Colonels_Wear_Blue

Aug 9 vs. Eastern (Scrimmage) Aug 16 vs. Elizabethtown (Scrimmage) Aug 23 vs. Atherton Aug 30 at Carroll County Sep 6 vs. DeSales Sep 13 at Walton-Verona Sep 20 vs. John Hardin Sep 27 vs. LaRue County Oct 4 - BYE Oct 11 at Louisville Holy Cross (District) Oct 18 at Bethlehem (District) Oct 25 vs. Campbellsville (District) Nov 1 at Henry County

Aug 23 at Cooper Aug 30 vs. Taylor County Sep 5 at Thomas Nelson Sep 13 at Ashland Sep 20 vs. Elizabethtown Sep 27 at Meade County Oct 3 vs. Breckinridge County (District) Oct 11 at John Hardin (District) Oct 18 vs. Nelson County (District) Oct 25 - BYE Nov 1 vs. Danville

Their dual QB look last season with Max Thompson and Trajdon Davis could have been a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. But this year with Thompson graduating, they will be looking to senior Davis for the QB leadership. Davis also had almost 500 yards rushing last year, plus the offense returns senior RB Anthony Burrus, who had over 1000 yards last season. Burrus accounted for one-third the team's total touchdowns last year (16 of 52). The offense will have to find answers in the receiving corps this season after graduating Jackson Pendergraft and Koien Banks, who accounted for over half of the team's 2141 yards receiving, and another third of their touchdowns, between the two. On defense, linebacker Jack Ryan Reusch will return as a junior, and as their top tackler from the 2023 season. Senior Andrew O'Nan and junior Myron Wright will also be returning to the D-line, and as the team's #3 and #4 tacklers from 2023, respectively. LB Jaxson Wallace, DB Anthony Burrus, DB Luke Humphrey, and LB James Murphy are all going to be back as significant contributors on defense from last season, as well.

Hendo had a pretty disappointing season last year. They had a 4-6 regular season against the same schedule, and were 1-1 in the playoffs, losing by 15 to McCracken County, who they had beaten by 28 during the regular season. Aug 18 vs. Meade County (W) 35-34 Aug 25 at South Warren (L) 38-14 Sep 1 at Central Hardin (L) 36-35 Sep 8 vs. Paducah Tilghman (L) 42-27 Sep 15 at Owensboro Catholic (L) 41-21 Sep 22 vs. Mayfield (L) 38-24 Oct 6 vs. McCracken County (W) 56-28 Oct 13 at Daviess County (W) 42-7 Oct 20 vs. Christian County (W) 64-32 Oct 27 at Owensboro (L) 34-6 Nov 3 vs. Warren Central (W) 41-0 Nov 10 vs. McCracken County (L) 38-23

Aug 23 at Meade County Aug 30 vs. South Warren Sep 6 vs. Central Hardin Sep 13 at Paducah Tilghman Sep 20 vs. Owensboro Catholic Sep 27 at Mayfield Oct 4 - BYE Oct 11 at McCracken County (District) Oct 18 vs. Daviess County (District) Oct 25 at Christian County (District) Nov 1 vs. Owensboro

As for the hip-drop tackle being banned, I that tackling style has come into play much more these days due to the abundance of targeting "hit to the head" tackling penalties in the NFL. The problem the NFL Competition Committee saw with that hip-drop tackling form is the fact that it has fairly frequently caused the tacklers (through no fault of their own) to land on the legs of the player being tackled. Essentially a hip-drop tackle is any time a tackler grabs the ball carrier by their torso or waist and then "drops their hips" to become dead-weight, thus pulling the ball carrier to the ground. It's definitely a response to tacklers being discouraged via penalties and fines to hit offensive players higher up on their bodies. From an NFL standpoint, though, I guess they see banning these tackles as a way to both reduce player injuries and increase the advantage that offensive players have in the game. Increased advantage for the offense makes for more yardage and scoring. More scoring, to a lot of people, means a more exciting game, I suppose. And for the knuckle-draggers in the world who think scoring is the end-all-be-all of excitement in a football game, I guess that rule change makes for a plus for the NFL.

So the kickoff team is going to be lining up on the receiving team's 40 yard line, and the receiving team will have all of their blockers lined up 5 yards away on the 35 yard line, and none of the people at the 40 yard line or the 35 yard line until the ball is touched by a returner. The kick landing zone is between the goal line and the 20 yard line. So if a kick is caught by a returner at the 5 yard line and returns it straight ahead (shortest distance between two points is a straight line). And lets say that that the kickoff team manages to advance, lets call it 10 yards forward with the kick return team trying to impede their way. So that puts the tacklers from the kickoff team at the 30 yard line while the returner has had 25 yards of running to get a full head of steam when they meet. That's a lot of kinetic energy on impact. Granted, these rules DO reduce the number of people who are have 10+ yards worth of space to run before impact on the kickoff play, but man oh man, this seems really hazardous to the kick returners' health.

I'm a tiny bit bummed for the loss of surprise onside kicks, but I couldn't even guess at the last time I recall that happening in the NFL. The flip side of that is that the increase in kickoff returns is likely going to add to the number of exciting big kick returns, the number of fumbles on kickoff returns, and things like that. This is another example of the NFL appearing to completely abandoning their concerns about concussions and CTE from 10 or 15 years ago, though. Kick returns are the singlemost likely football plays of the game for a concussion to take place....and here the NFL is, trying to encourage them to happen.

I'm entertained by the fact that when the impact of concussions and CTE were first really coming to light, the NFL bans having any additional helmets other than those properly fitted to a player at the beginning of the season, openly saying that it's in interest of protecting players heads/brains. Then the marketability of alternate uniforms is realized. The NFL can make hundreds of millions based on having alternate uniforms, the ticket sales and viewership that drives up to see them, the additional advertising sales money that's made, and the additional clothing sales that happen. So they capitulate and allow for an alternate second helmet. And now here they are allowing for a THIRD alternate helmet.

Just saw that Kristy Orem is stepping down as AD and girls hoops coach at Pikeville. She's been their AD since 2016, if I'm not mistaken. It will be interesting to see who they hire to replace her, and whether or not there is any attempt to change anything at Pikeville or if the new AD just steps in and keeps things rolling as they have been.

Matthew Taylor has headed to take the boys job at Shelby Valley after 4 years in charge of the Cougars boys program. Letcher Central is now open.