best football in TN is where?

[theawesomebro]

@HTV says it means more in east TN or maybe knoxville area.  not sure i agree but would love to hear his case. 

where is the best football region, county, city?  let's hear it.

ima gather some facts and report back...

 

[TeeterTot2]

The best football is in the Large Private division.  They have the best players, best facilities, and coaches.  That division is so good it changed the TN high school landscape forever. 

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

45 minutes ago, theawesomebro said:

@HTV says it means more in east TN or maybe knoxville area.  not sure i agree but would love to hear his case. 

where is the best football region, county, city?  let's hear it.

ima gather some facts and report back...

 

I don’t know if it is best in the state but region 6-2A is stout for the size schools in the region. There are 9 gold balls and 14 silver balls in that region. Pretty impressive. 

[Rhea Co.]

4 hours ago, theawesomebro said:

@HTV says it means more in east TN or maybe knoxville area.  not sure i agree but would love to hear his case. 

where is the best football region, county, city?  let's hear it.

ima gather some facts and report back...

 

Just my opinion- I think top to bottom the Knoxville area can make an argument for best football. I’ve heard it said in Northeast Tn and in the Chattanooga area. Knoxville is where the playoffs end for those teams. 

I think for small schools the Chattanooga area could make an argument with teams like South Pitt, Marion, Tyner, Meigs, maybe a lesser extent Whitwell, Bledsoe and Red Bank before they moved up to 4A. Even the last 20 years you could throw Signal Mt in there when Bill Price was there and Boyd Buc before the split.

Private school and Big School- Murfreesboro (Public) and Nashville (Private) has the better football. However, recently D2 AAA has been Chattanooga with Baylor and McCallie. 
 

At the County level you have 

Blount, Rutherford, and Marion come to my mind about the best football year in year out. 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Rhea Co.

[MidTennFootball]

14 minutes ago, BIGPURPLEMACHINE said:

I don’t know if it is best in the state but region 6-2A is stout for the size schools in the region. There are 9 gold balls and 14 silver balls in that region. Pretty impressive. 

It's the best region top to bottom among the 6 public school classes. A good team is gonna get left out of the playoffs this year

[theawesomebro]

52 minutes ago, Rhea Co. said:

Just my opinion- I think top to bottom the Knoxville area can make an argument for best football. I’ve heard it said in Northeast Tn and in the Chattanooga area. Knoxville is where the playoffs end for those teams. 

one knock would be knoxville D2 is not very good.  outside of baylor & mccallie, chatt D2 isn't great either.   otherwise, I agree.

Edited July 25, 2023 by theawesomebro

[theawesomebro]

I did a quick look at rivals high school recruiting rankings for TN for 2024 and 2025 and grouped the talent by the closest big city.  of course these can change but I think it is interesting to see where based on this data point.

2024 (top 25 recruits)

memphis - 4

nashville - 12

chatt - 6

knox - 3

2025 (top 20 recruits)

memphis - 5

nashville - 10

chatt - 4

knox - 1

 

[Red Rebels]

BLOUNT COUNTY!

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

1 hour ago, theawesomebro said:

I did a quick look at rivals high school recruiting rankings for TN for 2024 and 2025 and grouped the talent by the closest big city.  of course these can change but I think it is interesting to see where based on this data point.

2024 (top 25 recruits)

memphis - 4

nashville - 12

chatt - 6

knox - 3

2025 (top 20 recruits)

memphis - 5

nashville - 10

chatt - 4

knox - 1

 

This is good data but it is only relative from the size of the population of the given area it’s pulled from. Also are we strictly talking about encorporated limits of the cities or are we talking about the general area. Middle TN as a whole has the biggest population to pull from of the 3 grand divisions. Would make sense for them to have more top prospects. 

[LCAlumni4]

Use to be middle TN in my opinion but as coaches move and players progress and teams get better Its hard to say.

[theawesomebro]

4 hours ago, BIGPURPLEMACHINE said:

This is good data but it is only relative from the size of the population of the given area it’s pulled from. Also are we strictly talking about encorporated limits of the cities or are we talking about the general area. Middle TN as a whole has the biggest population to pull from of the 3 grand divisions. Would make sense for them to have more top prospects. 

good question and a good point.  I just lumped them in to the closest large city.  

[TheTruthHurts22]

6 hours ago, Rhea Co. said:

Just my opinion- I think top to bottom the Knoxville area can make an argument for best football. I’ve heard it said in Northeast Tn and in the Chattanooga area. Knoxville is where the playoffs end for those teams. 

I think for small schools the Chattanooga area could make an argument with teams like South Pitt, Marion, Tyner, Meigs, maybe a lesser extent Whitwell, Bledsoe and Red Bank before they moved up to 4A. Even the last 20 years you could throw Signal Mt in there when Bill Price was there and Boyd Buc before the split.

Private school and Big School- Murfreesboro (Public) and Nashville (Private) has the better football. However, recently D2 AAA has been Chattanooga with Baylor and McCallie. 
 

At the County level you have 

Blount, Rutherford, and Marion come to my mind about the best football year in year out. 

+1