Preseason Top 10

[13aafanatic]

......but once the playoffs start there is no such thing as a "sure thing".

 

Absolutely. I'm not usually one for making predictions, but I did this time just for conversation sake. Might change my mind by July /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" /> Of course, I know these three teams or any of the other favorites won't take one game for granted. In fact, this year as we have discussed, even making the playoffs won't be a "sure thing" for several very good teams.

 

Noted your find on JCM. The Cougars went 0-9 last year with a young team. They have a good coach in Jim Glover and should be improved, but not enough to finish in the top two. That leaves us with 23 automatic bids.

 

Boy, late July and early August can't come soon enough.

[ILuvsports]

Everybody need not worry about the QB situation at Alcoa...There is a Junior there that probably would have taken the starting job if he didn't think that he was a basketball player during football season and dislocate his elbow. (lesson learned I hope) Austin Tallent will be better than Chase James as QB at Alcoa. Looks like some receivers are finally starting to emerge as that was a VERY weak position last year as we had no real third option.

 

 

I wouldnt go as far as calling alcoas wr a VERY weak position last season. Most high school teams dont have a great 3rd option at wr but for what alcoa tried to do last year(run the ball) they did a good job. Most of the pass plays actually went to thompson and robinson by design. Now that being said this is probably the deepest group of wrs they have had since the 05 team with lanxter, warren, sommer and that group. tyler robinson, steven isom, chaz barnes, jared jett, daniel robinson, daniel rockymore and others will give alcoa a bunch of options at wr and showed the ability to make plays in the spring. Isom is a great wr and Barnes, who is playing football for the first time has been a flat out stud in the spring. Hes about 6 ft 3, has great hands and had clemson and mtsu very impressed after watching him in practice.

[Govolsknox]

Everybody need not worry about the QB situation at Alcoa...There is a Junior there that probably would have taken the starting job if he didn't think that he was a basketball player during football season...

 

 

I would like to volunteer to set up and over-see a basketball / cross training program this summer for the Alcoa football team. Since I'm not a coach, this would not be a violation. You can't overestimate the cardio and footwork benefits of summer basketball. I'll get started right away.

[AlcoasPaintedBridge]

I wouldnt go as far as calling alcoas wr a VERY weak position last season.

 

I will have to disagree with you, my friend.

Out of all of the names you mentioned, none had more than five catches last year.

When Maryville put the lock down on T Rob late and Thompson (0 catches in the game), there was NO third option.

Later in the season we had plenty of opportunity to develop some of the receivers, but did not, I guess for impressions sake, but we ran and ran and ran some more.

Daniel Robinson played 60 snaps against CAK last season in two games and caught no balls. That is just one case in point. BUT!!! I do not think that there is a better or deeper set of blockers than we have in our group of receivers!

Isom should be the #2 option behind T Rob, after that it will be wide open and should have some good competition amongst the kids come late summer.

[Guest Advisor]

About this time last year I said that Milan was going to be playing Alcoa for a championship and they did. Now, at this time again this year, I'll say Milan will be playing again in Murfreesboro for a state championship. Milan will most likely have the best defense in West TN this coming year and one of the top defenses in the state. You have Jobronski Gilbert and Avery Williamson at LB and Christian Coleman at DE. All 3 of those guys are most likely going to end up D1. Jobronski will also be back running the ball extremely hard again next season as well and should finish as a Mr. Football finalist if he stays healthy. I believe if Milan finds a QB that can get the job done, they should be back in Murfreesboro.

 

I was also told from a Henry Co. football player that they will be scrimmaging Milan this coming fall. That scrimmage right there will tell alot about what Milan will bring to the table as well as Henry Co.

 

 

Hey there GCPioneer.......it's been a few months!! You are correct about several things...first is that the Bulldogs should be very good in 2009! BUT, district 13AA is certainly no walk in the park. Covington, Dyersburg, Crockett Co., Haywood Co., and Westview are all solid teams and should pose a little more difficulty than the powder puff region they had last year.

 

Secondly, Westview should be much improved this year given that their QB stays healthy as he recovers from his ankle injury. I too think that Milan will be there when the heavy metal is handed out in late November and early December.

 

Lastly, I think everyone is looking forward to the Patriots and Bulldogs getting physical in the middle of the August heat!! That should give each team a snapshot of who can do what come October. Looks like the scrimmage schedules for many teams are as tough as the regular season. This certainly holds true in Paris ...the week after HC and Milan bang heads, the Patriots are off to Maplewood then on to the Montgomery Co. jamboree against Creekwood. Good luck to all in 2009....i'm wish it started tomorrow night!!

[BoardHater71]

Hey there GCPioneer.......it's been a few months!! You are correct about several things...first is that the Bulldogs should be very good in 2009! BUT, district 13AA is certainly no walk in the park. Covington, Dyersburg, Crockett Co., Haywood Co., and Westview are all solid teams and should pose a little more difficulty than the powder puff region they had last year.

 

Secondly, Westview should be much improved this year given that their QB stays healthy as he recovers from his ankle injury. I too think that Milan will be there when the heavy metal is handed out in late November and early December.

 

Lastly, I think everyone is looking forward to the Patriots and Bulldogs getting physical in the middle of the August heat!! That should give each team a snapshot of who can do what come October. Looks like the scrimmage schedules for many teams are as tough as the regular season. This certainly holds true in Paris ...the week after HC and Milan bang heads, the Patriots are off to Maplewood then on to the Montgomery Co. jamboree against Creekwood. Good luck to all in 2009....i'm wish it started tomorrow night!!

 

 

 

You are absolutely right about Milan's district. The Bulldogs whole schedule is going to be brutal but will prove to be very valuable once playoff time rolls around in November. Covington, Crockett Co., Dyersburg, Haywood, and Westview are all teams that at some point over these next 4 years will be very tough. The non-district slate for the Bulldogs includes JCS, Huntingdon, Peabody, and Humboldt.

 

You will be very hard pressed to find a team that is more battle tested come playoff time than Milan will be that is a promise /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[AHSBUTTER]

I will have to disagree with you, my friend.

Out of all of the names you mentioned, none had more than five catches last year.

When Maryville put the lock down on T Rob late and Thompson (0 catches in the game), there was NO third option.

Later in the season we had plenty of opportunity to develop some of the receivers, but did not, I guess for impressions sake, but we ran and ran and ran some more.

Daniel Robinson played 60 snaps against CAK last season in two games and caught no balls. That is just one case in point. BUT!!! I do not think that there is a better or deeper set of blockers than we have in our group of receivers!

Isom should be the #2 option behind T Rob, after that it will be wide open and should have some good competition amongst the kids come late summer.

 

The best hands on the team by far belong to Tyler Robinson and Daniel Robinson, followed closely by either Chaz Barnes or Steven Isom...the fact that Alcoa's running game was (and still is) so deep takes away from the amount of catches they get. Rankin does do a pretty good job of mixing it up quite a bit, and i noticed his quote in the paper today, "We've got to find some receivers." My starters at receiver would be T Rob, D Rob, and either Isom or Jett.

[GCPioneer]

Hey there GCPioneer.......it's been a few months!! You are correct about several things...first is that the Bulldogs should be very good in 2009! BUT, district 13AA is certainly no walk in the park. Covington, Dyersburg, Crockett Co., Haywood Co., and Westview are all solid teams and should pose a little more difficulty than the powder puff region they had last year.

 

Secondly, Westview should be much improved this year given that their QB stays healthy as he recovers from his ankle injury. I too think that Milan will be there when the heavy metal is handed out in late November and early December.

 

Lastly, I think everyone is looking forward to the Patriots and Bulldogs getting physical in the middle of the August heat!! That should give each team a snapshot of who can do what come October. Looks like the scrimmage schedules for many teams are as tough as the regular season. This certainly holds true in Paris ...the week after HC and Milan bang heads, the Patriots are off to Maplewood then on to the Montgomery Co. jamboree against Creekwood. Good luck to all in 2009....i'm wish it started tomorrow night!!

 

 

I certainly agree with you for sure! I know all of those teams are great teams with great tradition. The stronger schedule should only get Milan ready for a deep playoff run! Milan should be the most talented team reguardless. I see them finishing the regular season with 1 loss, maybe 2 at the most, IF they stay healthy.

 

I don't know if Westview will be better than last year. Westview lost their powerful RB in JC Griggs to graduation. He was the one that got the offense going whether it was powering for 3-4 yards up the middle or busting a 50-60 yard TD run. Don't get me wrong, Westview is always good especially on defense. However, this new region is going to be very tough for them as well.

[Rankinated2010]

......in my head right now i can just visualize Milan and Goodpasture head coaches sitting in their lockerooms, exhausted from summer workouts, and in the background a picture of Gary Rankin , with a large red cirlce with a line through it, and off in the distance u can vaguely make out the lyrics to " dont stop believin" by Journey................. /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" />

[ILuvsports]

I will have to disagree with you, my friend.

Out of all of the names you mentioned, none had more than five catches last year.

When Maryville put the lock down on T Rob late and Thompson (0 catches in the game), there was NO third option.

Later in the season we had plenty of opportunity to develop some of the receivers, but did not, I guess for impressions sake, but we ran and ran and ran some more.

Daniel Robinson played 60 snaps against CAK last season in two games and caught no balls. That is just one case in point. BUT!!! I do not think that there is a better or deeper set of blockers than we have in our group of receivers!

Isom should be the #2 option behind T Rob, after that it will be wide open and should have some good competition amongst the kids come late summer.

 

 

If you ask coach rankin or any of the offensive coaches and they will both tell you that reason a lot of balls arent flying around to a bunch of other people is not because of their lack of ability but because of alcoas game plan. With chase james at qb alcoa did not have a wide open passing attack. Alcoa threw the ball usually anywhere from 8-12 times per game, so lets just say 10 passes per game. James usually completed about 6 or 7 of those. Alcoa runs a lot of boot and the main options on the boots are the tight end and fullback. So between tyson and tyler robinson, they will usually get about 5 of those. The main option at wr and one of the biggest playmakers on offense was sam thompson so he usually got around 2-3 catches per game. Coach rankins philosophy has always been to get the ball into the hands the best playmakers. He doesnt waste plays throwing it all over the field, which makes alcoas offense extremely efficient( completed over 65% of their passes for 3 straight years). Coach rankin knows who he wants to get the ball to and their coaches game plan to do that. And as for the point about thompson in the maryville game, the reason he had no catches is because he had one drop and also james under threw a post route to thompson that would have been a td had james put it out there. Also, isom did have over 5 catches last season. Its easy to see the kind of ability that kid has and he showed it last year with a couple great catches, with the most impressive being a diving catch for a td against loudon. At that point there just werent a lot of plays called for him. All spring he flashed the ability that had coaches from clemson and mtsu asking about.

 

And the whole daniel robinson situation is unfortunate for him because he plays the same position as tyler robinson as a pass catching tight end, which is basically a 3rd wr. He is a great blocker on the perimeter and while he does have good hands there just arent a lot of ball to go around for him to catch. But i will agree with you on the point about them have a deep group of really good blockers. you can tell that is something that they really work on and its important to them.

[BoardHater71]

Does anyone want to try to guess a playoff bracket for 3A this upcoming postseason????????

 

 

 

District 1: Sullivan North & Elizabethton

 

District 2: Cumberland Gap & West Greene

 

District 3: Austin East & Gatlinburg Pittman

 

District 4: Alcoa, CAK, & Loudon

 

District 5: McMinn Central, Polk Co., & Meigs Co.

 

District 6: Tyner & Howard

 

District 7: Sequatchie Co. & Grundy Co.

 

District 8: Smith Co. & York Institute

 

District 9: Goodpasture & Westmoreland

 

District 10: CPA & Pearl Cohn

 

District 11: Camden Central, Harpeth, & Cheatham Co.

 

District 12: Fairview & Lewis Co.

 

District 13: Milan & Westview

 

District 14: JCM

 

District 15: Manassas

 

District 16: G.W. Carver

 

 

 

 

Quadrent #1

 

Sullivan North

Elizabethton

Cumberland Gap

West Greene

Austin East

Gatlinbrug Pittman

Loudon

CAK

 

 

 

Quadrent #2

 

Alcoa

McMinn Central

Polk Co.

Meigs Co.

Tyner

Howard

Grundy Co.

Sequatchie Co.

 

 

 

Quadrent #3

 

Smith Co.

York Institute

Pearl Cohn

CPA

Goodpasture

Westmoreland

Lewis Co.

Fairview

 

 

Quadrent #4

 

Cheatham Co.

Harpeth

Camden Central

Westview

Milan

JCM

Manassas

G.W. Carver

 

 

 

 

 

THIS WAS THE BEST ONE THAT I COULD COME UP WITH WHEN PUTTING MY PREDICTIONS TOGETHER..................... /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quarterfinals

 

CAK vs Austin East

Tyner vs Alcoa

Smith Co. vs Goodpasture

Camden vs Milan

 

 

Semifinals

 

Austin East vs Alcoa

Goodpasture vs Milan

 

 

Championship Game

 

Alcoa vs Milan

 

 

State Champions

 

Alcoa

[13aafanatic]

Howdoitknow, great job putting together your statewide bracket predictions. The only questions from me are the placement of some teams (Alcoa in Q2, Smith Co. in Q3, Cheatham and Harpeth in Q4), and obviously those won't be answered until the first week of November.

 

I'll focus on Q4. JCM will have to be much improved to make the playoffs as a WC from a tough district. If not, that would leave another wild card (probably for a Memphis team, or another of the 11/12AA teams comes). Camden, Milan, Westview, Manassas and Carver are all solid picks for teams west of the river.