Preseason Top 10

[BoardHater71]

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.

 

 

 

If you look at districts 1-4 you'll see that I had 9 teams (counting the automatic bids & wild cards) but only 8 teams can fill out a quadrent. We both know that the TSSAA is going to seperate Alcoa & Austin East as long as they can because it would make for a great late postseason matchup.

 

I put both Smith Co. & York Institute in quadrent 3 because the other schools that I had in quadrent 2 all had more "east-TN" ties than both of those schools. I know that is a lousy explanation but Smith Co. has played in a "middle-TN" region before (remember when they were in a region with Portland, Trousdale, & Greenbrier).

 

Since Smith Co. & York got bumped into quadrent 3 then that meant that 2 other teams had to get bumped into quadrent 4. The choices came down to 3 different options. They were Cheatham Co./Harpeth, Harpeth/Fairview, Fairview/Lewis Co. I guess that I randomly picked Cheatham Co. & Harpeth based on the likelihood that if both make the playoffs and they do the first round matchups by location of schools to one another then those 2 would have to play each other in the first round you'd think right?

 

 

 

 

 

Once again this is just a guess on my part and that is all any of us can do with this format until the actual brackets are released in the early morning hours of October 31st...............HALLOWEEN /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" />

[AHSBUTTER]

......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" />

 

/roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" /> Rankinated i haven't heard from you in a while...nice to see you again

[13aafanatic]

......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" />

 

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are!

 

Howdoitknow, it is fun to speculate and your points are just as valid as any right now. It was late last night when reading your post, and I didn't count the number of teams listed. Last year, Alcoa, CAK and Loudon went Q1; Tyner, Smith Co., Marion and York went Q2; Lewis Co., Goodpasture, CPA and Camden went Q3; and Q4 was all West TN.

 

Did find this in the TSSAA minutes regarding playoffs. "The eight teams are placed in the bracket so that NO teams from the same district play each other in the first round except where there are 5 or more teams from the same district. Placements are then done with priorities given to automatic qualifiers based on their district finish followed by Wild Cards. There may be times when teams have to be placed other than their order of finish to avoid teams in the same district meeting in the first round."

[BCsportsfan]

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.

 

 

 

Alcoa's offense needs to become more balanced if Alcoa is ever to go to the next level and compete with Maryville. The run, run, run and run some more might work again this season for a 3A championship, but teams last season in the play-offs like CAK, Marion Co. and Milan basically "stacked the box" knowing Alcoa was not as balanced as previous years. I am just glad Alcoa did have a physical running game too count on. But, IMO, it was clearly the defense that won Alcoa the championship last year. The Offense last season was plain.......flat.......and vanilla........"TOO" Alcoa standards. So, I agree with APB...........we were WEAK at wr outside of Sam Thompson and need to develop wr's and a better passing game this season. Especially a short passing game to give the QB a quick "safety valve" to deal with the rush.

[BoardHater71]

Alcoa's offense needs to become more balanced if Alcoa is ever to go to the next level and compete with Maryville. The run, run, run and run some more might work again this season for a 3A championship, but teams last season in the play-offs like CAK, Marion Co. and Milan basically "stacked the box" knowing Alcoa was not as balanced as previous years. I am just glad Alcoa did have a physical running game too count on. But, IMO, it was clearly the defense that won Alcoa the championship last year. The Offense last season was plain.......flat.......and vanilla........"TOO" Alcoa standards. So, I agree with APB...........we were WEAK at wr outside of Sam Thompson and need to develop wr's and a better passing game this season. Especially a short passing game to give the QB a quick "safety valve" to deal with the rush.

 

 

Even by Alcoa standards you must say that there is no way that you could realistically expect the same from a first year starting QB and a relatively young offense......which is what Alcoa had last year for the most part outside of Sam Thompson.

 

When Alcoa first started the title run they had a QB named Joei Fiegler. I do not know where he is playing today but he had a good arm and was very accurate. He was fortunate enough to be able to throw the ball to guys like Brandon Warren & Kyrus Lanxter. Warren will likely be starting at split end for the Tennessee Vols this fall and Lanxter will likely be starting at split end for the Kentucky Wilcats this fall. The next quarterback was Randall Cobb. Cobb was the best freshman football player in the entire SEC last season at Kentucky. He was fortunate enough to have receivers like Brian Sommer. I do not know where Sommer is today (if he's anywhere) because he was kicked out of the school if I remember correctly. Cobb was a great athlete who could really run and improvise. Both Fiegler & Cobb had big time caliber players at RB in the backfield with them in Dustin Lindsay & Chris Shiverdecker. I do not know where either of them are playing today but I would be willing to bet that both of them are playing at the next level.

 

Last year Chase James was a first year starter at QB. This year's QB will be a first year starter as well. Alcoa's talent last year was exactly where the talent is going to be at on this year's offense. They have a physical offensive line that can really get after folks. They have 4-5 running backs who can all carry the load and produce numbers. They have a player that plays tight end for them who will be able to play anywhere he wants once this next year is completed.

 

If Alcoa gets really pass happy and starts throwing a bunch of INTs then you would likely get on here and question Rankin's philosophy. If Alcoa is "vanilla" and plays to their strengths and runs the football at will then their chances of success are greatly improved. Remember the following philosophy: "THROW IS FOR SHOW.........RUN IS FOR DOUGH".

[ILuvsports]

Even by Alcoa standards you must say that there is no way that you could realistically expect the same from a first year starting QB and a relatively young offense......which is what Alcoa had last year for the most part outside of Sam Thompson.

 

When Alcoa first started the title run they had a QB named Joei Fiegler. I do not know where he is playing today but he had a good arm and was very accurate. He was fortunate enough to be able to throw the ball to guys like Brandon Warren & Kyrus Lanxter. Warren will likely be starting at split end for the Tennessee Vols this fall and Lanxter will likely be starting at split end for the Kentucky Wilcats this fall. The next quarterback was Randall Cobb. Cobb was the best freshman football player in the entire SEC last season at Kentucky. He was fortunate enough to have receivers like Brian Sommer. I do not know where Sommer is today (if he's anywhere) because he was kicked out of the school if I remember correctly. Cobb was a great athlete who could really run and improvise. Both Fiegler & Cobb had big time caliber players at RB in the backfield with them in Dustin Lindsay & Chris Shiverdecker. I do not know where either of them are playing today but I would be willing to bet that both of them are playing at the next level.

 

Last year Chase James was a first year starter at QB. This year's QB will be a first year starter as well. Alcoa's talent last year was exactly where the talent is going to be at on this year's offense. They have a physical offensive line that can really get after folks. They have 4-5 running backs who can all carry the load and produce numbers. They have a player that plays tight end for them who will be able to play anywhere he wants once this next year is completed.

 

If Alcoa gets really pass happy and starts throwing a bunch of INTs then you would likely get on here and question Rankin's philosophy. If Alcoa is "vanilla" and plays to their strengths and runs the football at will then their chances of success are greatly improved. Remember the following philosophy: "THROW IS FOR SHOW.........RUN IS FOR DOUGH".

 

 

I agree 100%

[BCsportsfan]

Even by Alcoa standards you must say that there is no way that you could realistically expect the same from a first year starting QB and a relatively young offense......which is what Alcoa had last year for the most part outside of Sam Thompson.

 

When Alcoa first started the title run they had a QB named Joei Fiegler. I do not know where he is playing today but he had a good arm and was very accurate. He was fortunate enough to be able to throw the ball to guys like Brandon Warren & Kyrus Lanxter. Warren will likely be starting at split end for the Tennessee Vols this fall and Lanxter will likely be starting at split end for the Kentucky Wilcats this fall. The next quarterback was Randall Cobb. Cobb was the best freshman football player in the entire SEC last season at Kentucky. He was fortunate enough to have receivers like Brian Sommer. I do not know where Sommer is today (if he's anywhere) because he was kicked out of the school if I remember correctly. Cobb was a great athlete who could really run and improvise. Both Fiegler & Cobb had big time caliber players at RB in the backfield with them in Dustin Lindsay & Chris Shiverdecker. I do not know where either of them are playing today but I would be willing to bet that both of them are playing at the next level.

 

Last year Chase James was a first year starter at QB. This year's QB will be a first year starter as well. Alcoa's talent last year was exactly where the talent is going to be at on this year's offense. They have a physical offensive line that can really get after folks. They have 4-5 running backs who can all carry the load and produce numbers. They have a player that plays tight end for them who will be able to play anywhere he wants once this next year is completed.

 

If Alcoa gets really pass happy and starts throwing a bunch of INTs then you would likely get on here and question Rankin's philosophy. If Alcoa is "vanilla" and plays to their strengths and runs the football at will then their chances of success are greatly improved. Remember the following philosophy: "THROW IS FOR SHOW.........RUN IS FOR DOUGH".

 

 

You don't need to be "pass happy"...........just have enough passing game to prevent defenses from putting five in the box and bringing the LB's up tight. For sure........."run is for dough" less your playing a physical defense like Maryville's defense. Talking about Maryville,how many years has GQ developed a balanced offense and a strong passing game that Alcoa or anyone else could stop? Maryville had a two first year QB's last season dividing time. Had it not been for injuries a WR position hampering the passing game in the championship game, Maryville may still be undefeated. Balance is a good thing.

 

With T-Rob, Isom, Barnes, etc. Alcoa has serious wr talent this season to be better balanced. The pass game just needs to be developed................is that your job "iluvsports"?? If so, I got a lot of Alcoa/Maryville games you can watch.

[Tom142]

You don't need to be "pass happy"...........just have enough passing game to prevent defenses from putting five in the box and bringing the LB's up tight. For sure........."run is for dough" less your playing a physical defense like Maryville's defense. Talking about Maryville,how many years has GQ developed a balanced offense and a strong passing game that Alcoa or anyone else could stop? Maryville had a two first year QB's last season dividing time. Had it not been for injuries a WR position hampering the passing game in the championship game, Maryville may still be undefeated. Balance is a good thing.

 

With T-Rob, Isom, Barnes, etc. Alcoa has serious wr talent this season to be better balanced. The pass game just needs to be developed................is that your job "iluvsports"?? If so, I got a lot of Alcoa/Maryville games you can watch.

 

 

WR is looking more and more promising for this next year. We all know what T-Rob can do, I've heard that Isom has turned the heads of some D-1 coaches, I've heard from a good source that Barnes is already getting some serious D-1 looks already add in Jared Jett and you've got four receivers all over 6'3 that are pretty darn good, add in a talented LaJuan Warfield, the great hands of Daniel Robinson, and the very young, but talented freshman Kenny Dean, (who I've heard is close to 6'2), and we should have a very talented, and DEEP, receiving corp.

[thesmartestpersonalive]

I could not agree more with BC on the subject of Alcoa??™s use of its receiving core. The Offense run by Coach Rankin is ubersimplistic to the point that it does hinder the use of Alcoa??™s plethora of diversified athletes. There were occasions last year where Alcoa ran six different plays the entire game and I would venture to guess that the play variety never exceeded 18 plays. The lack receivers behind Thompson last year was not an issue Stephen Isom, Jared Jett, Daniel Rockymore and Brenden Rudd (no longer on the team from what I??™ve heard) were all capable receivers with plenty of athletic ability and good hands. The problem is with the offensive design in which all pass plays are designed with two reads the primary receiver be that the tight end or the first receiver, the second option is the fullback and after that the quarterback is to run without considering a third or fourth passing option. The offense does not even run combination routes to attempt to at least confuse defensive backs, but every play is called to an individual receiver. Yes this system will win a state championship in 3A this year just as it has the in 2A the last three yeas, but it will not beat the gameplan mastermind George Quarles. Even a team like Fulton who can almost match Alcoa??™s Athletes may pose problems for Alcoa this year just as they did for the Tornadoes in 2006 when Alcoa refused to diversify the passing game. By no means am I suggesting that Alcoa open up the offense like Mike Leach and the Red Raiders of Lubbock, but a proliferation passing attack is needed not only in play calling but in use of players if Alcoa is to rise to another tier in its football dominion of Tennessee. Alcoa is without question the best small school in Tennessee and of the elite regardless of classification but without question they are capable of being the best team in the state but they would have to expand their offense and maybe condense their defense to accomplish such a feat.

[Indian]

He was fortunate enough to have receivers like Brian Sommer. I do not know where Sommer is today (if he's anywhere) because he was kicked out of the school if I remember correctly.

 

 

 

Pretty sure he signed with UT-Martin eventually after previously getting a lot of Division 1-A interest. I don't know if he's still there.

[thesmartestpersonalive]

Pretty sure he signed with UT-Martin eventually after previously getting a lot of Division 1-A interest. I don't know if he's still there.

 

 

He did sign UTM but I just checked their roster, he was listed so I doubt hes playing anywhere. Howdoitknow also asked about Joei Fiegler, he signed with UAB this february as quaterback/punter he has a good chance of starting at punter but I believe they return their starting Quarterback.

[OwlStMafia]

Coach Rankin and his staff do a great job. They work with their qbs and wrs everyday. I say they know more than we do about the ins and outs of what they can/should run. With their dominace the last few years of everyone except Maryville, I think their offense is ok. Has anyone else even played them close????? You guys have watched too much ESPN. I agree you probably need something to talk about since you are probably bored with all those trophies, but try throwing the ball and losing. You will then say turn around and hand to the running back and let him go. Playaction off of that a little and play great defense. I think rankin does what he has to do to win....

 

I have read on here that Alcoa is signed up for a passing league. You guys make sure that you go.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rankin can't run in those. Alcoa might actually lose a game!!! I did see that Maryville is in the same league!!!!

Rankin can scout GQ and run all his plays. Then you would be happy right???????????????

 

PS-I hope Alcoa does pass!!!!!!!! It might give everyone else a chance! Our only chance. See if you guys can talk Rankin into just throwing it all over the place this year. I am your biggest fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!