D2-AAA 2017

[CPAdore]

I wouldn't mind getting some knowledgable opinions from others.

 

Middle/East

 

Brentwood Academy- Obviously going to be one of the favorites. A lot of that will be dependent on Schoenwald. Oatsvall is one of the best players BA has ever had. Tough loss mentally for BA. With so much skill returning and a decent line they should be tough to beat. They always seem to get some surprising transfers as well (Sirmon).

 

Ensworth- Wow do they have a lot returning. I've heard they have a QB and a lineman that were ineligible this year that are very good. You would think King and Clifton are all they need. If they could put King at receiver with Malloy, wow that's scary. I think they will be competing with BA for the middle region.

 

MBA - They will obviously have a good o-line and well coached defense. They always have a good o-line and a well coached defense. I'm not a big believer in Allen at QB. He seems average at best. Without Ty they are going to need more than average IMO. Will they have the skill players to compete for first? Euverard will definitely have them in it.

 

McCallie- Who replaces Riddle? Potter is an outstanding offensive mind but it seems they never finish. I believe there running back was a senior as well right? We all know they will put up points. I believe their defense will continue to be a sieve. Hard to win consistently when you have to score as many points as they do. 

 

Baylor - Another extremely well coached team. If they could ever find a QB they would be so much better. You would think with their ability to pull kids from all over they could find one this off-season. I'm not knowledgable enough but maybe they have an up and comer? I've heard they have had some good freshman teams the past couple of years. 

 

Sorry Father Ryan and PJP2. Maybe 2018?

 

West

 

Then land of the unknowns. It seemed like Briarcrest was much improved under their new coach. He was new right? Will this improvement continue? MUS went undefeated and then lost to an average Baylor team? Was MUS young? What was the deal there? Don't get me started on CBHS. How does a school with that many boys not consistently push for the championship each year? Blows my mind. Sorry St. Benedict. Football obviously isn't very important to you. I'm obviously not that knowledgable about the west. Any insight Memphis guys?

 

 

[CPAdore]

Middle/East

1) Ensworth 2) BA 3) Baylor 4)MBA 5)McCallie 6)Father Ryan 7)PJP2

 

West

1) MUS 2) CBHS 3)Briarcrest 4) St. Benedict

[WilsonJr1990]

I wouldn't mind getting some knowledgable opinions from others.

 

Middle/East

 

Brentwood Academy- Obviously going to be one of the favorites. A lot of that will be dependent on Schoenwald. Oatsvall is one of the best players BA has ever had. Tough loss mentally for BA. With so much skill returning and a decent line they should be tough to beat. They always seem to get some surprising transfers as well (Sirmon).

 

Ensworth- Wow do they have a lot returning. I've heard they have a QB and a lineman that were ineligible this year that are very good. You would think King and Clifton are all they need. If they could put King at receiver with Malloy, wow that's scary. I think they will be competing with BA for the middle region.

 

MBA - They will obviously have a good o-line and well coached defense. They always have a good o-line and a well coached defense. I'm not a big believer in Allen at QB. He seems average at best. Without Ty they are going to need more than average IMO. Will they have the skill players to compete for first? Euverard will definitely have them in it.

 

McCallie- Who replaces Riddle? Potter is an outstanding offensive mind but it seems they never finish. I believe there running back was a senior as well right? We all know they will put up points. I believe their defense will continue to be a sieve. Hard to win consistently when you have to score as many points as they do.

 

Baylor - Another extremely well coached team. If they could ever find a QB they would be so much better. You would think with their ability to pull kids from all over they could find one this off-season. I'm not knowledgable enough but maybe they have an up and comer? I've heard they have had some good freshman teams the past couple of years.

 

Sorry Father Ryan and PJP2. Maybe 2018?

 

West

 

Then land of the unknowns. It seemed like Briarcrest was much improved under their new coach. He was new right? Will this improvement continue? MUS went undefeated and then lost to an average Baylor team? Was MUS young? What was the deal there? Don't get me started on CBHS. How does a school with that many boys not consistently push for the championship each year? Blows my mind. Sorry St. Benedict. Football obviously isn't very important to you. I'm obviously not that knowledgable about the west. Any insight Memphis guys?

Agree with most of what you said. Briarcrest was better than they have been in a while and were relatively young. Should be back in the mix for sure in the West, don't think they'll be in the talk for state championship. MUS was also young and may very well have the best coaching staff in the state. They will contend for the gold ball next year. CBHS has always amazed me as well. I do not understand how they are not yearly contenders to win, but I wouldn't expect much to change moving into next year unless they make some drastic changes. Right on point with SBA; large school who doesn't put necessary resources into football.

 

IMO, what really hurts the DII west large schools is the presence of very good smaller DII schools (St. George's, Harding, Lausanne, ECS, etc.) Obviously east TN teams deal with this also, but for the most part those small schools don't pull nearly as many athletes as the top schools. This year, St. George's, Harding, and Lausanne could've competed with or beaten any West DII-AA team.

[CPAdore]

Appreciate the West insight!

[owlman1967]

The middle/East will come down to BA vs Ensworth.

Ensworth gets most of its impressive db's back and their stud rb back on offense. 

BA like you said depends on Schoenwald's success but with their skill players I feel they and he will be fine. 

MBA will be interesting to see what happens with the loss of Chandler and Owens. Euverard will have those guy ready tho. 

McCallie and Baylor are bit unknown and usually are before every season. McCallie gets a little talent back but losing riddle will hurt them. Baylor gets their qb and #2 back so offense should be good, and I think a few of their LB's are back on defense. 

JP2 and Father Ryan will still be in heavy rebuilding mode, especially JP2 who is losing a good senior class. If Rector can get the players he can win, but if he doesn't then he won't. He is a good coach that can win and has wherever he has been, but idk how much the administration is behind him

The west like always will be a crap shoot but look for MUS again to be leader of it

[CPAdore]

You would think that with all the money Father Ryan is paying Rector (obviously rumors) that the administration would be behind him more than they were Lussier.

[zoneread56]

Yep, only time will tell on that however

[owlbooster]

 This year, St. George's, Harding, and Lausanne could've competed with or beaten any West DII-AA team.

Agree with this with one caveat - the MUS team that finished the season decimated by injuries not the one that beat USP in late September.

[baylorbigdog1976]

I'm not so sure about this - cbhs and mus both beat good teams but ran up against better this year in playoffs

 

Just don't believe those teams would beat mus or cbhs but that's me

 

Agree with this with one caveat - the MUS team that finished the season decimated by injuries not the one that beat USP in late September.

[owlbooster]

I'm not so sure about this - cbhs and mus both beat good teams but ran up against better this year in playoffs

 

Just don't believe those teams would beat mus or cbhs but that's me

 

Baylor was not a better team than MUS.  They did win the game, which is all, that counts.    You often make the comment "it depends on which team shows up" or whether a team "brings its A game."  Please read the post I  make in about 10 minutes.

 

I agree that it would be highly unlikely CBHS or MUS would lose to a I-A team, but I do think they, especially LAusanne, could be "competitive."

Edited December 9, 2016 by owlbooster

[owlbooster]

I wouldn't mind getting some knowledgable opinions from others.

 

West

 

Then land of the unknowns. It seemed like Briarcrest was much improved under their new coach. He was new right? Will this improvement continue? MUS went undefeated and then lost to an average Baylor team? Was MUS young? What was the deal there? Don't get me started on CBHS. How does a school with that many boys not consistently push for the championship each year? Blows my mind. Sorry St. Benedict. Football obviously isn't very important to you. I'm obviously not that knowledgable about the west. Any insight Memphis guys?

Since you asked....

 

The MUS team that beat South Panola 29-0 in late September was NOT the team that limped across the finish line, barely beating Briarcrest and CBHS - games they easily could have lost - and losing to Baylor.  This was not an elite MUS team and never a contender.  Before the injuries set in, I agreed with a poll in October that had them ranked behind BA and MBA.  Then they had a superlative defense headed by arguably the best group of linebackers in the state but only a mediocre offense directed by a streaky, mediocre one-dimensional (passing) QB.  But they didn't have the depth of past MUS elite teams.  Many players played both ways. (None of the MUS gold ballers of the last 15 years had any 2 way players) Then they lost 2 of their top 3 linebackers for the season.  One that avoided the injury bug - a 10th grader named Hopkins - ended up being named Mr. Football.  The QB injured his shoulder and was out for the month of October and never fully recovered.  Moreover, he re-injured it before the Baylor game, but was forced to play because the backup QB - who was also their top DB - was out with an ankle injury suffered in the CBHS game, which helped the Bros rebound from an early  14-0 deficit to take the lead and almost win.

 

As to the Baylor game.  I've already mentioned how gimpy the Owls were.  Historically, they have beaten more talented/athletic teams due to their discipline and execution.  Both of these were hugely lacking in this game.  It was by far their worst played game of the season and perhaps of the last decade.  They far surpassed any previous 2016 game in the number of penalties and penalty yardage.  They lost the "TO battle."  They were recovering a Baylor fumble on the 2 yard line line when an MUS player inadvertently kicked the ball out of the other player's arms and directly to a Baylor player.  Baylor kicked a FG.  The only Baylor TD was on a 3rd and 17 pass against an inexperienced 10th grader subbing for their best DB who as I mentioned above was not playing.  Off sides, motion, holding, etc penalties one after another. It was an absolute circus.  MUS "shot themselves in the foot" so many times that the local ERs were probably overflowing after the game.  LOL  To their credit, Baylor took advantage of this and did just enough to win the game. The only good thing was avoiding likely being humiliated at home by BA the next week.

 

As far as 2017. I cant' believe they won't be a contender - unless they suffer again from a lack of depth and the resulting susceptibility to injuries.  I'm not close to the program so i don't know about depth. Any QB has to be an improvement.  They have 3 legitimate Mr Football candidates in Hopkins, Hampton and Collins.  They have a rising 10th grader 6'4" 280 lb beast in Henderson.  The 3 "H" players will all be FBS at next level.  Hampton (rising junior) already has an offer from LSU.  One of those 2 injured LBs will return.  Their 2 best DBs will return.  So they have the nucleus of potentially a very good team, certainly the favorite in the West. 

 

BTW i completely agree with your comment about CBHS football.  However great BBall, baseball, soccer and wrestling teams every year.

FWIW, a now deceased friend of mine who was close to CBHS, told me that former coach Locastro frowned on or even totally boycotted his players from playing other sports.  Forced to make a choice, some of their best athletes chose baseball over football because they arguably had a better chance of playing at the next level in baseball.  Thus, their FB team suffered.  (He told me about a fireballer pitcher who could chuck a football 50 yards). This ostensibly had a large part with his being fired.

Just what I was told.....  

Edited December 9, 2016 by owlbooster

[baylorbigdog1976]

I agree - thought Baylor was better this year until the BA and McCallie game. Was thinking more with cbhs

 

Baylor was not a better team than MUS. They did win the game, which is all, that counts. You often make the comment "it depends on which team shows up" or whether a team "brings its A game." Please read the post I make in about 10 minutes.

 

I agree that it would be highly unlikely CBHS or MUS would lose to a I-A team, but I do think they, especially LAusanne, could be "competitive."