Perspective
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Posts posted by Perspective
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17 hours ago, joeycash2004 said:
I didn't know exactly how many years it was but I remembered them losing to Apopka that year and they should had of lost to Robert E. Lee a couple of years ago (controversial call). I also depends on schedule I see they play decent teams. Unless they run the table they wont get every home playoff game. then took at armwood, they win both home and away but manage to lay an egg in they state title game for the last 10 years. was basically saying that great teams win on the road. plant is a dynasty though no doubt about it
Curious what the 'controversial call' was in the Robert E. Lee game. According to MaxPreps, Plant won 27-19. If this is the game I'm thinking of, Lee got the ball back towards the end of the game and drove it down the field into the red zone. They ended up with a 4th and goal from inside the 5-yard line with time running down. Lee had been running a variation of the read option and the QB had rushed for over 100 yards. Plant loaded up the box and sold out on the QB keeping the ball on the 4th down play. He did and got stopped in his own backfield.
Even if Lee had scored on that play, they would have needed a 2-point conversion just to tie the game. I could be confusing this game with another, but that's my recollection. I don't recall a controversial play, but I'm always open to learning or being reminded.
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15 hours ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
Very close
All ticket sales in county is distributed equally regardless of who brings in fans and who stadium is empty
The centralized scheduling basically means that outside of OOS games and KOC the teams can only play teams in county for non conference games
And the only way they can play OOS or KOC games from outside the county is if the team specifically (not the county) or the OOS team covers the costs
I got a few other details from speaking to a coach of a very big name program but I'll stop there
Let's just say that is only tip of iceberg
This is on point. I may have used the word "district" instead of "conference," but the point remains the same - other than district games, a Hillsborough County school cannot cross the county line to play another team (except for the OOS and KOC games, as explained above).
For the last four years, all of Plant's district opponents (other than Wiregrass Ranch) have been other Hillsborough County schools. Plant moved back up to 8A for the next two years and all of its district opponents (other than Palm Harbor U.) will be other Hillsborough County schools. Plant has played a number of OOS games this decade (Abilene, TX, John C. Curtis, LA, Sandy Creek, GA, Lowndes, GA, Colquitt Co., GA, and Paul Bryant, AL) and is scheduled to play Gonzaga University High School (Washington, DC) this season. And the past couple of years - and this season coming up - Plant has played Venice in the KOC. Other than these games, Plant has had no control over its schedule.
The district games get scheduled and then the county fills in the remaining weeks on the schedule with other Hillsborough County opponents. Granted Hillsborough County is a big county, with several good football teams. And the County has a fairly sophisticated method of completing the schedule (involving long-standing rivalries, tiers of opponents, etc.). But, at the end of the day, the Hillsborough County public schools have very little control over their schedules, and virtually no ability to schedule teams outside of Hillsborough County, other than the KOC and an occasional OOS game. For teams like Plant and Armwood, this can come back to haunt them when determining strength of schedule and preparing for a playoff run.
Is what it is.
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2 hours ago, joeycash2004 said:
None of that matters unless they're bringing home that trophy. Tampa plant hasn't lost a home playoff game in so many years but yet still haven't able to hoist up the trophy
Some truth to what you say, but not entirely accurate.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say "in so many years," but using just this decade (which eliminates three of Plant's four State Championships), Plant has been in the playoffs every year. Their overall playoff record in the games played since (and including) 2010 is 24-8. They've hosted 17 home games and have won 16 of them. The lone exception was a state semifinals loss to Apopka in 2013. Not including state finals games played in Orlando, they've played 12 playoff games on the road and have won 7 (including wins at Viera, twice, at Lakeland, at Ft. Pierce Central and at East Lake when they were loaded). Of their five road losses, two were at Lakeland (including this year's loss in the Regional Finals to the eventual state champs) and two were at Dr. Phillips. In the state finals, Plant has lost to STA twice (in 2010 and 2016) and beat Miramar once (in 2011).
A couple more observations: if last year's state semifinals game had been played in Tampa instead of Jacksonville, I think Plant would have beaten Bartram Trail. Similarly, if this year's regional finals game had been played in Tampa instead of Lakeland, I don't think it would have mattered - Lakeland still would have won (but it would have been a little closer).
By virtue of winning their district, Plant has hosted the first round of the playoffs all nine years this decade. And they have won all nine games. Since the FHSAA changed the way playoffs are scheduled (first to the point system and now to the power index), the opening game is the only playoff game that Plant has played at home. The other five playoff games have all been road games. No doubt that history has shown that the Panthers have a better chance to win at home than on the road (probably true of most teams), but Hillsborough County's central funding/scheduling system may guaranty that Plant never gets to host a playoff game after the first round again, unless they can go undefeated.
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Here's what I see as a distant, impartial observer: Someone at Bolles (or a small collection of influential boosters) have made the decision, with the school's blessing, that they want to make a return to their football glory years. So, they looked around, found the best coach they could find in the area, and threw enough money at him to make the move from Ponte Vedra to Bolles.
Having made that commitment, Bolles isn't going to start turning away good football players. If anything, I would suspect the amount of "scholarship" money is going to be increased. You don't go out and hire a million dollar a year CEO to manage a group of $20K a year employees. Whether they come in the form of transfers from Ponte Vedra or elsewhere, they will come. They will come.
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Not that I blame him, but sounds like a 'financially motivated' move.
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Brady Dean, son of former UF QB Terry Dean, is leaving Collier County and transferring to STA. Here's a link to the article.
https://usatodayhss.com/2019/brady-dean-transfers-sta-football-st-thomas-aquinas
Here's a paragraph that I found amusing:
"Brady Dean threw for 1,195 yards, 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as a sophomore last season, his first as the Lions’ starting quarterback. In December, Terry Dean received a call from a friend in the Fort Lauderdale area who is not associated with St. Thomas Aquinas but said the school is in need of a quarterback for the upcoming season." (emphasis added).
Seriously, why would the writer of this article need to point out that the friend from Fort Lauderdale is "not associated with" STA unless someone was concerned about recruiting?
Another part that I didn't understand:
"Per Florida High School Athletic Association rules, the Deans were not allowed contact with Aquinas football coaches until they applied for enrollment. After they met with the staff and toured the school, Brady was sold."
So, all a kid has to do is "apply" for enrollment to a private school and then the kid and his family can have as much contact with each other as they want? I was under the impression that a coach at a school can't have any contact with a kid unless and until that kid is enrolled. Does that only apply to public schools?
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Coach - Jake Gaither; player - Willie Galimore. Still FAMU's all-time leading rusher. Played high school ball in St. Augustine.
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1 hour ago, OldSchoolLion said:
Disclaimer...I am not a Lakeland homer. Last season, Lakeland got one 2-star transfer. That's nothing to write home about. This year they got two 4-star players, and one was returning to Lakeland from IMG after playing at Lakeland his freshman and sophomore years, so some extenuating circumstances.
If Lakeland is loaded with FBS talent, most of it did not come from their transfers over the past two years. As best I can tell, 10/13 players are not even rated. I bet there are schools with lesser reputations than Lakeland who got more than two, 3-star or up players over the past two seasons.
I will agree that in total, these transfers may have made a big difference, but the same could be said for a lot of schools because a lot of schools are getting a substantial numbers of unrated transfers each year.
Transferred in for this season:
1.) Lloyd Summerall 4* DE
2.) Dywonski McWilliams QB
3.) Deyavie Hammond 4* OT
4.) Jaharie Martin LB
9.) Willie Lampkin OG
12.) Tyler Sheffield OC
Transferred in for last season:
5.) Chris Howard WR
6.) Khalil Crawford 2* LB
7.) Tony Ware DB
8.) Teshaun Nixon DB
10.) Tayshawn Rodman DB
11.) Jace Hohenthaner K
13.) Naveli Dixson OG
I understand what you are saying, but I'll submit that if you take an otherwise 'very good' Florida high school football team and add in a 2* player and a pair of 4* players, that could very well be the difference between being a regional finalist and a state champion.
Also, for what it's worth, the QB may not have any stars next to his name, but I was down on the field for one of Lakeland's playoff wins. I saw their QB's warm up. Their number 2 guy may be a great kid from a great family who makes great grades and who ends up with a great high school football career. But there way no way on God's green earth that he was going to do the job that McWilliams did (especially keeping the defense honest so it couldn't load up to stop Bowman). In short, McWilliams was an integral clog in the Dreadnaught machine.
Last, understand that, like you, I'm not bashing Lakeland. I'll assume for the purposes of discussion that each and every one of those transfers made the unilateral decision that Lakeland was the right fit for them, with no outside influences that might otherwise be construed as "recruiting." Lakeland simply took advantage of the law that was drafted to put them in that position.
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The word on the street has always been that a number of well-healed Lakeland fans were upset with the FHSAA over the way the FHSAA handled a couple of transfers/investigations . . . so, they convinced State Senator Stargel to introduce the school choice bill in the Florida legislature. The key to getting the bill passed was to make it look as generic as possible (i.e., equally applicable to band members, thespians and athletes alike), but there was no doubt that the intended purpose was to squeeze (if not punish) the FHSAA in retaliation for the perceived mistreatment of the Dreadnaughts. Once the legislation passed, the FHSAA didn't have a choice -- they had to amend their rules to comply with the new state law.
I'm sure that Ms. Stargel and her constituents were all patting themselves on the back a couple of months ago when Lakeland (with all of its 'school choice' transfers) won the 7A State Championship.
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1 hour ago, OldSchoolLion said:
I'll throw one more potential variable out there...changing mindsets of parents. Years ago, there was a large subset of the parenting population who likely would have said "hell no," my kid is not moving from school to school each year because it is not good for his education(some research that backs this) and teaches the wrong life lessons. As that generation of parents gets replaced, it would not surprise me to learn that parents today fall more into the "ends justify the means" or "do whatever it takes" mindset for their kids. Unfortunately, I don't think some of this new generation of parents are looking at the big picture when making decisions concerning their kids.
I agree with you on this point -- with one possible caveat. In my view, there is one position on the football field where it makes sense for a kid to transfer (and where it might be smart for the parents to not only support the transfer decision, but possibly encourage it). And that's the QB (possibly a kicker). Here's my thought process: for the most part, there's only one starting QB. There may be five offensive linemen and three or four defensive linemen, RB's, WR's, LB's and DB's on the field at any given time. But there's only one QB. A second string QB on a good team could very well be the second best QB in the area, but no one's going to see him if he's never on the field.
Case in point: last spring, Tampa Plant had a couple of kids transfer in that played QB. I say a "couple," but at one point, I think there were as many as six kids all battling it out for the starting QB spot. One of the kids was a junior at the time (a senior this past fall) who already held a handful of offers. As it turns out, he got beat out by a sophomore at the time (junior this past season). The first kid finished up the spring at Plant and then immediately transferred to his third school in less than a year. I can understand his thinking and his parents' thinking: would those prior offers still be around if the kid is sitting on the bench? Certainly you can't expect any new offers to come along if you're not producing any new tape, right? In the end, it worked out well for both kids and they'll both have the opportunity to play college football at good schools.
So, while I agree with your comments, I do believe there are circumstances where it makes sense to consider transferring. And if a college scholarship is the only realistic way of getting to college, then perhaps the ends do justify the means. But those situations are a far cry different than the kids/families who move simply because the grass looked greener elsewhere.
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Here's my perspective: before the law changed, and kids could transfer to any school they want, public schools like Lakeland knew that they had to get the promising middle-school athletes and the "out of district" kids into their schools for the ninth grade. Similarly, private schools like STA knew that they would raise fewer eyebrows if they brought the 'scholarship kids' in as freshman, knowing that they might swing and miss on a few of their choices (and, occasionally, the scholarship would mysteriously disappear). Once in a school like Lakeland or STA got a player into their school, even the best players would typically play at least one year on JV (STA Giovani Bernard, who went on to play with the Bengals in the NFL, was an exception). But once a kid started out a school, it made it easier for the kids to stay there all four years. And no one really questioned the kid in his junior or senior year if that kid had been at that school from the beginning.
With free choice, high school coaches at the better schools can simply get the word out and then wait for the right kids to transfer in.
And don't overlook the impact that "all star" 7 on 7 teams have had on the transfer impact. I remain convinced that when you look at coaches and "handlers" (the ones who typically are in the "recruiting spotlight"), their impact is not nearly as great as good, old-fashioned peer pressure.
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By the way, just in case some of you were confused and/or have never seen the movie "Sandlot," the "other" picture up above (the kid with the Dodger's hat) is one of Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez. And, if you have never seen that movie, it's worth your two hours one night.
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20 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
Who they get?
Alex Hornibrook, Wisconsis QB. Graduate transfer; eligible immediately.
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On 3/9/2019 at 2:34 PM, THIS_IS_DILLARD said:
National rankings and record
Sincere question to anyone who knows the answer: how are "national rankings" determined for high school sports like football and basketball? Is it all done by computers? Algorithms? Do sports writers still vote? If done by computers, how can anyone possibly do a "pre-season" (or even an 'early season') ranking? Do teams start out a new season where they ended up the previous season?
When all is said and done, I guess the question I would want answered the most is whether there is any subjectivity whatsoever in the national rankings, whether it be by MaxPreps or anyone else.
Last point (for now), it is generally known that in college and pro football, the "home field advantage" is worth three points. I'd be willing to bet (see what I did there) that the home court advantage in high school basketball is higher . . . perhaps five or more points. If the goal is determine who the best team is, why would you play the game where one team starts out the game with five more points than the other team just to attract a larger crowd?
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Yep. Jessie "The Jet" Hester. Glades Central; early 80's?
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So, how do you determine who the "home team" is? Do you make a Miami team travel all the way to Pensacola simply because the Pensacola team has a 0.02 advantage in some computer ranking?
Just asking.
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Might he have something in common with this guy?
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54 minutes ago, 181pl said:
Plant better step up its recruiting. Gonzaga is no joke.
Anyone south of Gandy they should be looking at in particular?
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Jeff Faine - Seminole (Sanford) Late 90's.
Then, onto Notre Dame and eventually the Saints? -
So, when you play this game, are you only supposed to answer if you really think you know who it is or can you do a little Internet sleuthing?
I'll wait for the answer before replying.
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OK, follow-up question time: would anyone other than a few old, diehard fans, enjoy seeing the throwback style in 2019? If so, where? In a game-day program?
From the link, it looks like Penn State did a 'throwback' program or media guide recently. Would it work today at the high school level.
Asking for a friend.
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15 hours ago, FL_HS_football said:
Thanks!
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8 hours ago, OldSchoolLion said:
Great post...completely agree. The key word there is "personality." So many of the photos today are about advertisement/promotion...not really about the individual or the team he plays for.
Any idea where I might be able to find a bunch of the "old school" pictures in one place?
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12 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
Not sure off top of my head but I think all those games are either final 4 or finals
Ok, so assuming the games listed are "Final Four" games, that pretty remarkable that over a two-year period, a single school would have three girls teams (volleyball, basketball and softball) and four boys teams (football, soccer, basketball and baseball) making it that far. And, based on my recollection, the last two years is not an aberration. The overwhelming majority of public schools would be lucky to have one or two (or, in a very, very good year, three) teams make it that far.
The only way to win a state title is to make it to the championship game. STA appears to get to this point more often than just about any other school in the state, regardless of classification. State championship talent just doesn't show up at public schools year in and year out. But, as your list demonstrates, getting to the final four and coming home with the gold medal are two different things.
Vero Beach schedule so far
in The Huddle
Posted
Funny you should ask. I think some of the coaches are perfectly content to let the County administrators do that job for them, while coaches of some of the top programs are frustrated by it. Ironically, it really didn't have much of an impact until two years ago. Yeah, I understand the philosophy of 'you gotta play the best to be the best' and 'iron sharpens iron,' but with home field predetermined, it just wasn't that big of an issue. Once the FHSAA switched over to awarding home field based on strength of schedule/power ranking/formula, it makes a huge difference. Again, the coaches who, historically, have not been in the playoff mix don't really care about centralized scheduling (and will gladly trade it off for the money they receive from centralized funding, instead of having to rely solely on their own gate money to fund their programs). Coaches of perennial contenders would prefer more control/flexibility.