Joshua Wilson

Gatorman....500 is too high for 2A as a cap.
 
That is why schools like St. Francis and Oak Hall bolted when they got set into 3A a few years back because the cut line was like 230 something and they were over that and they were placed in the same district with Trinity Catholic which is MORE THAN DOUBLE their enrollment. Enrollment gaps are a serious issue in the lower classes because a difference of even 100 kids can be the difference of winning or sitting at home for some of these schools. I am more open to saying they should cap at 400. You cap at 500 then you solve nothing because then schools like Jacksonville Trinity Christian (who is under 500 in enrollment) end up being with these schools and then you are going to have the scenario AGAIN...schools bolting for independent status and basically no teams left for a class. 

Problem is you are thinking there was 6 classes when Miramar won it in 2009. Not the case. Florida HAS HAD EIGHT classes since 2005. The naming was different, but Florida has eight since that point (now 10 going on 11 years). We haven't had six classes since 2002-2003.
 
2003-2004 & 2004-2005 (We had 7 classes)
6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 2B, 1A
 
This was when the FHSAA decided to split 2A and create a Class 2B
 
2005-2005 until 2010-2011 (8 classes but different naming format)
6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 2B, 1A, 1B
 
FHSAA finally decided to split Class 1A and create a Class 1B
 
2011-2012 (8 classes still)
Just renamed the classes to a more conventional format
8A, 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A
 
Going back to six classes in reality? Unlikely. Going back to 7 classes? I could see it.
 
One thing has to remain and that is Class 1A rural. Most I have talked to (Coaches and other sources close to the FHSAA), is that Rural 1A can't really be touched. It has worked out nicely. Now....the issue is to fix the rest of the system.

I bet if changes were made people are still going to say something is wrong. Can't have your cake and ice-cream and eat it to.

I share your complete frustration and have let my feelings be known on twitter.  I was pissed when my nephew Taylor Garrison was completely omitted on DL for 7A, not even and HM.  I know I carry EXTREME bias but I've assembled the numbers for everyone that did make it for you to digest as you see fit.  I'm don't want to down a kid that did make it but imo this was basically based on recruiting rankings alone and not the actual season the kid put in.  Also, for anyone that thinks they played a soft schedule it couldn't be further from the truth.  The won the district with Oakleaf and Bartram trail in it.  Out of district they played Gainesville, Santa Fe, Eastside (this was weak), Vanguard and Columbia who all made playoffs.  In the playoffs they beat Edgewater before losing a close game late in a Bartram Trail rematch after their QB got hurt.  If you watch his hudl clips you'll recognize some big name OTs he's beating for sacks.
 
The teams did have the Utility defense slot but in every case it seemed they just used that to throw another DB on the team.
 
* Note if you see no stats I couldn't find them.  Most cme straight from maxpreps but Belvin I pulled from his local paper. 
 
Accolade Games Sacks TFL Tackles PBU Recoveries Ints Def. TD DL Jarrod Hewitt, 6-2, 290, Sr., Venice 1st Team 12 10.0 28.0 105 1 2 - - DL Nik Bonitto, 6-4, 210, Jr., Fort Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas 1st Team 14 6.0 14.5 43 2 2 - - DL Colin Nace, 6-2, 260, Sr., Fort Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas 1st Team 14 5.0 11.0 34 2 1 - - DL Jordon Scott, 6-1, 352, Jr., Pinellas Park 1st Team 11 9.0 28.0 84 - 1 - - DL Gabe Beyer, 6-1, 265, Sr., Tallahassee Leon 2nd Team 10 16.5 20.0 65 - 1 - - DL Bo Peek, 6-2, 290, Sr., Tampa Plant 2nd Team 9 2.0 24.0 41 - - - - DL David Belvin, 6-2, 230, Sr., Palmetto 2nd Team 10 5.5 21.0 63 - - - - DL Jaquwan Nelson, 6-4, 235, Sr., Fort Lauderdale High 2nd Team DL Tanner Rowell, 6-3, 260, Sr., Melbourne 3rd Team 10 6.0 21.0 34 3 DL Kaiwon Bennett, 6-4, 260, Jr., Fort Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas 3rd Team 12 5.0 9.0 31 - - - - DL Justin Andrews, 6-0, 255, Sr., Lakeland Kathleen 3rd Team DL Cameron Miller, 6-2, 220, Sr., Tampa Sickles 3rd Team 9 22.0 27.0 79 - 1 - - DL Nick Bosa, 6-4, 240 Sr., Fort Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas;  HM 7 5.0 13.5 21 1 - - - DE Taylor Garrison, 6-2, 200 Sr.,Gainesvile Buchholz;  Omitted 11 14.5 27.5 74 8 3 1 1

However, you counted all 10 games...only the last 8 games would be used to determine seeding.
 
In that case:
Columbia: 78 points
Lincoln: 74 points
 
But the points would only be used to determine the wildcard seeding I believe. No matter what Columbia would still be in and likely as a high seed no matter how you look at it. 

Broward, there is one person that is the coordinator of this and my understanding is that the papers are suppose to have a say, but really the teams are usually decided in general before the state finals are even completed by this one person. This is not the only glaring issue with the teams as the Viera QB who had record breaking season got shafted big time with the Aquinas QB getting 1st team in 7A instead (which I have heard from some of the Aquinas faithful agreeing their QB was not a 1st team QB). Really the AP teams had a lot of issues this year.
 
What we are doing with our All-State teams is placing emphasis on production first and then other things second. Recruiting is the not emphasis of these teams, but recognizing what the kids have in the locker in terms of offers can be recognized at the proper time. This is why we are taking the time to research EVERYTHING before even putting teams together. More data to work with the better.

Broward, there is one person that is the coordinator of this and my understanding is that the papers are suppose to have a say, but really the teams are usually decided in general before the state finals are even completed by this one person. This is not the only glaring issue with the teams as the Viera QB who had record breaking season got shafted big time with the Aquinas QB getting 1st team in 7A instead (which I have heard from some of the Aquinas faithful agreeing their QB was not a 1st team QB). Really the AP teams had a lot of issues this year.
 
What we are doing with our All-State teams is placing emphasis on production first and then other things second. Recruiting is the not emphasis of these teams, but recognizing what the kids have in the locker in terms of offers can be recognized at the proper time. This is why we are taking the time to research EVERYTHING before even putting teams together. More data to work with the better.

Shame on the AP!  8A Flanagan CB Stanford Samuels was not 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team.  Try Honorable Mention.   Samuels is basically a top 50 Player and top 5  CB in the NATION in every major recruiting publication.  He has over 40 D1 big time school offers and to make the committee look even more asinine he had a pick six for Flanagan to seal the game vs Osceola in the State Championship.  Many feel Samuels was arguably the best CB in the state this year.  I don't know how Samuels was overlooked... Unless the committee wanted to go socialist style and not allow Flanagan to have 4 Defensive Players on the 8A First Team....it makes 0 - ZERO SENSE and is an insult.  If anyone here can get some reasoning from the committee - please advise.
 
Offers from Notre Dame, Every SEC school, FSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, UCLA.....But ONLY a Honorable Mention at CB in 8A.  Either political or moronic, AP.  What a snub! 
 
 
 
http://247sports.com/Player/Stanford-Samuels-54830
 
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2386012-meet-stanford-samuels-most-sought-after-2017-cb-breaks-down-top-5
 
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/article53467000.html

I didn't know that. I agree this is the biggest mistake of the 2015 AP All State Teams.....Samuels played like a 1st team all state CB all year long. I'm honestly shocked. 

Who says that Florida doesn't have the best football players? Let those naysayers go elsewhere after this.
 
NOTE: This would be at two different positions on the same first team. Not split between 1st and 2nd team like a few others have done.
 

Who says that Florida doesn't have the best football players? Let those naysayers go elsewhere after this.
 
NOTE: This would be at two different positions on the same first team. Not split between 1st and 2nd team like a few others have done.
 

That's a joke....This is the same kid that was a backup QB at Cardinal Gibbons last year. Did he even play 10 games this year?
I think Allen will come into his own and prosper next year but there were more deserving candidates this year in my opinion...

Since this is not a full news story yet and is more of being floated through a committee I would open a thread to discussion on what Frank Beasley, one of the director of athletics for the FHSAA, has proposed for changes to the football system.
 
Now of course anything is not official right now (as in changes actually happening) and must go through committee and then be officially voted upon by the Board of Directors. It is a process that could take up to two years. Here is a link to the info: http://www.fhsaa.org/sites/default/files/orig_uploads/gov/fb/agenda/2016.pdf
 
I will just give a brief run down of what is being discussed around and let you all weigh in on it.
 
The proposal for smaller schools is to allow them be assigned a classification, but they would play no district schedule, instead the schedule would be controlled by the teams themselves and points would be awarded depending on games won and who they won against.
 
Here are some bullet points with that.
 
- Allows teams to control travel cost and competition during the regular season
- SAFETY! You schedule who you want, who you feel best fits your kids and program goals.
- Allows for a true champion to be crowned
- Creates excitement
- Allows Schools to schedule who they want during the regular season
- Allows teams an opportunity to make the playoffs on an equal playing field
- Adds some excitement to the end of season (seeding) (Press conference to announce in FHSAA office)
- Create a seeding committee that will compile raw data to seed
- Makes 8 regular season games count
 
Smaller classes playoff format would work like this under the proposal discussion
 
- 4 regions per class
- 8 teams from each region make the playoffs, however in 1A Rural 4 teams in each region would make the playoffs instead..
- 32 teams per class make the playoffs, however in 1A Rural 16 teams in each class would make the playoffs instead.
- 5 rounds, with only 4 rounds in 1A Rural
- No region schedule required
- Teams would schedule their own games
 
Larger school classifications they would keep the district type formatting (sort of going towards a regional format)  - would have 4 Champions/4 wildcard teams per region.
 
- Unfair for smaller districts to gain entry into the playoffs
- Penalizes a tough district with 3 or more teams that are deserving a playoff berth vs a weaker district who gets two average teams in
- Stops all of the jockeying for district reassignment
- Allows for a true champion to be crowned
- Creates excitement
- Allows teams an opportunity to make the playoffs on an equal playing field
- Adds some excitement to the end of season (seeding) (Press conference to announce in FHSAA office)
- Create a seeding committee that will compile raw data to seed
- Makes 8 regular season games count
 
There are some concerns with it as in dealing with forfeited games, weather issues, scheduling a full schedule and out-of-state games counting in the mix.
 
So how would teams make the playoffs? A points system would be the key to all of this.
 
Each team will receive a points each week based on the following:
- 4 points for a win in your own class or below
- 5 points for a win against a team in a larger class
- 2 points for a loss against a larger class
- 1 point for each of your opponents earned wins (all games played that season through week 11)
 
Which games count?
- Starting from week 11 and counting back 8 of your games will count for seeding purposes. (Leaves wiggle room for cancellations for weather)
 
How would ties be broken if it is tied with other schools?
- Win-loss percentage.
- If teams have the same record, the next tiebreaker is how the teams did head-to-head.
- If the tie still can’t be broken, it will come down to number of wins against teams from larger classifications.
- If teams are tied through record, head-to-head and wins against larger schools, it could come down to margin of points over 10 regular-season games, with a maximum of 21 in each. (This would be a capped point system, something very similar that is used in Texas).
- Coin toss
 
--------------
 
MY TAKE: 
 
To be honest, I like what I am seeing here, but this won't be the total solution to everything. This will certainly add more excitement to everything going on towards the playoffs and make the playoffs better and thus keeping the bad teams out of the playoffs.
 
However, this won't solve the solution of the number of smaller private schools going independent. I don't see a lot of these independent teams coming back into it unless there is ways that the small school powers that dominate can change and that is part of the problem as why these schools are moving around. Really though the FHSAA has no solution because their hands are tied up thanks to the state.
 
Really the state needs to embrace a two organization system like Alabama (AHSAA, AISA) and Georgia have (GHSA, GISA) and allow the SSAC to represent the smaller schools who want to be a part of their association and still have the opportunities to compete like they seek out. 
 
So what is your thoughts on all of this? Share away and I will share more of my thoughts later on.

You are right Hwy 17...that is something that I have also advocated as well.
 
Another idea I think is to assign each team a classification and then let the schools choose a conference of like schools they want to be with and they can play each other (guaranteed schedule). North Carolina does this already and it seems to work nicely. But that is just an idea.

If memory serves me right, in the late 90's/early 2000's when there was a wildcard system, there was only 3 districts per region with champs & runner-ups automatically in and 2 wildcards per region.  So the districts were larger.  

We are aware the AP is releasing their All-State football teams all this week, however since Christmas Day we have been working on our All-State teams as well.
 
Unlike the AP we will include 9 classes, Independents, 1A-8A.
 
Each classification will comprise of several teams on it as well as most important stats, explaining why the kids were selected. In addition to the all-state teams, there will be Offensive and Defensive POYs and Coach of the Year, not necessarily going by the Dairy Farmer winners.
 
Stay tuned....
 
 
      

I think I need to clarify that I do believe that district champions (regional champions) would get an automatic bid into the playoffs. However, the biggest change would be that runner-ups would have to earn their way through a wildcard. 
 
Still all of this is very fluid and likely tweaks will be made to a proposal. From what I can tell even if the independent teams don't come back these changes could possibly happen. Again still early in the stages for all of this.

Since this is not a full news story yet and is more of being floated through a committee I would open a thread to discussion on what Frank Beasley, one of the director of athletics for the FHSAA, has proposed for changes to the football system.
 
Now of course anything is not official right now (as in changes actually happening) and must go through committee and then be officially voted upon by the Board of Directors. It is a process that could take up to two years. Here is a link to the info: http://www.fhsaa.org/sites/default/files/orig_uploads/gov/fb/agenda/2016.pdf
 
I will just give a brief run down of what is being discussed around and let you all weigh in on it.
 
The proposal for smaller schools is to allow them be assigned a classification, but they would play no district schedule, instead the schedule would be controlled by the teams themselves and points would be awarded depending on games won and who they won against.
 
Here are some bullet points with that.
 
- Allows teams to control travel cost and competition during the regular season
- SAFETY! You schedule who you want, who you feel best fits your kids and program goals.
- Allows for a true champion to be crowned
- Creates excitement
- Allows Schools to schedule who they want during the regular season
- Allows teams an opportunity to make the playoffs on an equal playing field
- Adds some excitement to the end of season (seeding) (Press conference to announce in FHSAA office)
- Create a seeding committee that will compile raw data to seed
- Makes 8 regular season games count
 
Smaller classes playoff format would work like this under the proposal discussion
 
- 4 regions per class
- 8 teams from each region make the playoffs, however in 1A Rural 4 teams in each region would make the playoffs instead..
- 32 teams per class make the playoffs, however in 1A Rural 16 teams in each class would make the playoffs instead.
- 5 rounds, with only 4 rounds in 1A Rural
- No region schedule required
- Teams would schedule their own games
 
Larger school classifications they would keep the district type formatting (sort of going towards a regional format)  - would have 4 Champions/4 wildcard teams per region.
 
- Unfair for smaller districts to gain entry into the playoffs
- Penalizes a tough district with 3 or more teams that are deserving a playoff berth vs a weaker district who gets two average teams in
- Stops all of the jockeying for district reassignment
- Allows for a true champion to be crowned
- Creates excitement
- Allows teams an opportunity to make the playoffs on an equal playing field
- Adds some excitement to the end of season (seeding) (Press conference to announce in FHSAA office)
- Create a seeding committee that will compile raw data to seed
- Makes 8 regular season games count
 
There are some concerns with it as in dealing with forfeited games, weather issues, scheduling a full schedule and out-of-state games counting in the mix.
 
So how would teams make the playoffs? A points system would be the key to all of this.
 
Each team will receive a points each week based on the following:
- 4 points for a win in your own class or below
- 5 points for a win against a team in a larger class
- 2 points for a loss against a larger class
- 1 point for each of your opponents earned wins (all games played that season through week 11)
 
Which games count?
- Starting from week 11 and counting back 8 of your games will count for seeding purposes. (Leaves wiggle room for cancellations for weather)
 
How would ties be broken if it is tied with other schools?
- Win-loss percentage.
- If teams have the same record, the next tiebreaker is how the teams did head-to-head.
- If the tie still can’t be broken, it will come down to number of wins against teams from larger classifications.
- If teams are tied through record, head-to-head and wins against larger schools, it could come down to margin of points over 10 regular-season games, with a maximum of 21 in each. (This would be a capped point system, something very similar that is used in Texas).
- Coin toss
 
--------------
 
MY TAKE: 
 
To be honest, I like what I am seeing here, but this won't be the total solution to everything. This will certainly add more excitement to everything going on towards the playoffs and make the playoffs better and thus keeping the bad teams out of the playoffs.
 
However, this won't solve the solution of the number of smaller private schools going independent. I don't see a lot of these independent teams coming back into it unless there is ways that the small school powers that dominate can change and that is part of the problem as why these schools are moving around. Really though the FHSAA has no solution because their hands are tied up thanks to the state.
 
Really the state needs to embrace a two organization system like Alabama (AHSAA, AISA) and Georgia have (GHSA, GISA) and allow the SSAC to represent the smaller schools who want to be a part of their association and still have the opportunities to compete like they seek out. 
 
So what is your thoughts on all of this? Share away and I will share more of my thoughts later on.

The numbers will do the speaking and anyone can keep really keep track of it. Should it be fair to let a three team district play next to a seven team district, especially if three-team district has one good team and the seven-team district has four good teams that are playoff worthy? This would help resolve some of that now. Plus, what team wouldn't like control of their own schedule, especially if they knew a tougher schedule could make them more playoff worthy? 

I am here guys! Will be on the sideline during the 4th. Up in the press box right now. You will see me with a hat on with the site logo and black polo shirt on.

Good question for me to think about and something that I will look into. Got the options to add more sections.

Good question for me to think about and something that I will look into. Got the options to add more sections.

You could maybe add another board entirely just for Basketball, but then that brings the question if you should add baseball, soccer, girls sports etc. 

Had been thinking about launching a second site to handle this. Will see what I can do about this.

I am guessing we need to expand into basketball and baseball now as well? Is that what I am seeing on here as a suggestion?