Rockman

:laugh:

:laugh:

It was an exciting game to watch...offensive shootout in the 1st half with Mercer racking up 360 yards of total offense and CAL going for 245 with the halftime score 35-28 Titans...in the 2nd half, both teams made adjustments defensively and the production was more of a “grind it out” game as Mercer had only 118 yards with CAL putting up 166 total yards of offense...Mercer ran about 90% of the time as the O Line and RB’s did a great job against a very big CAL D Line...CAL was much more efficient offensively than they were against Boyle especially in their passing game as they featured 3 outstanding WR/TE’s Leeper, Green & 6’5” William Paar who was a load to defend with his combination of size and athleticism. CAL played very well and is legit tainted...despite having 3 losses, they are going to be a factor in the 3A discussion and playoffs and it would not surprise me to see them beat DeSales in 2 weeks for that big district game. This is the toughest district in all of KHSAA regardless of class with 3 legit Top 10 teams. However, Mercer clearly outplayed CAL and deserved to win the game. Nothing flukey at all about this outcome as the better team won. Mercer’s offense is catching up to their defense over the last 2 games as the first 4 games including the Boyle game was carried by the Mercer defense. Mercer’s running game is very strong with a solid O Line and the passing game has been effective in select spots. IMO, the passing game & pass defense are the two greatest areas of improvement for Mercer but they have the athletes & playmakers in both of those areas to make those adjustments so there is still a great deal of upside for the Mercer team. They are not yet a “finished product” clicking on all cylinders(like Boyle, obviously) but they are improving and the team confidence is growing. We will know a lot more about their playoff chances come Oct 25th when DeSales comes to AJ Field for what likely will be for the district title & coveted #1 playoff seed in the toughest district in the state.

I believe there will be 5 finalists selected...my prediction in alphabetical order: Trevon Faulkner--Mercer County Steven Fitzgerald--Pulaski County CJ Frederick--Covington Catholic Cooper Robb--Scott County Andrew Taylor--Corbin High Honorable Mention Adam Kunkel--Cooper Mickey Pearson--John Hardin Carter Hendricksen--LCA Markelle Turner--Knox Central Hunter Stevens--Southwestern Jay Scrubb--Trinity Eric Boss Boone--Bryan Station Anthony Wales--Fern Creek

Halftime 21-16 Mercer leads

I would love to see him become a Wildcat too but his dream school is Florida and I'm not sure how excited he would be about UK knowing that he would probably be redshirted his freshman year and then likely would have to work his way into the rotation another year or two beyond that RS year...

He has NOT committed to anybody...has about a dozen D1 offers though including UK and UL

Final score was actually East Jessamine 30, Mercer 27(not 20)...

28-21 Lincoln leads at half thanks to 4 Mercer Turnovers

Franklin Co leads 20-7 at half

Franklin Co leads 20-0 mid 2nd quarter.

Middle school sports are the most unlevel playground in existence because of the tremendous variation of puberty onset. Some kids start in 5th grade while others in 8th grade still have not begun that growth process which begins to level the playing field by the time these kids are usually into their SOPH season. With that in mind, it is premature and not very relevant as 8th graders to "rank" these kids at this stage. Very few 8th graders have ever been in the weight room even one time which will be another big separating factor once they become SOPH's and JR's. Finally, most middle regular season schedules are limited to just conference games and so unlike with basketball, it is difficult to get a true comparison on how kids rate to other kids across the state when you are playing most of your games against kids from schools within a 75-mile radius. About the only way to get a good feel for these things with statewide schools are through early season 7-on-7 competition(May or June) and/or through the middle school playoffs in October. So with all of that serving as a disclaimer(especially the puberty component), I have been fortunate enough to see about 50 teams over the last two seasons of middle school football. But most of these teams are based in Central KY and those 50 teams probably only comprise 20% of the middle schools across the state, so again, so my observations are based on a very limited sample size. Below is a list of the most talented current 8th grade kids that I have observed. I have not listed them by positions as most of them play multiple positions nor have I listed height or weights as that info is not available. I only am listing their schools and all of these players' names are listed in alphabetical order by last name so there is no ranking within this list: Kaelin Drakeford--King MS(Mercer Co) Kyle England--Union MS(Ryle) Brady Holleran--Elkhorn(Franklin Co) Malachi Jackson-Georgetown(Scott Co) Wilson Kelly--Boyle MS(Boyle Co) Zach Labhart--Anderson(Anderson Co) Jamisen Lewis--Elkhorn(Franklin Co) Dale Martin-Clark Moores(Madison Cen) Cade McKee--Scott Middle(Scott Co) Jalen Montgomery-Elkhorn(Frankin Co) Jake Sloan-North Pulaski(Pulaski Co) Reese Smith--Boyle Middle(Boyle Co) Cameron Yates--Boyle Middle(Boyle Co) These kids have all been standout players over the last two seasons and it will be interesting to see how many of them will still be impact players in 3 years as a JR in high school. But I know from experience that probably half of this list will not be anymore and there will be other kids by that time who have stepped up and developed through hard work, weight lifting and puberty. I will be interested to hear any other observations from other forum members who have seen any of these kids play. And again, I apologize for leaving out other kids that I just have not personally seen.