The Commercial Appeal: Tennessee Super 25 prep football preseason poll.

[kwc]

The Commercial Appeal: Tennessee Super 25 prep football preseason poll.

Tom Kreager, Nashville Teenessean

It was a rocky path, but the Tennessee high school football season has arrived.

For the third year, The USA Today Network will rank the top teams in its Tennessee Super 25 poll. A group of statewide high school sports writers from across the network will vote each week on the top 25 teams in Tennessee.

All schools in the state were considered even if their seasons have been delayed for county decisions on COVID-19.

Here is the preseason poll with first-place votes in parentheses.

1. Oakland (7) 199 pts.

Last season: 13-1. This week: vs. Hendersonville.

2. Alcoa (1) 184 pts.

Last season: 14-1. This week: vs. Blackman.

3. Maryville 173 pts.

Last season: 15-0. This week: vs. Heritage.

4. Brentwood 171 pts.

Last season: 10-3. This week: at Nolensville.

5. Knoxville Central 149 pts

Last season: 13-2. This week: at Cleveland.

T-6 Evangelical Christian School 147 pts

Last season: 13-1. This week: Open.

T-6. McCallie 147 pts.

Last season: 11-2. This week: Open.

8. Pearl-Cohn 143 pts.

Last season: 14-1. This week: Open.

9. Montgomery Bell Academy 136 pts.

Last season: 8-5. This week: Open.

10. Baylor 131 pts.

Last season: 9-2. This week: Open.

11. Memphis University School 116 pts.

Last season: 10-2. This week: Open.

12. Whitehaven 107 pts.

Last season: 10-2. This week: Open.

13. Christ Presbyterian Academy 105 pts.

Last season: 7-7. This week: at Riverdale.

14. Houston 102 pts.

Last season: 13-1. This week: vs. Christian Brothers.

15. Ravenwood 99 pts

Last season: 13-2. This week: at Centennial.

16. Riverdale 64 pts.

Last season: 7-4. This week: vs. CPA.

17. Oak Ridge 58 pts.

Last season: 6-6. This week: at Hardin Valley.

18. Knoxville West 55 pts.

Last season: 12-2. This week: Open.

19. Brentwood Academy 52 pts.

Last season: 6-4. This week: vs. Lipscomb Academy.

20. Cane Ridge 50 pts.

Last season: 8-4. This week: Open.

21. Knoxville Catholic 42 pts.

Last season: 7-4. This week: vs. Chuckey-Doak.

22. Christian Brothers 41 pts.

Last season: 6-5. This week: at Houston.

23. Summit 40 pts.

Last season: 6-5. This week: at Houston.

24. Hardin County 23 pts.

Last season: 11-2. This week: vs. McNairy Central.

25. Henry County 21 pts.

Last season 10-3. This week: vs. Haywood County.

Teams receiving 10 or more points: Elizabethton 13, Dobyns-Bennett 12.

Edited August 19, 2020 by kwc

[EHSTrack06]

Wow, Elizabethton couldn't crack the top 25 after a title and returning most starters.

Edited August 19, 2020 by EHSTrack06

[RocketHouse]

23 minutes ago, EHSTrack06 said:

Wow, Elizabethton couldn't crack the top 25 after a title and returning most starters.

I doubt the guy that wrote that knows where Elizabethton is. 

[EHSTrack06]

18 minutes ago, Salem said:

I doubt the guy that wrote that knows where Elizabethton is. 

Haha fair point

[Rerun92]

No Elizabethton.  No Pal.  Oak Ridge going from a 500 team to 15th in the state?  Catholic at 21?  

 

This is irresponsible journalism.

[EHSTrack06]

52 minutes ago, GangTackle said:

Will the Cyclones defense be up to par with last year's team? They had some great players on the Dline and other spots.

We took a hit on offense losing our HB but our QB returns and is a good dual threat. The O-line is the same but the Defense is a notch under last year as of now, after game one the opinion might be different though. Now let me get this out there and say polls are meaningless and don't bother me. BUT for the kids playing, it's always nice to have recognition and to be left out of a top 25 poll when you were one of the best 6 teams in the state is insane. Especially considering there are teams on this list who went 6-5 last year. Regardless of conference or division going 6-5 shouldn't make you a top 25 team in any state imho.

[SteersNBeers]

Maryville plays William Blount, not Heritage. Shows what they know. 

[kingindian33]

Biggest and Best team DB has had since 2014 ... Returning most . 

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

1 hour ago, EHSTrack06 said:

We took a hit on offense losing our HB but our QB returns and is a good dual threat. The O-line is the same but the Defense is a notch under last year as of now, after game one the opinion might be different though. Now let me get this out there and say polls are meaningless and don't bother me. BUT for the kids playing, it's always nice to have recognition and to be left out of a top 25 poll when you were one of the best 6 teams in the state is insane. Especially considering there are teams on this list who went 6-5 last year. Regardless of conference or division going 6-5 shouldn't make you a top 25 team in any state imho.

I will start by saying Betsy should be on the list. It amazes me that Hardin Co is on the list and not Betsy or Greeneville for that matter. But just because Betsy won state doesn’t necessarily mean they were one of the top 6 last year. I think there were a handful of 6A and Division 2 teams better and one could argue Knox Central and Alcoa. Just my two cents. No disrespect intended. 

[EHSTrack06]

2 hours ago, BIGPURPLEMACHINE said:

I will start by saying Betsy should be on the list. It amazes me that Hardin Co is on the list and not Betsy or Greeneville for that matter. But just because Betsy won state doesn’t necessarily mean they were one of the top 6 last year. I think there were a handful of 6A and Division 2 teams better and one could argue Knox Central and Alcoa. Just my two cents. No disrespect intended. 

Definitely. I wouldn't even put EHS at #6 but to be out of the top 25 completely is insane at best. The pattern with these big polls seems that unless you win a title in 5A-6A or you are Alcoa or a Private school  anyone else gets overlooked. Greeneville year in and year out could beat probably half the teams on that list. DB is poised to have one of their best seasons but somehow 6-6 and 6-5 teams are looked at as better. I'm not a writer or an analyst but maybe these things will help set a fire under the teams that weren't on it. 

[kwc]

7 minutes ago, EHSTrack06 said:

Definitely. I wouldn't even put EHS at #6 but to be out of the top 25 completely is insane at best. The pattern with these big polls seems that unless you win a title in 5A-6A or you are Alcoa or a Private school  anyone else gets overlooked. Greeneville year in and year out could beat probably half the teams on that list. DB is poised to have one of their best seasons but somehow 6-6 and 6-5 teams are looked at as better. I'm not a writer or an analyst but maybe these things will help set a fire under the teams that weren't on it. 

Just out of curiosity on my part, where would you put EHS on this particular poll? WHere would you put Greenville, while we are at it?

[EHSTrack06]

1 hour ago, kwc said:

Just out of curiosity on my part, where would you put EHS on this particular poll? WHere would you put Greenville, while we are at it?

With what us and Greeneville have coming back I'd put both of us in the range of 10-20 I know we're better than the lower half and we're not near the top 5 and the rest of the top 10 I'm not confident on so I'd say somewhere around the middle is more than fair.