with in the room. But he works hard and is dedicated. Take the same kid. Give him better coaching. Better facilities and a workout regimen. Give him several really good hammers to work with every practice for 2 or 3 years. Who wins? (Rhetorical) Point being, in aggregate all these things matter. Money, facilities, coaching, partners, school commitment etc. To me personally, what Halls did last year was much more impressive than anything Cleveland did. With respect, Halls developed their kids in house from scratch in a more austere environment. Cleveland is a great program, they have everything working for them and they should be on top. Their coaching, facilities, funding and support are as good as any in the state. They have no weak spots. When another team does more with less is what impresses me. Just my $.02

Respectfully, this is why no one outside of 37312 cares all that much anymore about big school championships. Honestly, it's just not as entertaining.

People do this for those coveted AAU championships they can put on a resume I guess. It happens at public schools a lot too. The ones I know of are at public schools.