Highlands will be the 5A favorite until someone can prove they can beat them.

 

Bowling Green would disagree with you I'm sure.

Here is what my take is and it is based on what I have read on here and seen at games.

 

The Birds return a formidable group on the line anchored by Sr's 6'2 300lb Bo Hebel, 6'4 230lb Carson Haas, 6' 270 lb Tyler Robinson and possibly 6'2 235lb Evan Richardson. The Center position looks to be up for grabs, Trey King the current JV Center is an extremely smart kid who could step up and fill that role. He needs to put on some much needed weight but is a tall kid.

 

Offensively the Birds will likely continue to throw the ball a lot with Recievers Chandler New, Mitchell Cain and Eric Miller returning. Also look out for soph to be Braden Posey. He is very fast and has great hands, he could contend for some throws next year. The 3 vets combined for a lot of catches this season. Austin Hergott should be the frontrunner for the QB spot but he will need to improve his accuracy. He is the prototypical QB at 6'4 215lbs, hopefully he can work hard in the offseason and lead the Birds next season. Running Back Nick Kendall should get most of the carries but Grant Murray if he can return at full strength from the knee injury could be a similar back that Griffin Urlage was this year. Jared Pulsfort should also contend for carries next year.

 

On the defensive side will need to replace virtually all of the Defensive line in the event they move Richardson to Offensive Line. Maybe I am wrong but I believe he started on Defense. Bradley Greene gained some nice experience at DB this season as a soph so he should return there. Austin Beal as well at the Corner. Jared Daugherty I would assume will anchor the LB position. Several losses on this side of the ball will call for some kids to step in and fill the shoes.

 

Clearly there is some doubt going into next season if you look at the current JV and Frosh win/loss records this season. I believe the JV was 1-5 vs a tough schedule with their lone win being over CovCath and the Freshman were 3-5 against local competition. You can never count out the Birds though, they will maintain the top ranking position until someone proves they can knock them off.

 

They say the body is still warm and the paint is still wet on the trophy but lets be honest.....there are kids coming back next season who cant wait to get in that weight room this week and come up with their next slogan for 2015.

 

Obviously folks closer to the program can probably throw out there some more names of kids who will contend for spots. I can assure you that they will need to put in a ton of work to replace this year's team and notables like Hoge, Urlage, Murray, Pangallo, Vennaman, Bunning, Mills, etc.

 

See you in August!

Here is what my take is and it is based on what I have read on here and seen at games.

 

The Birds return a formidable group on the line anchored by Sr's 6'2 300lb Bo Hebel, 6'4 230lb Carson Haas, 6' 270 lb Tyler Robinson and possibly 6'2 235lb Evan Richardson. The Center position looks to be up for grabs, Trey King the current JV Center is an extremely smart kid who could step up and fill that role. He needs to put on some much needed weight but is a tall kid.

 

Offensively the Birds will likely continue to throw the ball a lot with Recievers Chandler New, Mitchell Cain and Eric Miller returning. Also look out for soph to be Braden Posey. He is very fast and has great hands, he could contend for some throws next year. The 3 vets combined for a lot of catches this season. Austin Hergott should be the frontrunner for the QB spot but he will need to improve his accuracy. He is the prototypical QB at 6'4 215lbs, hopefully he can work hard in the offseason and lead the Birds next season. Running Back Nick Kendall should get most of the carries but Grant Murray if he can return at full strength from the knee injury could be a similar back that Griffin Urlage was this year. Jared Pulsfort should also contend for carries next year.

 

On the defensive side will need to replace virtually all of the Defensive line in the event they move Richardson to Offensive Line. Maybe I am wrong but I believe he started on Defense. Bradley Greene gained some nice experience at DB this season as a soph so he should return there. Austin Beal as well at the Corner. Jared Daugherty I would assume will anchor the LB position. Several losses on this side of the ball will call for some kids to step in and fill the shoes.

 

Clearly there is some doubt going into next season if you look at the current JV and Frosh win/loss records this season. I believe the JV was 1-5 vs a tough schedule with their lone win being over CovCath and the Freshman were 3-5 against local competition. You can never count out the Birds though, they will maintain the top ranking position until someone proves they can knock them off.

 

They say the body is still warm and the paint is still wet on the trophy but lets be honest.....there are kids coming back next season who cant wait to get in that weight room this week and come up with their next slogan for 2015.

 

Obviously folks closer to the program can probably throw out there some more names of kids who will contend for spots. I can assure you that they will need to put in a ton of work to replace this year's team and notables like Hoge, Urlage, Murray, Pangallo, Vennaman, Bunning, Mills, etc.

 

Nice analysis.

 

There are a number of others that saw a good amount of time on varsity that should contribute in a large way. Ben Dressman and Ben Ziegler at LB. Luke Lindeman on defense OLB or DE. Connor Welch OLB. I know their are a few others but these players come right to mind.

 

Austin Hergot does have a nice arm and can run and likely will be the favorite to start. He had nice seasons as a freshman and sophomore. While one could argue Hoge showed great promise his junior year in limited duty at QB I don't believe anyone out there could have envisioned the success he had this year! While I truly am not comparing Hoge to Hergot I am saying HHS has a way of preparing "the next man up"..... I've read that somewhere along the way.

These type of threads get better every year. Highlands #1 appears to be looking out for someone to post his kids name somewhere, so why don't you tell us what to expect next year.

 

I will give you a little help to start.

 

Offense will return Hebel, Richardson and Haas. A pretty solid group of lineman to build around and no the center position is not open. QB will be Austin Hergott unless someone comes from out of nowhere. Kid needs to work on mechanics, trust his abilities and play with confidence and he will be just fine. As mentioned, Cain, New and Miller all saw significant time at receiver and were more than successful this year. Kendall returns in the backfield and who besides that is a good question. I would expect Pulsfort and possibly Grant Murray moving to defensive side of the ball.

 

Defense will return Richardson at DL along with Chard. LB's returning will be Dressman, Dougherty, Ziegler and Welsch. All saw time this year, some more than others. DB's returning will be Beal, Greene, Perez, Johnson and Stamper. Obviously some younger kids could fill in if they work hard in the offseason.

 

Special teams have everything returning except for Veneman.

 

I figured you would give us the skinny. I was confused, forgot that Richardson filled in at C for Dalton when he went down.

 

So it sounds like the Strong side of the line returns along with Center.

 

Any thoughts on who will be TE?

No sir no name throwing here. Just seems as if we are or can be in trouble this coming year from what is being said in the papers. My only question was how many boy's was we losing. I have seen some JV and Frosh games I think we may see some Frosh stepping up is all I will say

:troll:

:stop:

No sir no name throwing here. Just seems as if we are or can be in trouble this coming year from what is being said in the papers. My only question was how many boy's was we losing. I have seen some JV and Frosh games I think we may see some Frosh stepping up is all I will say

 

Starting to connect the dots on the OP's motivation for the thread.

I know we have great players coming back such as Kendal, Austin Beal,and Robinson. But we are also moving up in rank which concerns me,

 

You do realize that from 2007-10 HHS played up in 5A and did okay.

Yes sir but you also realize we are playing with a whole new deck of cards here.

You do realize that from 2007-10 HHS played up in 5A and did okay.

Yes sir but you also realize we are playing with a whole new deck of cards here.

 

And you do realize that 5A was arguably one of the weakest divisions in the state this year right. Not taking anything from the top teams, but just not many good teams across the state in 5A.

 

John Hardin made it to the state semi-finals in 5A...losing to the state runner up by 5 points and the state runner up only lost by a touchdown to the champs. HHS beat JH 49-7.

No sir no name throwing here. Just seems as if we are or can be in trouble this coming year from what is being said in the papers. My only question was how many boy's was we losing. I have seen some JV and Frosh games I think we may see some Frosh stepping up is all I will say

 

There were a lot of folks (Highlands fans included) that thought the sky was falling after the 2013 season ended too. Sit back, relax and trust in the coaches and players. I'm not naive enough to think we'll win championships every year just because we are Highlands. But I've been around the program long enough and seen enough to know that the players and coaches will always give everything they've got. People put way, way too much emphasis on what happens in JV, frosh and even FTJFL games. That's just silly in my opinion. Being blunt, the talent level on the 2014 team wouldn't be in the top 15 most talented Highlands teams. But the commitment, dedication, discipline, execution and teamwork level would be right up there at the top with a whole lot of past Highlands teams. That is why they won state this year. That and the fact that we have some pretty darn good coaches at Highlands. Well done boys; well done.

I agree when Highlands lost everyone thought the sky fell. However I was told even if your child is a strong player in his frosh year he still has to sit back and wait his turn? No I'm not up with all this football program dialog and I'm trying my best to learn.

There were a lot of folks (Highlands fans included) that thought the sky was falling after the 2013 season ended too. Sit back, relax and trust in the coaches and players. I'm not naive enough to think we'll win championships every year just because we are Highlands. But I've been around the program long enough and seen enough to know that the players and coaches will always give everything they've got. People put way, way too much emphasis on what happens in JV, frosh and even FTJFL games. That's just silly in my opinion. Being blunt, the talent level on the 2014 team wouldn't be in the top 15 most talented Highlands teams. But the commitment, dedication, discipline, execution and teamwork level would be right up there at the top with a whole lot of past Highlands teams. That is why they won state this year. That and the fact that we have some pretty darn good coaches at Highlands. Well done boys; well done.

I agree. I'm a natural worrier but as long as the players continue to put in the amazing effort they do and as long as our coaches continue to perform like they do, we'll be alright. As stated, we are not going to win state every year, it's silly to even consider that. We should be in the conversation each year as long as the above holds true.

I agree when Highlands lost everyone thought the sky fell. However I was told even if your child is a strong player in his frosh year he still has to sit back and wait his turn? No I'm not up with all this football program dialog and I'm trying my best to learn.

 

Just because a boy is a strong player his frosh year doesn't mean he's ready for varsity. However there are sophomores who get playing time for HHS each year so don't listen to everything you're told. Lot's of misinformation goes around.