Dixie Freshman Football

[skillett73]

I actually think Lloyd only fields a varsity squad and a froshmore squad. The froshmore squad is mostly 9th graders, but there is some 10 graders on it also. I believe last season the Lloyd froshmore played some schools freshman teams, such as Beechwood and NCC, and other schools JV team, such as Scott and Holmes.

[rjs4470]

Yeah, but I counted 52 kids on Turkeyfoot's middle school team last Saturday so things may not be so bad.

 

That would work out to about 25 8th graders. Figure some will quit, some will go to a different school, and you'll be looking at about 20 freshman next year. TF used to regularly have 70+ kids on their middle school team. Numbers at all the large schools have been decreasing over the last 4-5 years.

[OlDog75]

That would work out to about 25 8th graders. Figure some will quit, some will go to a different school, and you'll be looking at about 20 freshman next year. TF used to regularly have 70+ kids on their middle school team. Numbers at all the large schools have been decreasing over the last 4-5 years.

 

I don't recall TF having 70+ kids when my son was playing in middle school, and that's been quite a few years ago.

[rjs4470]

I don't recall TF having 70+ kids when my son was playing in middle school, and that's been quite a few years ago.

 

I'd say this was 4-5 years ago, when they started having a separate 7th and 8th grade team (which they did not do this year). I think their peak was when last years senior class at Dixie was in 8th grade.

[Mustang]

I'm sure that Dixie must have a JV team, which probably incorporates the freshmen who would have comrised the freshmen team.

[cchfan]

There are several factors, concussions, etc. But the bottom line is time and commitment puts more and more kids off. Combined with way too many distractions and other options for kids. Too easy to play games and socialize 24x7 electronically.. Other thing is as schools like Boone county morph from big country or suburban school settings to more of an inner city school environment fewer kids are willing put in the work or time or may not have the family support needed to keep up with football that is basically a six day a week commitment during season

[plantmanky]

RJS and I had this discussion the other day about commitment from players. At the MS level you have roughly 6-10 kids that are not at practice any given day. What do you think happens when they get to high school......they just quit.

 

Commitment to activities starts at a younger age, even younger than MS, but it also goes for the parents too. For most activities, the activity is nothing more than free babysitting.

[ColonelCrazy]

I actually think Lloyd only fields a varsity squad and a froshmore squad. The froshmore squad is mostly 9th graders, but there is some 10 graders on it also. I believe last season the Lloyd froshmore played some schools freshman teams, such as Beechwood and NCC, and other schools JV team, such as Scott and Holmes.

 

Beechwood & NCC have enough kids to field a frosh team, but Dixie doesn't?

[footballnmyblood]

I saw a parent that their son was really good in Middle School but is not playing Freshman ball. I asked why not and they said its because he wants to be the starting running back and the stupid coaches want him to play the offensive line. He was the best running back when he was little. Yeah but now little Johnny is 5'9" and weighs in at 225lbs. He is not the little running back anymore.

What happened to I'll play wherever it helps my team? The parents made it seem like it was the coaches fault.

[rjs4470]

I saw a parent that their son was really good in Middle School but is not playing Freshman ball. I asked why not and they said its because he wants to be the starting running back and the stupid coaches want him to play the offensive line. He was the best running back when he was little. Yeah but now little Johnny is 5'9" and weighs in at 225lbs. He is not the little running back anymore.

What happened to I'll play wherever it helps my team? The parents made it seem like it was the coaches fault.

 

That has existed since the beginning of time. There's always a kid (or a few kids) that quit because of playing time/position. And if that's the case, the kid probably was never dedicated to football anyway. I still think the biggest issue is the proliferation of other sports. Fall baseball, and year round basketball are picking away decent athletes who are better in those other sports, especially those who believe they will play at the next level (even though those chances are a long shot). Again all it takes is 5 or 6 guys giving up football for a freshman team to become not possible.

[excele1001]

Does anyone inside the program have any insight? For a school of Dixie's size this should never happen.

[nees1212]

Does anyone inside the program have any insight? For a school of Dixie's size this should never happen.

 

As discussed in another thread, this really isn't a surprise to many that have followed Dixie over the years. For a school of their size, the athletic body is very cyclical. Once Turkeyfoot started the middle school program, it was only a matter of time before this would happen.

[Toothpick]

I think this is a whole lot of nothing. Mayfield has not had a frosh team in years and it has not impacted the program in the least. Dixie will be fine

[Bluedad]

I think this is a whole lot of nothing. Mayfield has not had a frosh team in years and it has not impacted the program in the least. Dixie will be fine

 

For a 1A team, not a surprise. For a 5A team (who just came down from 6A) this is unusual.

[excele1001]

Most schools have middle school programs. What is the correlation? turkeyfoot normally put 40 - 60 kids in uniform.