DarterBlue2

You are not wrong.

If the private schools were not able to provide a lot of financial aid to attract talent, most of them would not be state contenders and the ones that were able to be based on "regular" enrollment, would not be super teams year after year. Schools like Dillard, Deerfield and Ely would have hung on to a lot of their talent and if they had consistent, good coaching would have state titles among them to show for it.

Mr. Wave, I was a fan of Graham the athlete; is he a good coach? Also, how long has Evangelical had a football program, and has it ever done well in the past?

If restrictions were placed on private schools, too, St. Thomas and probably Trinity Christian would have suffered the most. Regarding the public schools, some of the South Florida schools would have been the biggest beneficiaries (Miami Northwestern which would not have lost a bunch of its talent to Central when the 2006 coaching staff departed comes to mind). Another school that may have done well, provided they had a good, stable coaching staff, that few would mention would have been Orlando Evans, which over the past 18 years has seen a lot of its talent end up at a variety of schools, including but not limited to: Edgewater, West Orange, Dr. Phillips, and more recently, Wekiva. In Polk County, Lake Gibson may have had several better years if it had been able to keep its talent at home. In Broward, your Alma Mata, Dillard, would have been a lot more consistent year to year and with the right staff would have made playoff runs.

Go ahead and start it. It is something that I have an opinion on. Back in the late 1990s when I first started to follow high school football, there were powers. But from year to year, there was no guarantee that these schools would make states: not even the well funded private schools like St. Thomas. That's because the concept of the "super team" had not fully developed yet. So, even the very good programs had their weaknesses which resulted in them often getting taken down in the later rounds of the playoffs. This is not so much the case today.

I agree. Overall, it cheapens the meaning of success. But it probably just reflects human nature. When we don't have rules that properly limit stuff like this, first a team or two take advantage, then everyone that wants to do well and has access to nearby talent feels compelled to. The end result is that year after year, a handful of teams make it to the title games in most classes ... it is probably part, though not all, of the reason that the finals attendance has shrunk over the years.

It is now college junior. All we now need is a formal draft!

Central will give Dillard all it can handle. Can Dillard win? Sure, but it will not be easy and at a minimum, you will need to avoid bad luck situations (turnovers, unnecessary penalties, etc.). Also, Mainland will have their best team since at least four years ago, and although they never got through the big three back in the day, but for a bounce here or there, they could have. So, I am saying enjoy what should be a good season, but keep in mind the fact that a deep run is not a certainty. It is certainly possible, but all I am saying is don't count your chickens yet, take it one game at a time.

Exactly. In fact at the youth level they are weight limits in football. We need one at the high school level to protect both smaller players and the really overweight ones (in this case from themselves) or else we will only fuel the calls from those who want the game banned.

I honestly think Dillard will be a contender. You have a fairly tough road in the playoffs, but the Panthers probably have their best chance to go deep in several years. The team will need some luck to get there and I don't think it will be easy, but it is possible ...

For high school they should have a limit to weight in the 300 lbs area. So, if a really big kid wants to play, he would need to work the extra off over the late spring and summer. That way the ceiling would be limited for all schools. If colleges wanted to bulk them up later on, it would be on them. But at the high school level, I just think 400 is way too much weight.

I think when you have 18 and 17 year old kids carrying this kind of weight, all we are doing is providing ammunition to the haters of this sport. No way kids this age should be carrying around 400 pounds regardless of frame or how much of it is fat. Many will have cardiovascular issues in their 30s and 40s, if not before, and that's a shame.

Good Lord! That is beyond madness. I don't care what kind of frame these kids have, that is setting them up for an early death. Plus, I am not even sure that that's a good thing as they will probably tire quickly and wear down in the second half.

That's a typo, right?

Maybe the off season activity :)!

Ah yes, huge loss for them. Looked at his Junior highlights. Fast no doubt, the ball was not passed to him much though, he got a lot of pitches and had many long runs. Premium athlete, though.

Yes, but does he have good hands?

Top to bottom, I think Central's schedule is slightly stronger.

Matthew Bolling confirmed my thoughts above with a win in the Pam Am Junior games last night beating two Jamaicans into second and third in a time that was a tenth of a second faster than the second place finisher. At this stage of his career he is clearly world class and if he continues to improve will be a force in the sprints at the 2024 Olympics. If he were running for a smaller country (with less depth) such as Jamaica he would probably pick up a spot for the current games which begin next week, if not in the individual events, then certainly for a leg in the 4x100 relays.

Dramatic finish and tough loss for Vanguard. Southeast seemed to be coasting up 19 and then the wheels fell off.

Very strong on the front end, weak on the back end. Smart in the sense that banged up starters will have a chance to get healthy for the playoffs.

I don't know who Raines has coming in, but based on what I saw of them in the spring game, they have a lot of work to do. Solid team, but not a must to make it to the State final.

Now that's, too, funny! Very different individuals those too.

Ok, that's kind of different. Maybe Gatorman-uf explains it then.

It's probably just the staff not the kids.