Tennessee Football beats the heck out of MICHE-EGA

[OS91]

Remember that Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and PA double the state of Tennessee in population, so therefore USA today top 25 rankings are going to be more from these states. ALso, a team might be as good from TN, but not get the respect or rankings because of the need to adhere to a high school frm one of the more populated media dominated states. Furthermore, with Mich. having 16 teams to TN's 13 and Tennessee having half the population speaks volumes. OSHSMAN is right though, my uncle played for Elyria High School just outside Cleveland in the early 70's on Ohio's second ranked team his senir year that only gave up 12 points all year. The crowds at ELyria's home game averaged 15,000. Teams from the Buckeye conference Lorain, Elyria, Sandusky, Avon Lake, etc. all have stadiums that seat over 10,000 and enrollments well over 2500 students. In Ohio, its easier to have this becasue of the population difference. The City of Elyria has a population of 50,000 and is located 7 miles west of cleveland. Just 6 miles north of Elyria is Lorain with a population of 60,000. Both these schools have enrollments over 3,000 kids and a football rich tradition.

 

 

In the south, where small towns are defined by athletics in alot of cases, teams like Rockwood, Oliver Springs, Onieda, Seymour would not have have high schools- there would be magnet schools creating large high schools. For instance one high school in Loudon County with an enrollment of 1800 or in Roane County with one or two schools. I think I would much rather have smaller schools and more participants and towns that idnetify with their schools than massive stadiums that are half filled when teams arent having a good year. Also, I think athletes are usually better in the south than north- more athleticism and speed compared to the big lineman type the north produces. This is te case alot as you see in recruiting Big Ten vsl SEC SPeed and athleticism vs. try and be more physcial Big 10. IN most caes in matchups we have seen the SEC come out on top in thse matchups.

[boneal52]

orangecrush, it's funny you would say that. Not that it isn't true, but coming from Iowa City, that is where perhaps the best football in Iowa is played with City High and West, not to mention them playing in the now branced Mississippi Valley Conference with all of the Cedar Rapids teams. Where in Tennessee do you live, and do your surrounding teams compare that way with the Iowa City schools specifically or just Iowa in general?

[OSHSman]

Posted by OS91:

Remember that Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and PA double the state of Tennessee in population, so therefore USA today top 25 rankings are going to be more from these states. ALso, a team might be as good from TN, but not get the respect or rankings because of the need to adhere to a high school frm one of the more populated media dominated states. Furthermore, with Mich. having 16 teams to TN's 13 and Tennessee having half the population speaks volumes. OSHSMAN is right though, my uncle played for Elyria High School just outside Cleveland in the early 70's on Ohio's second ranked team his senir year that only gave up 12 points all year. The crowds at ELyria's home game averaged 15,000. Teams from the Buckeye conference Lorain, Elyria, Sandusky, Avon Lake, etc. all have stadiums that seat over 10,000 and enrollments well over 2500 students. In Ohio, its easier to have this becasue of the population difference. The City of Elyria has a population of 50,000 and is located 7 miles west of cleveland. Just 6 miles north of Elyria is Lorain with a population of 60,000. Both these schools have enrollments over 3,000 kids and a football rich tradition.

 

 

In the south, where small towns are defined by athletics in alot of cases, teams like Rockwood, Oliver Springs, Onieda, Seymour would not have have high schools- there would be magnet schools creating large high schools. For instance one high school in Loudon County with an enrollment of 1800 or in Roane County with one or two schools. I think I would much rather have smaller schools and more participants and towns that idnetify with their schools than massive stadiums that are half filled when teams arent having a good year. Also, I think athletes are usually better in the south than north- more athleticism and speed compared to the big lineman type the north produces. This is te case alot as you see in recruiting Big Ten vsl SEC SPeed and athleticism vs. try and be more physcial Big 10. IN most caes in matchups we have seen the SEC come out on top in thse matchups.

 

Don't speak to fast. The Big 10 had a down year last year and won 1 bowl game, but I remember 2 years before last when the Big Ten went 6-1 in their bowl games and swept the SEC w/ Michigan beating Alabama, Michigan St. beating Florida, and Ohio St. beating South Carolina. These things run in cycles. As far as athletic talent, I believe it's the same everywhere, there are just as many pure athletes in the North as there are in the South. Chris Simms came from New Jersey, Charles Woodson from Ohio, and Casey Clausen is from California.

 

As far as schools, you talk about how you'd rather have more small schools, thus a larger number of participants. Lets not forget that the state doesn't set up the school system on the grounds of athletics. Schools exsist to provide an education, athletics are an enjoyable after school activity. There are smaller schools down here because the population is spread out more, you can't have 1500 kids driving 50 in one direction to go to school. Towns aren't that far apart in Michigan (unless you go to the Northern part of the state where schools are smaller).

 

Swildcat,

I was taken home to a house on 11 mile and Hoover in Warren. After my parents split, I moved w/ my mom to 8 mile and Van Dyke (yes, the same neighborhood that Eminem is from). My dad use to talk all the time about how his HS, Denby, would always be ranked in the top 20 across the mid-west, win the Detroit public school leauge by a landslide, and get waxed by the city Catholic leauge winner in the Good Hope Bowl. That's the way it goes I guess.

[ADAD]

And let's not forget what happened to Brentwood Academy when they venture up to play Cincinnati Xavier.

 

I would put Cleveland St. Ignatius, Cincinnati Moeller, Warren Harding and Massillon against any 5A team in Tennessee and spot you points.

 

Wouldn't it be neat to see some of the powerhouses from other states play the Tennessee powerhouses. The Ohio schools do just that, playing teams from Pennsylvania, Indiana and as far away as Florida.

[OS91]

OSHSMAN, there is absolutely no comparison to ahtletes in football in the north vs. the South. BC, West Virginia, Syracuse, Michigan, Wisconsin, Mineesota, Iowa, Nebraska have all raided the South for skilled positions from high school athletes from Texas, Florida, AL, GA, LA, MS. you never see SEC schools, with excpetion to UT recruiting in the north. ALL Big Ten schools recruit in the SOuth. Taking that into consideration that the Big Ten Schools have almost a 2.5 to 1 populaiton difference its obvvious where the athletes are. Sure, when you have Large schools like MOeller, Berwick PA, St. Ign. Cleve, ALlentown, Woodland Hills, PA you are gn to have powerhouese national powerhouese. The one poster who spoke of these schools beating on TN high schools- well frankly they should- but I would take southern high schools such as Valsota, Baton Rouge St. Evg., Odessa Permiun, Dallas Carter, Charlotte Ind and put them in 60 degree weather and the southern teams win almost regulary becasue of the athletic fast paced nature of the game- skill postion players.

 

You mentioned Chris Simms- I would hope you can give a better example- 11 ints 0 touchdowns before playing K state last week against top 25 competition.

[OS91]

.We are familiar with Brentwood and Macallie and some of the Big Boys in Private schools, but The State of Tennessee or the South for that matter hasn't seen real Recruiting until it sees some of the Catholic schools of the North in how this process is tied to youth leagues in cities. The same thing in basketball.

 

Also, I am well aware of education and the importance and firmly understand that school systems are decided in TN by not only the state, but mostly the counties determine the schools in public from K-12 and in some cases cities decide. Yes, Public schools are at a disadvantage vs. Public schools and alot of times larger schools have an advantage over smaller schools with a larger more advanced curriculum.

 

However, say for instance we used Roane County as an example and there was only One high school compared to the five currently- Midway, Kingston, Rockwood, Oliver Springs, and Harriman ( even though its a city school, this year) With One high school, only 80-90 would participate in football. With only 45 seeing significant playing time. With 5 schools, there are aprox. 210 dressed out this year with over 140-150 kids seeing playing time. You can make the same argument in all sports basketball, baseball, softball, and golf. Games such as Kingston/OS taken Rockwood/harriman Mid/Rckwd. Athletics build bridges and life lessons that are invaluable that are crucial skills that otherwise might not be taught. Just as you think larger schools that bring this curriculum and higher applitude, it also creates a disenchantment. The students that would benifet from the larger school/campus would almost do so regardless of school enrollment, the kids that suffer would be the students that smaller enrollment schools can reach out to through athletics, smaller classrooms, personable relationships with parents and teachers.

 

Examples of large high schools that were built ( not going to give examples, its not about that) have shown in the most cases were mistakes with oversized schools, high dropout rates, and only a percentage of the kids being reached and even though a larger curriculum, a lesser percentage of student involvement. In some ways, you could compare the Private schools of the North vs. the rural smaller schools- they both reach kids that would otherwise would not be involved if the circumstances were different

[OSHSman]

Athletes. Where did Magic Johnson come from? That's right, Flint, MI. What about Larry Bird? Correct again, French Lick, Ind. Dan Marino, Joe Montana? Good, Pennsylvania. What about Derek Jeter, John Smoltz, and Steve Avery? Michigan, that's right. Tom Glavine? Massachusetts. There are plenty of good athletes come from the North. I've not mentioned any of the hockey players because we all know where they come from (and if you don't think you have to be an athlete to play hockey, you're an idiot).

 

Big 10 schools don't "raid" the South and the distribuation of athletes, if anything, is greater in the North because of the population difference. Put North skill players in 30 degree weather and they'd win almost all the time. The Brackens brothers went to Michigan. Upon closer review, one would find they had family up there. Jon Jansen went to Michigan and came from Norcross, GA. Oh, wait, he was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Georgia when he was starting high school. Eddie George isn't from the South. Neither is Charles Rodgers. I could say SEC schools raid the North. UT wanted Chris Simms who's from New Jersey. Casey Clausen is from California. They aren't Southern boys.

 

As for recruiting, what goes on w/ the catholic schools goes on here, too. The catholic schools have a very long winning tradition, as a result a lot of good protestant football players go to catholic schools, you don't have to catholic to attend. They get good players on their reputation. The same thing happens w/ Riverdale in football and Farragut in baseball.

[OS91]

I never posted that there wasnt excpetional from the North. But, there are far more Div. 1 Athletes in southern states than northern. I am not going to get into a name dropping athletes who's who. Check out Unapproved Website or any recruting service- southern states win hands down when It comes to Div.1 athletes with less of a population. Better athletes are in the south. And yes, Northern schools raid the south. Have you checked a Big 10 roster or Big East roster lately?

[OSHSman]

Posted by OS91:

I never posted that there wasnt excpetional from the North. But, there are far more Div. 1 Athletes in southern states than northern. I am not going to get into a name dropping athletes who's who. Check out Unapproved Website or any recruting service- southern states win hands down when It comes to Div.1 athletes with less of a population. Better athletes are in the south. And yes, Northern schools raid the south. Have you checked a Big 10 roster or Big East roster lately?

 

Nah, I don't think so, maybe this is just you trying to re-fight the civil war.

[itzme]

Posted by FRADad:

And let's not forget what happened to Brentwood Academy when they venture up to play Cincinnati Xavier.

 

I would put Cleveland St. Ignatius, Cincinnati Moeller, Warren Harding and Massillon against any 5A team in Tennessee and spot you points.

 

Wouldn't it be neat to see some of the powerhouses from other states play the Tennessee powerhouses. The Ohio schools do just that, playing teams from Pennsylvania, Indiana and as far away as Florida.

 

I agree that those Cincy Catholic schools are tough. Isn't it true though, that Ohio teams are prohibited from traveling more than 50 miles out of the state to play? How do they take on all those Florida teams, except at home? If anyone from TN wants to play them, it has to be on their turf.

[Edited by itzme on 10-26-02 2:15P]

 

[OS91]

Take a look at Unapproved Website, Max Emigher recruiting, Streets & Smith, or any college football magazine in regards to recruiting.

 

I was born in the North, so not really biased either way..

[OSHSman]

Posted by OS91:

Take a look at Unapproved Website, Max Emigher recruiting, Streets & Smith, or any college football magazine in regards to recruiting.

 

I was born in the North, so not really biased either way..

 

Nah, to say that there's only one geographic region that produces good football players is assinine.