IMG 46 Venice 7 Final

[VeniceIndiansFootball 90]

So it looks like IMG isn’t as down as some people think they are. 

Venice has a lot of work to do this year if they want to have a good season...

Any thoughts on this? Venice plays St. Pete next week.

[Legion37 24]

Yeah, that score is rough...but IMG is more like a jr. College team.

Losing to IMG is nothing to panic over. Just move on to the next game and take it for what it was. Taking on a professional high school.

[LakelandGator 61]

3 hours ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

So it looks like IMG isn’t as down as some people think they are. 

The people saying that don't have clue, just hate what IMG represents, or both.

[Proseteye 354]

3 hours ago, Legion37 said:

Yeah, that score is rough...but IMG is more like a jr. College team.

Losing to IMG is nothing to panic over. Just move on to the next game and take it for what it was. Taking on a professional high school.

IMG isn't anymore professional than some of these other Florida high schools, both public and private, that get tons of high caliber transfers every season. I'm pretty sure that Venice is one of those high schools. They also chose to play IMG so nobody should be making excuses for them or any other Florida team that agrees to play IMG. If you can't play on the same field with IMG then simply don't schedule them. I notice that quite a few folks, consistently year in and year out, state that IMG will not be as good as the previous year and has no chance at the national championship. Then get upset that IMG routinely blows away some of the best Florida teams. I, myself, give IMG all the credit they deserve even though they are a sports academy high school.

[Legion37 24]

I worked at IMG for 2 years. I am aware of their operations. And I wasn't surprised by the SAT fixing scandal. Nor that they field a great team year in and year out. But their games are boring, more like a small college game than an exciting HS game. No band that cares, no cheerleaders from the school and a student body that mostly doesn't care, they have their own sports to work on.

They have way more practice time than regular HS players, they live on campus and coaches can be in their ear and face almost at all times. Some students practice in the morning and go to school later in the day. Others go to school in the morning and practice later in the day. Allows for real individual coaching of units. Some of the coaches live in the dorms with them. So they are not like any other HS in that regard. 

[Proseteye 354]

3 hours ago, Legion37 said:

I worked at IMG for 2 years. I am aware of their operations. And I wasn't surprised by the SAT fixing scandal. Nor that they field a great team year in and year out. But their games are boring, more like a small college game than an exciting HS game. No band that cares, no cheerleaders from the school and a student body that mostly doesn't care, they have their own sports to work on.

They have way more practice time than regular HS players, they live on campus and coaches can be in their ear and face almost at all times. Some students practice in the morning and go to school later in the day. Others go to school in the morning and practice later in the day. Allows for real individual coaching of units. Some of the coaches live in the dorms with them. So they are not like any other HS in that regard. 

You make some good points as you were with IMG for awhile and I am sure know them better than most.  However, I would bet that schools like Bolles, STA, Jax TC, Chaminade, AHD, and possibly a few others put the same effort in as does IMG. All of them have dedicated coaching staffs, recruit on a regular basis (yes it is recruiting although it's called something else), and have the funds to build and maintain top notch facilities. Yet IMG is the school that takes all of the criticism and mostly from the football community. When Chaminade routinely puts running clocks on their opponents they are praised instead of criticized. IMG is criticized for just defeating their opponents although most of IMG opponents are national powerhouses.  I am neither an advocate for or against IMG. I just believe in fair treatment for all HS football teams in Florida no matter what their status.

[Legion37 24]

IMG isn't in many ways a Florida High School, certainly not in the sense like a Bolles is a private prep school. It is in the state of Florida but its recruiting tenticles are generally far more vast than the transfers many public and private Florida school's get. 

They recruit from every state and overseas. And many of their football recruits can't afford the $75,000 annual tuition. But ways are found.

Losing to IMG isn't shameful and Venice may still be very good and should simply move on to the next game.

I remember a Venice state championship season they lost only one game to IMG!

[HornetFan 32]

I give IMG a lot of credit for admitting what they are; an all-star team, full of recruits, playing a national schedule, and not beating up on traditional high school football teams that are trying to make FHSAA playoffs. There are too many schools doing very much the same thing that IMG does with the exception that those teams are recruiting away other teams best players, beating up on those teams they poached, and still playing in FHSAA playoffs. Recruiting and transfers have destroyed the competitive balance in Florida high school football, and I don't think that is for the betterment of the sport or for the preservation of traditional rivalries.

[OldSchoolLion 1,396]

IMG exists because there is a need for players at the elite college programs to be ready to play the day they step on campus.  It's hard for me to believe there is a deranged wizard behind the curtain at IMG with visions of hs football world domination.  Rather, I think it's Business 101..supply and demand.  

Our society's insatiable desire for continuous improvement has taken us from 200-pound linemen to 300-pounders in relatively short order because WE expect it and WE want it...not the Wizard of IMG.

If high schools were doing a better job of conditioning the kids and preparing them to play at an elite NCAA level, the demand for an IMG would not be as great.  People love to demonize Walmart, but why do people shop there?  Walmart is not the problem.  It's our expectation and insistence for value that drives their existence.  

Instead of looking for the "problem" externally, we need to look ourselves in the mirror and better understand how ultimately our expectations as a society are the problem.  Nobody likes IMG, but how many of the same people who bitch about them would tolerate it if we went back to 150 pound, "slow" kids playing hs football?

[HornetFan 32]

Both my grandsons have gone to football camps at IMG the last two Summers and have received excellent instruction. They have definitely improved their skills and confidence at those camps. IMG isn't for every kid and they don't claim to be. They're a sports factory for high school kids. Their elite team seeks out games against the best teams in the country; they're not out to beat up on local Florida schools.

[Proseteye 354]

Nor did the staff at IMG twist the arms of or even invite teams like Venice, Norland, Northwestern, or Booker T to play them. Quite sure it was these teams that approached IMG. All four are some of the best in Florida and without a doubt enjoy testing themselves against a football machine like IMG. As long as they don't complain or give excuses when they get defeated big time. And, I agree, that recruiting and transfers are destroying the true concept of HS football in Florida.