D2 Football

[tigertown1]

Anyone with insight to the Memphis teams have anything to add to the discussion?

All I know about the Memphis teams is that Christian Brothers running back transferred to Olive Branch. What about MUS or ECS?

[Perfection11]

Brentwood Academy has to be the pre season favorite. With the additions of Elliott and Redmond from MBA along with their annually stacked team, BA clearly has the talent AND the coaching to get it done this year. MBA lost a lot of starters from last year's undefeated state championship team, but Coach McGugin has an uncanny ability to get his team ready even against the odds. MBA will lean on seniors Bubis, Johnson, Wise, Turner, and Crum to get the job done this year. Ensworth has their recruited talent, but still lacks depth and depends heavily on the health of Tavarres Jefferson to have a good season. Ryan lost most of talent last year, but play dirty enough to eek out a couple of wins. MUS is up from last year with that quarterback and Reid and Folk at receiver. CBHS will rely on the running game and physical play to get the job done. When the dust settles on this year, look to have a rematch of BA and MBA in the championship game, but this year I dont think the big red has what it takes to come away with a W... sorry boys. BA's talent proves too much this year.

[Ole Dad]

How about a list of all the D2 teams and the part of Tennessee they are from? I was under the impression that most are from Middle Tennessee, which would be a good indicator of where the champions are from. It will be good info either way.

 

Ole Dad

 

It would be difficult to bet against a Middle Tennessee champion. Sixteen of 22 finalists have been from Middle; eight of 11 champions have been from Middle. This year should be more of the same, as the best team(s) reside(s) in Middle Tennessee, although I think MUS should be near the top, and McCallie, which had very few seniors last year, should be improved. One (or two) of BA, MBA, and Ensworth will make the title game, I would almost guarantee.

 

BA is the clear on-paper favorite. Their front lines will be awesome, and they should have great depth across the board. QB may be the only question. I can't wait to see the matchup with Prattville (AL). Prattville has a new coach, I believe, so they may be going through transition. Nevertheless, I think BA will represent themselves quite well with the 2008 team.

 

MBA is in a similar situation as it was after 2003 - defending state champion with multiple losses but also returning good, but green, RBs and a dominant offensive lineman. The 2004 team went 9-3 with a sophomore QB; the 2008 team has the benefit of a senior QB. Based on what I saw in the spring, tremendous enthusiasm (love the addition of Chris Sanders as WR coach) and good but relatively green returning talent should keep MBA in the mix.

 

I know expectations are high at Ensworth; an EHS coach I talked to recently said that the mindset is that this a championship-contending year. I think EHS needs to establish a passing presence, as the graduation of Ballard at QB will make defenses focus on the double-threat EHS has at RB. Ensworth will be good and should blow through the non-region games easily; how they do against the biggies in Middle Tennessee will let us know if they are contenders.

 

Ready for season to start...

[tigertown1]

D2:

 

East / Middle Region:

 

West Pod:

MBA

Ensworth

JP2

 

Middle Pod:

 

Brentwood Academy

Father Ryan

BGA

 

East Pod:

 

McCallie

Baylor

Knoxville Webb

 

West Region:

 

MUS

CBHS

ECS

Briarcrest

St. Benedict

 

 

Each team in a East / Middle Region plays everyone in their "pod" and two of the three teams in the other East / Middle "pods". The winners of each pod advance to the playoffs with two other teams. Three out of the five Memphis teams advance to the playoffs each year. So 5 out 9 from the East / Middle and 3 out of 5 from the West advance to the playoffs each year.

[Indian]

Brentwood Academy has to be the pre season favorite. With the additions of Elliott and Redmond from MBA along with their annually stacked team, BA clearly has the talent AND the coaching to get it done this year. MBA lost a lot of starters from last year's undefeated state championship team, but Coach McGugin has an uncanny ability to get his team ready even against the odds. MBA will lean on seniors Bubis, Johnson, Wise, Turner, and Crum to get the job done this year. Ensworth has their recruited talent, but still lacks depth and depends heavily on the health of Tavarres Jefferson to have a good season. Ryan lost most of talent last year, but play dirty enough to eek out a couple of wins. MUS is up from last year with that quarterback and Reid and Folk at receiver. CBHS will rely on the running game and physical play to get the job done. When the dust settles on this year, look to have a rematch of BA and MBA in the championship game, but this year I dont think the big red has what it takes to come away with a W... sorry boys. BA's talent proves too much this year.

 

 

If you're going to get on here and write Enworth is recruiting you should be more specific.

[theocho]

Well, last year BA was anointed the state champ, while MBA and Ensworth were predicted to struggle from inexperience and Father Ryan wasn't anything special. This year MBA and Father Ryan are predicted to struggle again, while BA and Ensworth are supposed to peak. These predictions are....predictions. It will be an exciting season, and I'm looking forward to another super competitive season for DII. Hopefully Memphis schools will improve enough to make this even more unpredictable.

[tigertown1]

Playoff predictions:

 

From East / Middle:

Brentwood Academy

Montgomery Bell Academy

Ensworth

Battle Ground Academy

McCallie

 

From West:

MUS

CBHS

ECS

[wingman10]

BGA should show improvement.

[KWoodroof]

Well, last year BA was anointed the state champ, while MBA and Ensworth were predicted to struggle from inexperience and Father Ryan wasn't anything special. This year MBA and Father Ryan are predicted to struggle again, while BA and Ensworth are supposed to peak. These predictions are....predictions. It will be an exciting season, and I'm looking forward to another super competitive season for DII. Hopefully Memphis schools will improve enough to make this even more unpredictable.

 

I don't recall anybody from BA anointing BA champions...they pointed out rightly that they had a very strong team, and they did. I'm biased, but I see no shame in losing two close games to MBA. The only people who anointed BA champiosn were a couple of buffoons who disliked MBA, and came out of the woodwork after MBA dismantled Ryan.

 

I don't know that anybody thought MBA would struggle. Probably nobody foresaw an unbeaten season, but MBA seldom has back-to-back down years.

 

As for Ensworth, they had a good season, but they did struggle with inexperience and depth. They had one quality win against CBHS, and lost to the three quality teams on their schedule. They will have talent and be well coached, but given their planned enrollment, dpeth will always be an issue. Like MBA teams in the mid-70's (when conditioning facilities at the school were abysmal), they will be one or two injuries away from mediocrity.

[bigred1212]

I don't recall anybody from BA anointing BA champions...they pointed out rightly that they had a very strong team, and they did. I'm biased, but I see no shame in losing two close games to MBA. The only people who anointed BA champiosn were a couple of buffoons who disliked MBA, and came out of the woodwork after MBA dismantled Ryan.

 

I don't know that anybody thought MBA would struggle. Probably nobody foresaw an unbeaten season, but MBA seldom has back-to-back down years.

 

As for Ensworth, they had a good season, but they did struggle with inexperience and depth. They had one quality win against CBHS, and lost to the three quality teams on their schedule. They will have talent and be well coached, but given their planned enrollment, dpeth will always be an issue. Like MBA teams in the mid-70's (when conditioning facilities at the school were abysmal), they will be one or two injuries away from mediocrity.

 

MBA and BA will be in the state final no doubt. MBA looks very strong with Crum, Wise, Johnson, Sloan, Lipscomb, and others all returning on the offense, and Bubis, Sloan, Corcoron and countless on D. The only question is at runningback where they have Crum and two very talented and fast sophmors. The new quarterback is very taented although we havn't seen much out of him because he has a shoulder injury. He may not start at quarterback but he iis also a very talented safety. The group of seniors has very high energy and has prmised they will not be down from last year. Im not predicting a state championship for the Big Red but it is very possible the will eek out BA for the title. Ensworth will be mediocre. Their quarterback, Tavarres Jefferson will be a dual threat, but their line isn't talented enough. They do have a unbelievable play making receiver in junior Jacob Carter.

[wholder]

If you're going to get on here and write Enworth is recruiting you should be more specific.

 

 

I know for a fact that Ensworth is recruiting

[wholder]

Ensworth's spring practice was on track with how the season ended last year, the players felt like they hadnt skipped a beat... the only difference is now Tavarres Jefferson, Orleans Opoku Darkwa, are healthy.

 

There is a lot of young talent coming in which is mostly from Ensworth middle but i heard some franklin kid and possible a very large kid from Columbia would be coming. Ensworth will have more depth than they did last year considering they only lost around five starters on both sides of the ball.

 

MBA will have good coaching this year and the addition of Jonas Rodriguez and CHris Sanders are good but not great considering what they lost in Elliott. MBA lost a ton of starters who were very key to their success. Fonzo Knight, Ben B, Preston Baily, Nate wade and the list goes on. The fact that they have a starting quarterback that will be a senior will be a plus....but the arrival of a very good senior QB who was said to be promised the starting job would negate that pro. Is he good enough to cancel out the experience and comrodery of Spencer wise???

 

 

6'5" 315 pound freshman last year that was a beast for a small 1A school. He will be taken to school when he plays with the big boys.