IMG needs to play better teams

[VeniceIndianFan]

Look at IMG’s schedule this year compared to past years. They have been playing only nobodies except for Mater Dei. So these are a few teams I want to see IMG play in 2019 and the future.

Vero Beach

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Venice

Miami Central

Lakeland

American Heritage

Kathleen

Any thoughts on this? Notice that all the good teams they don’t play are in state.

 

[DisabledAccount]

7 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

Look at IMG’s schedule this year compared to past years. They have been playing only nobodies except for Mater Dei. So these are a few teams I want to see IMG play in 2019 and the future.

Vero Beach

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Venice

Miami Central

Lakeland

American Heritage

Kathleen

Any thoughts on this? Notice that all the good teams they don’t play are in state.

 

Unfortunately as long as George Smith is AD at STA they will never play IMG 

 

Venice did play IMG last year 

 

Same with Miami Central 

 

Lakeland would be interesting 

 

I would also like to see a AHP rematch with IMG 

[badbird]

Kathleen?  I would prefer not to see that game.  They would lose by 75

[Hwy17]

13 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

Look at IMG’s schedule this year compared to past years. They have been playing only nobodies except for Mater Dei. So these are a few teams I want to see IMG play in 2019 and the future.

Vero Beach

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Venice

Miami Central

Lakeland

American Heritage

Kathleen

Any thoughts on this? Notice that all the good teams they don’t play are in state.

 

Why Kathleen?

[DisabledAccount]

4 minutes ago, badbird said:

Kathleen?  I would prefer not to see that game.  They would lose by 75

Yeah i agree

 

There was a few years that Kathleen would have made that a game but none i can remember off my head 

 

At least recently that is

 

 

There are some teams i would like to see play IMG when they are stronger but again a few on that list would be interesting to see

[Hwy17]

The 2015 IMG team did not impress me at all.  Any number of the top Florida teams would have beaten them that year.

[DisabledAccount]

1 minute ago, Hwy17 said:

The 2015 IMG team did not impress me at all.  Any number of the top Florida teams would have beaten them that year.

Neither does this year

 

Only one who really impressed me was 2016 and even then i could see them losing to the teams that year like Bishop Gorman 

[VeniceIndianFan]

27 minutes ago, Hwy17 said:

Why Kathleen?

I was talking about past years too, where Kathleen vs IMG would have been a match. I want to see IMG play Vero Beach SO BAD but I don't have the connections to make it happen.

[Legion37]

They play who they can play and who will play them. They would be willing to play anyone in 
Florida but many are not willing to play them. I would love to see this Lakeland team have a crack at the Blue squad. The less impressive White squad has played more Florida schools and not been that successful. IMG would beat most teams in Florida and would stomp Kathleen. 

[gatorman-uf]

Quite honestly, I wish no Florida school would play them. Why play a team of ringers? For the complaining that these types of boards do about why certain teams are able to keep their success, I will never understand why then turnaround and want to see a team that does it blatantly play your local school.

Honestly, make IMG pay and travel  across the country to play games. My fear is that IMG (and other institutions like it) are the future of football. School sports are often the glue that keeps schools, kids, communities together and IMG will be the machine that rips it apart. 

[gwdrum75]

No incentive to play them. You won't get any bonus points. And if you lose, you are now taking 35, or 30 points (if they happen to lose more than 2 games) to kill your average.

[DisabledAccount]

4 minutes ago, gwdrum75 said:

No incentive to play them. You won't get any bonus points. And if you lose, you are now taking 35, or 30 points (if they happen to lose more than 2 games) to kill your average.

We played in koc and they actually gave us some solid compensation to head down there

 

We had our travel fully paid for and some money on top of it plus a percentage of the ticket sales

 

Not to mention valuable experience of playing one of top teams in the nation which has served as a confidence boost for this team that they know they are capable of defeating anyone on the schedule 

 

 

 

27 minutes ago, gatorman-uf said:

Quite honestly, I wish no Florida school would play them. Why play a team of ringers? For the complaining that these types of boards do about why certain teams are able to keep their success, I will never understand why then turnaround and want to see a team that does it blatantly play your local school.

Honestly, make IMG pay and travel  across the country to play games. My fear is that IMG (and other institutions like it) are the future of football. School sports are often the glue that keeps schools, kids, communities together and IMG will be the machine that rips it apart. 

FL teams playing them shows that this state isn't scared of IMG like California, Texas and Georgia are

 

There's a reason FL has a reputation, FL fears no teams and have no problem taking teams head on even if we have to play at a disadvantage (like the GA oos games that are played in GA with refs that always give home cooking to help them beat FL teams)

 

The issue in this state is that public schools are so crappy funded that people have to go to places like IMG and other privates because even bare essentials are not always guaranteed at the public schools in the state 

 

You don't see this same issue in places like Georgia and Texas,  why?? 

 

Because those states actually properly run their public schools, want schools like IMG to not have the same attraction?  Then get the publics the proper funding to compete with the privates in this state and less people would opt for the private school option

[gwdrum75]

5 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

We played in koc and they actually gave us some solid compensation to head down there

 

We had our travel fully paid for and some money on top of it plus a percentage of the ticket sales

 

Not to mention valuable experience of playing one of top teams in the nation which has served as a confidence boost for this team that they know they are capable of defeating anyone on the schedule 

 

For preseason or spring, sure. But I would never play them during the regular season.

[OldSchoolLion]

2 hours ago, gatorman-uf said:

Quite honestly, I wish no Florida school would play them. Why play a team of ringers? For the complaining that these types of boards do about why certain teams are able to keep their success, I will never understand why then turnaround and want to see a team that does it blatantly play your local school.

Honestly, make IMG pay and travel  across the country to play games. My fear is that IMG (and other institutions like it) are the future of football. School sports are often the glue that keeps schools, kids, communities together and IMG will be the machine that rips it apart. 

Anything that will help prepare players to be capable of starting in college their freshman year is the future of high school football.  The college coaches are saying they need kids to play early.  The real "machine" here is college football.  IMG is simply fulfilling a need of college football.  And if college football likes their "product," rest assured there will be more IMG's.  It's business 101, and football has always been a business.  It simply took time to percolate down to the high school level.

With all of the negativity about FL hs coaching that abounds, it should come as no surprise that many FL high schools are not adequately preparing kids to play their freshman year.  6'7" 5-star lineman Evan Neal from Okeechobee is a good example.  He played as a junior at 385 pounds.  If he did not get his weight under control, no way he is able to play at Alabama.  He likely needed a structured environment like IMG to get him in shape for college.   And it has worked.  

As far as IMG playing other teams...that might be nice for the fans or the pollsters who want to compare them.  At the end of the day, IMG doesn't care about what those people think.  They care about what the Nick Saban's of the world think.  They are their customers, along with some rich parents.  And the Nick Saban's of the world could probably care less who IMG plays or where they are ranked as long as their future star is good-to-go the day he steps on campus.

 

   

[LakelandGator]

22 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Anything that will help prepare players to be capable of starting in college their freshman year is the future of high school football.  The college coaches are saying they need kids to play early.  The real "machine" here is college football.  IMG is simply fulfilling a need of college football.  And if college football likes their "product," rest assured their will be more IMG's.  It's business 101, and football has always been a business.  It simply took time to percolate down to the high school level.

As far as IMG playing other teams...that might be nice for the fans or the pollsters who want to compare them.  At the end of the day, IMG doesn't care about what those people think.  They care about what the Nick Saban's of the world think.  They are their customers, along with some rich parents.  And the Nick Saban's of the world could probably care less who IMG plays or where they are ranked as long as their future star is good-to-go the day he steps on campus.

 

   

Great point, I couldn't agree more

 

[LakelandGator]

2 hours ago, gatorman-uf said:

Quite honestly, I wish no Florida school would play them. Why play a team of ringers? For the complaining that these types of boards do about why certain teams are able to keep their success, I will never understand why then turnaround and want to see a team that does it blatantly play your local school.

Honestly, make IMG pay and travel  across the country to play games. My fear is that IMG (and other institutions like it) are the future of football. School sports are often the glue that keeps schools, kids, communities together and IMG will be the machine that rips it apart. 

Come on gator, you're better than this.

IMG didn't create the mess in Fla right now.

[DisabledAccount]

33 minutes ago, LakelandGator said:

Come on gator, you're better than this.

IMG didn't create the mess in Fla right now.

Nope

 

The idiots in Tallahassee who aren't qualified to run a 1 kid daycare yet think they know how to run a school system are the reasons for the issues we have currently 

[gatorman-uf]

53 minutes ago, LakelandGator said:

Come on gator, you're better than this.

IMG didn't create the mess in Fla right now.

No they didn't, but they aren't making the situation better.
I look at Texas, Ohio, and Georgia and I see community support for programs, but I also look at areas where schools have poached players. I see schools struggling to field a team in those areas. IMG and future IMGs are bad for football as a whole because on some level football is universal. Kids dream of being the next Cam Newton, Todd Gurley, or Odell Beckham. As football gravitates towards IMGs and away from Gibbs, Lakewood Ranch, or Hialeah, you will begin to see support dry up as a whole. As football becomes more elitist, less people playing will cause the snowball effect on the college and professional levels.

If you need proof, look at MLB or NASCAR. In MLB, the average age of a fan is 57! MLB has lost credibility among inner-city communities and even high schools in urban areas have some of the worst baseball teams in Florida. As the sport has become more about money and the travel that is associated with it, it has becomes an activity that less and less people are participating in (watching, coaching, encouraging their own children to play). 

IMG and other football factories will be the death knell to football. You guys complain about the lack of quality football from top to bottom, but ask youself why in today's world a kid who plays football for a bottom school will continue to play. As football becomes all about setting up for college, you will find fewer and fewer kids playing it. 

[gatorman-uf]

31 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Nope

 

The idiots in Tallahassee who aren't qualified to run a 1 kid daycare yet think they know how to run a school system are the reasons for the issues we have currently 

100% agree. Yet, our state keeps voting the same people in every two years to make stupid laws and suck public schools dry. 

[OldSchoolLion]

3 minutes ago, gatorman-uf said:

No they didn't, but they aren't making the situation better.
I look at Texas, Ohio, and Georgia and I see community support for programs, but I also look at areas where schools have poached players. I see schools struggling to field a team in those areas. IMG and future IMGs are bad for football as a whole because on some level football is universal. Kids dream of being the next Cam Newton, Todd Gurley, or Odell Beckham. As football gravitates towards IMGs and away from Gibbs, Lakewood Ranch, or Hialeah, you will begin to see support dry up as a whole. As football becomes more elitist, less people playing will cause the snowball effect on the college and professional levels.

If you need proof, look at MLB or NASCAR. In MLB, the average age of a fan is 57! MLB has lost credibility among inner-city communities and even high schools in urban areas have some of the worst baseball teams in Florida. As the sport has become more about money and the travel that is associated with it, it has becomes an activity that less and less people are participating in (watching, coaching, encouraging their own children to play). 

IMG and other football factories will be the death knell to football. You guys complain about the lack of quality football from top to bottom, but ask youself why in today's world a kid who plays football for a bottom school will continue to play. As football becomes all about setting up for college, you will find fewer and fewer kids playing it. 

Good points.  We are already well on our way to hs football becoming an exclusive sport.  And as long as people keep supporting college football by buying tickets and merchandise, we will continue on this path.  It's a bit like Walmart.  A lot of people knew it would destroy American business, but they shopped there anyway.   The fans who won't tolerate a 6-4 season from their college team force those schools into extreme measures to recruit and retain talent, which has taken us to where we are today.  Many college fans would be happy regardless of where their teams got their players, ie IMG, as long as they are winning.  

 

[DisabledAccount]

14 minutes ago, gatorman-uf said:

100% agree. Yet, our state keeps voting the same people in every two years to make stupid laws and suck public schools dry. 

It's because so many people out there are brainwashed and won't think for themselves 

 

I realized and accepted a long time ago that anyone in a political atmosphere is corrupted by money and power so it's better to find the lesser of 2 evils that one can accept

 

It's easy to see the problems with the school system in Florida and many decisions being made are there to make the rich richer,  the people in Tallahassee are constantly making things smoother and more equipped at private schools than publics but why should we be surprised 

 

These rich people in office ain't sending their kids to a public school, they are sending them to private schools so one way or another they help private schools and the money makes way back into their pockets

 

It's a shame people out there can't see these people in Tallahassee are only one rung higher than white color criminals 

[DisabledAccount]

27 minutes ago, gatorman-uf said:

No they didn't, but they aren't making the situation better.
I look at Texas, Ohio, and Georgia and I see community support for programs, but I also look at areas where schools have poached players. I see schools struggling to field a team in those areas. IMG and future IMGs are bad for football as a whole because on some level football is universal. Kids dream of being the next Cam Newton, Todd Gurley, or Odell Beckham. As football gravitates towards IMGs and away from Gibbs, Lakewood Ranch, or Hialeah, you will begin to see support dry up as a whole. As football becomes more elitist, less people playing will cause the snowball effect on the college and professional levels.

If you need proof, look at MLB or NASCAR. In MLB, the average age of a fan is 57! MLB has lost credibility among inner-city communities and even high schools in urban areas have some of the worst baseball teams in Florida. As the sport has become more about money and the travel that is associated with it, it has becomes an activity that less and less people are participating in (watching, coaching, encouraging their own children to play). 

IMG and other football factories will be the death knell to football. You guys complain about the lack of quality football from top to bottom, but ask youself why in today's world a kid who plays football for a bottom school will continue to play. As football becomes all about setting up for college, you will find fewer and fewer kids playing it. 

Idk if there is a specific reason for it but it does seem that rural areas seem to be much stronger in sports like baseball than Urban areas 

 

It also seems that so many programs are not really balanced

 

Either they are really good in a specific sport or they are really bad,  you don't see a lot of middle ground

 

Some of this is because of the transfers, some of this is because so many schools that aren't properly funded or ran tend to become feeders to other schools nearby in much better structure

 

 

It also feels like newer schools don't have the same level of consistency 

 

You have programs like Columbia, St Augustine, Mainland, etc  that are very old schools and even though some of the newer schools have been able to beat these teams they tend to go one of 2 ways, either they are like viera or Bartram trail or wekiva or ponte vedra and rise to top quickly or they just become a mess from the start and never seem to get any better 

 

It's seems almost impossible to truly build from ground up over it long term period

[941football]

To play IMG you have to have a reason for it. When Venice played them it was too easy for IMG to say yes. The travel alone was a reason to play.

For Venice it made sense. If you wanted to take the next step you were going to have to find a way to compete with a team like that. Venice did ok for 3 quarters then IMG took over and the score reflected it. If IMG and Venice were to play this year the results would be the same. What it did do for Venice was prepare them for the playoffs. 

Some of those teams listed can hang with IMG. Of those who cant  its the depth that IMG has that kills them in the end. 

[Proseteye]

Hmmmmmmmm. 1 loss in 44 games and that was by 4 points to the number one team in the nation in 2018 after a 3000 mile journey to the opponent's stadium.. 4 losses over 6 years playing the best teams in the country. 2 of those losses in their first year of existence 2013. Just seems that a few folks have perpetual hardons for this team. A trip to the Urologist may prove a worthwhile venture.  Tell you what, when your teams can match the capability of IMG by playing any and all quality teams in the country year in and year out and actually not losing by basketball scores, then I might look favorably upon wanton criticism of the IMG football team. Until then, IMG is still putting fear into every quality team in the country, and apparently to some forum people. Everyone, who knows anything about high school football, realizes that IMG is a Football Factory. It exists to train athletes for the professional ranks. IMG plays whomever they can schedule which does not seem to be that difficult. They manage to get some of the best teams to play them. Nobody twists the arms of any team's coach to schedule IMG. Teams like MC, MNW, CC, etc. agree to play IMG. And, then, when they lose big time, some of their fans complain that IMG is a football factory and is taking advantage of them. Seriously, can we at least give credit to IMG for trying to be the best in their area expertise. Remember, when you criticize IMG you are criticizing a whole bunch of young high school students that are not any different than those students who play on your local team. They are not wind up toys where they just go in the direction you point them.

[DisabledAccount]

6 minutes ago, Proseteye said:

Hmmmmmmmm. 1 loss in 44 games and that was by 4 points to the number one team in the nation in 2018 after a 3000 mile journey to the opponent's stadium.. 4 losses over 6 years playing the best teams in the country. 2 of those losses in their first year of existence 2013. Just seems that a few folks have perpetual hardons for this team. A trip to the Urologist may prove a worthwhile venture.  Tell you what, when your teams can match the capability of IMG by playing any and all quality teams in the country year in and year out and actually not losing by basketball scores, then I might look favorably upon wanton criticism of the IMG football team. Until then, IMG is still putting fear into every quality team in the country, and apparently to some forum people. Everyone, who knows anything about high school football, realizes that IMG is a Football Factory. It exists to train athletes for the professional ranks. IMG plays whomever they can schedule which does not seem to be that difficult. They manage to get some of the best teams to play them. Nobody twists the arms of any team's coach to schedule IMG. Teams like MC, MNW, CC, etc. agree to play IMG. And, then, when they lose big time, some of their fans complain that IMG is a football factory and is taking advantage of them. Seriously, can we at least give credit to IMG for trying to be the best in their area expertise. Remember, when you criticize IMG you are criticizing a whole bunch of young high school students that are not any different than those students who play on your local team. They are not wind up toys where they just go in the direction you point them.

Strike fear? 

 

I don't think any of those Miami teams were scared of IMG 

 

and even though you can debate the win being a kickoff classic I'll damn sure tell you we weren't scared of IMG

 

Even though the result may have been different in regular season we weren't scared