Is Johnson City Science Hill competing this year?

[noonesfool]

Are the Toppers just fielding a team or are they competitive this year? Not asking for anyone, because I’m not sure how many even care.

Edited July 22, 2022 by noonesfool
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[blazer1set]

1 hour ago, noonesfool said:

Are the Toppers just fielding a team or are they competitive this year? Not asking for anyone, because I’m not sure how many even care.

Science Hill has athletes all over the field every year, for some reason they just cannot ever seem to play as a cohesive unit.    Not taking away from the guys on the field, maybe it's the schemes they run just don't match well with their opponents.    Maybe it's coaching.   Hard to say for sure.   But to answer your question, I would say they are just fielding a team like everybody else in 5A/6A NET

[DBKPT93]

I know one thing. Week 1 they will come out flat and probably get beat by Betsy. It’s almost guaranteed. No matter how good of a team Science Hill has they will not play hard against the Cyclones

[WaCoJaCo]

The head coach rode Curt Phillips coattails when he was at South and that was enough to get the head job in Johnson City. Then he went out and hired all his buddies to fill his staff. A good ole' boy system that not even DB can match. The talent they put on the field last year was second only to Oakland and you see how that turned out. Greeneville and Elizabethton figured it out, maybe someday SH & DB will. But I wouldn't hold my breath. 

[cbg]

The lower the level of athletic competition the more influence the coaching staff has over the games.  At the high school level it’s all about getting your average athletes to play at a higher level than the other teams average players.  The great players will typically cancel each other out.  If SH truly has great athletes then it must be coaching or lack of support from the administrators. Personally, I am not convinced that SH has enough good athletes with the size and speed to compete with the better teams from Middle Tennessee. A former national strength coach of the year told me that he can get the team stronger than every team they play against but if they don’t run well enough they are doomed.  Speed kills!

[WaCoJaCo]

4 hours ago, cbg said:

The lower the level of athletic competition the more influence the coaching staff has over the games.  At the high school level it’s all about getting your average athletes to play at a higher level than the other teams average players.  The great players will typically cancel each other out.  If SH truly has great athletes then it must be coaching or lack of support from the administrators. Personally, I am not convinced that SH has enough good athletes with the size and speed to compete with the better teams from Middle Tennessee. A former national strength coach of the year told me that he can get the team stronger than every team they play against but if they don’t run well enough they are doomed.  Speed kills!

Yes, speed kills.......and good coaching kills speed. Case in point, a few years back Science Hill had a player by the name of Malik McGue, a speedster at QB. Had a descent arm but was more known for his speed at cutting and running. I'm pretty sure he was runner-up in voting for Mr. Football. Nobody could stop him. Until they ran into Maryville in the playoffs. If I remember correctly, McGue barely got across the line of scrimmage until late in the fourth quarter when Maryville had their 3's in. This might not be the best example though because Carter was easy Pickins' for the Maryville staff. 

[blazer1set]

3 hours ago, WaCoJaCo said:

Yes, speed kills.......and good coaching kills speed. Case in point, a few years back Science Hill had a player by the name of Malik McGue, a speedster at QB. Had a descent arm but was more known for his speed at cutting and running. I'm pretty sure he was runner-up in voting for Mr. Football. Nobody could stop him. Until they ran into Maryville in the playoffs. If I remember correctly, McGue barely got across the line of scrimmage until late in the fourth quarter when Maryville had their 3's in. This might not be the best example though because Carter was easy Pickins' for the Maryville staff. 

You are 100% correct, I was at that Maryville game.    Science Hill did not cross the 50 on offense until late in the 4th quarter.    Maryville's defensive scheme was really pretty straightforward, instead of rushing after McGue the defensive line held their place and moved laterally with him instead of chasing him north/south.    That takes good coaching and discipline because your instincts are to rush back there and bury the guy, which is what all the teams in NET tried to do when playing SH.    Once he put a few juke moves on you then it was 6 points the other way.   I have no doubt that Maryville practiced that one defensive scheme for the week prior to the SH game until they could do it in their sleep.    Final Maryville 45,  SH  0

[theawesomebro]

On 7/22/2022 at 7:48 PM, WaCoJaCo said:

The talent they put on the field last year was second only to Oakland and you see how that turned out.

that is quite a statement.  how do you figure?

[WaCoJaCo]

5 hours ago, theawesomebro said:

that is quite a statement.  how do you figure?

I figured it out with a slide rule.