Russell 28 East Carter 10

[locker#311]

I am aware Jay.

 

But it almost looks like work to them. Not the fact that they have to try hard to beat teams because all teams do. But the fact that they look like they are not having any fun. They break the huddle and they look like OK here we go again. They just like like there is no joy in playing.

 

I heard alot of people last year that didn't like it when Kasey was dancing in pregame and jumping around and talking the whole time the game was going on. One thing was for sure though. He had fun playing the game and he did it very well.

 

I really like this group. They are very talented. I just think they need to play with the emotion and joy that they had when they were little kids. Its a game. Have fun, fly around, celebrate and quit acting like its a job.

I agree with this statement 100% FBALL. They don't look like they are enjoying being out there. And they walk to everything when they are on the field. I don't care what anyone else says, the walking around on the field looks terrible. I even heard one of the coachs screaming "Quit walking" and they all ignored him. And I know they heard him. They just don't think they have to put out until they are standing in the middle of the fire. As simple as that sounds, it will bite em' in the behind sooner or later.

[oldrambler]

 

Once again, I apologize if my opening statement is harsh, I just want folks to understand these are 16, 17 year old student-athetles out there and we need as fans to do our part to build them up and talk about the many positives and not dwell on the one or two negatives.

:ylsuper: Great post here Russelldad. Excellent points made and comments.:thumb: :thumb:

[flyin'intheflag]

Those two LBs were sophmores. They will both be very good.

 

As for stacking the box. East had all 11 up there and had the cornors crashing quite a bit. Yes Russell does go two tight the majority of the time but you cannot cover the pass routes in man coverage. Yes they do actually have pass routes and do not just release down field.

 

Russells coaching is top notch. Coach McGlone is either the most patient or most stubborn man I know.

 

Both Linebackers are sophomores? That explains their look but not their play. I thought they were very good now!

 

I know Russell has pass routes! c'mon. My point is Russell has all 11 right there. East had people playing man on the receivers. When they blocked it looked like they were coming up to play the run because they were. The amazing thing to me is when they released to run their pass routes they did not cover. The question is how hard should it be to recognize when someone is blocking and when someone is running a pass route. The answer was obvious Friday night because Russell's receivers were being chased and not covered.

 

As for the description of Coach Mcglone...classic!

[Raider Pride]

Thoughts after watching the game.... 1. football in eastern kentucky is quite a bit down this season. Lots of O-fer teams. 2. Russell is solid' date=' not as good as some previous Russell teams but still good. 3. East continues to struggle offensively. They need to add holsters to the uniform to hold the gun that they shoot themselves in the foot with. 4. The comments about East stacking the box with 11 people to stop the run is a bit misleading. East was playing man coverage. The truth of the matter is Russell stacks the box on offense most every down. Russell is amazingly simple and yet very effective. I do not understand how high school kids play man coverage verses Russell's receivers who simply block on run plays and release down the field on pass plays and yet they have trouble covering. It is like they get lulled to sleep and then when they wake up to realize its a pass the receiver is already up on them. 5. There is no staff anywhere in our area that can compare to the wisdom and experience and talent of the Russell staff, particularly the coaching triumvirate of McGlone, Jones, and Morris. They remind me of old farmer's that know their equipment, how to fix it, and how to use it. They will find your weakness and you will pay. East played man coverage and they had a player that they found in the secondary and picked on him time and again. Any time they needed a play they picked on that same d-back. Hats off to the Russell staff. 6. Don't let Russell's linebackers fool you...they fail the look test as they both look like JV kids but they pass the play test...making play after play. Russell had a couple of kids that looked alot like tarzan and they drew your attention; however, those two linbackers kept making plays. 7. I would like a dollar for everytime I heard people saying that Mason County will kill Russell...my reply is "not so fast my friends!" Here is why. First, no matter how many rah, rah posts the Russell fans put on here complaining about the emotional play of the red devils the truth of the matter is they are not going to be "up" for the East game until East becomes a team that requires them to be up for. You can only get up the way the crowd defines up a couple of times a year. This was not the game for the red devil faithful to be worrying about the emotional state of the team. Second, If East would not turn it over in crucial areas of the field the Mason game would have been much closer and the russell game would have been even closer. The first half fumble to give russell the 14-3 lead was huge. Third, the Tyler Jones factor. He played one of the grittiest games I have ever seen on an ankle that was 60% at best. Case in point. The first time he ran the ball he barely got tripped up...which hurt the ankle more...on a good wheel he was gone. If he is healthy the game would not have been as close as it was. So, take the 8 turnovers out of the East Mason game and you have a comparable score of the East Russell game but add a healthy ankle on #8 and the game margin of this game is much greater! So, give a slight nod to Mason but it will be close! I would like to see that game for sure. Best of luck to both teams...the raiders need to heal up, come up with some plays that can score, and take care of the comets in two weeks.[/quote']

You said that Russell has an excellent coaching staff and I couldn't agree more. What I disagree with are some of your assessments of the game. Russell did hurt East with the pass especially in the latter part of the game after East moved their backs farther off the line and started using them more for run support. As a smart coach would do, Coach McGlone started using a three step drop and throwing quick passes. We didn't have a pass rush all night and and if a good quarterback gets all the time he needs to throw he will usually find an open reciever. How many sacks did we have and how many times did we even have any pressure on the quarterback?

If you have gone to any East games over the years you will hear the same complaints; when we can't score it's because the line can't block and when passes are completed it's because the dbs can't cover. Sometimes that's true, but not always.

I have seen a lot of praise on this board for our own coaching staff, and I think they give a great effort, and I also believe that they will be successful. Right now though they are beung outcoached. This is practically the same team that we fielded last year, and we can't seem to put points on the board. We have scored a total of 52 points in five games this year and 35 of those came in one game. That means we are averaging 4 1/4 points per game in the other four. Maybe it's time to start placing some of the blame on our pitiful offense.

[flyin'intheflag]

You said that Russell has an excellent coaching staff and I couldn't agree more. What I disagree with are some of your assessments of the game. Russell did hurt East with the pass especially in the latter part of the game after East moved their backs farther off the line and started using them more for run support. As a smart coach would do, Coach McGlone started using a three step drop and throwing quick passes. We didn't have a pass rush all night and and if a good quarterback gets all the time he needs to throw he will usually find an open reciever. How many sacks did we have and how many times did we even have any pressure on the quarterback?

If you have gone to any East games over the years you will hear the same complaints; when we can't score it's because the line can't block and when passes are completed it's because the dbs can't cover. Sometimes that's true, but not always.

I have seen a lot of praise on this board for our own coaching staff, and I think they give a great effort, and I also believe that they will be successful. Right now though they are beung outcoached. This is practically the same team that we fielded last year, and we can't seem to put points on the board. We have scored a total of 52 points in five games this year and 35 of those came in one game. That means we are averaging 4 1/4 points per game in the other four. Maybe it's time to start placing some of the blame on our pitiful offense.

 

I don't think that you would find many people, possibly including the Raiders coaching staff and players, that would argue that the offense has been a disapointment to this point. Here's to hoping that the young and energetic staff will burn the midnight oil over the off week and put together something special for the other end of Carter Co. I just hope the kids keep believing. The defense for the majority of the season has given the better effort...true true true.

[Raider Pride]

I don't think that you would find many people' date=' possibly including the Raiders coaching staff and players, that would argue that the offense has been a disapointment to this point. Here's to hoping that the young and energetic staff will burn the midnight oil over the off week and put together something special for the other end of Carter Co. I just hope the kids keep believing. The defense for the majority of the season has given the better effort...true true true.[/quote']

I also don't remember reading too many disparaging remarks about our defensive line and linebackers when Mason County was blowing our line off the ball and then running over top of our linebackers. They were manhandled all night in that game. Of course they usually had a short field after all the the fumbles and interceptions and mistakes in our punting game. Also, if you will notice, our running backs don't seem to go quite as hard when they are asked to be blockers as opposed to ball carriers. So, if you feel a need to place blame on individuals, I think this pretty covers everyone who has been on the field this year.

[Jeepman]

I was at the game and agree with some of the posts and disagree with some. Most outsiders that don't know Russell think they are a well oiled machine. The truth of the matter in my opinion is that Russell is not as good at this point in the season as they have been in the past few years. It's not because they are not trying hard or they are lazy or anything like that. They have some very young players out there that are getting better and better every game. They have an emotional leader in Jones that knows when to put fire in them. Case in point. Jones had not played defense until East was up by three and driving on the Russell 25 yard line. Jones came running in from the side lines and started jumping up and down and yelling at the Russell defense. He went to each player and got in their face while he was doing it. Bottom line the drive was stopped. Leadership

 

The Russell Offensive line is really coming together opening up holes for the backs. They have improved alot since the Greenup game. We have a lot of young players in there playing their hearts out on every play.

[flyin'intheflag]

So, if you feel a need to place blame on individuals, UOTE]

 

I had no intention of blaming any particular player for east, especially the defense. My post was intended to compliment the Russell staff that they found the weakness in our defense which was a mismatch between one of their receivers and whoever was trying to cover him from east...not really sure if it was the exact same person all the time...could have been 2 or 3 different db's that were burnt by the russell end.

As I look back on the wording of my post I can see that it appeared as if I was calling out one particular player and that was not my intention. Apparently I struck a nerve and I apologize.

Best of luck to the Raiders! Heal up and get wound up for the comets!

[16th62nd]

So' date=' if you feel a need to place blame on individuals, UOTE']

 

I had no intention of blaming any particular player for east, especially the defense. My post was intended to compliment the Russell staff that they found the weakness in our defense which was a mismatch between one of their receivers and whoever was trying to cover him from east...not really sure if it was the exact same person all the time...could have been 2 or 3 different db's that were burnt by the russell end.

As I look back on the wording of my post I can see that it appeared as if I was calling out one particular player and that was not my intention. Apparently I struck a nerve and I apologize.

Best of luck to the Raiders! Heal up and get wound up for the comets!

 

The Russell staff always does an excellent job, especially with in-game adjustments. They are without a doubt the best around. For the record, I saw one DB getting consistently beat, but that's what good teams do, they find a weakness and exploit it. East will bounce back and be fine, and Russell, well they will be Russell which is always top notch squad.

[Raider Pride]

 

The Russell staff always does an excellent job, especially with in-game adjustments. They are without a doubt the best around. For the record, I saw one DB getting consistently beat, but that's what good teams do, they find a weakness and exploit it. East will bounce back and be fine, and Russell, well they will be Russell which is always top notch squad.

I have also seen the things that I have mentioned, sometimes our dbs get beat, sometimes our blocking isn't so good, sometimes our defensive line and linebackers are getting whipped, but overall our defense is much stronger than our offense. We have far too many turnovers and neither our running game or passing has been very productive. Of course, we only throw the ball out of desparation, so I am sure that the other teams are well aware of this and prepare their defense to key on a couple of players. Maybe, if we start moving the ball a little bit better and not expect our defense to consistently defend a short field after turnovers or unproductive drives, we will be able to be more competitive. As I said, we have practically everyone back from last year's team, yet our new offense is not getting the job done.

[Russelldad]

:ylsuper: Great post here Russelldad. Excellent points made and comments.:thumb: :thumb:

 

Thanks, oldrambler. Just speaking from the heart. I've been reading some other posts about Russell players walking around everywhere, and what people have to realize is that of the 80-90 players on the team, only 15 to 16 are players are playing any significant time. I know that guys like Jones, Foster, bailey, abrams are playing every snap of every possession including special teams. The only rotation I see on offense is Max Rogers, for Bates and Bender at the end position opposite M. Dillon. On defense, Hicks, spells Dixon and Bender for a few plays and Cornwell gets spelled for a couple of plays by Jacob Moore. Other come in for 3 or 4 plays here and there, but that's it. Last year with that crop of seniors, guys could get whole series off on defense sometimes. We just don't have the same depth this year. Hopefully we can have some backup/role guys continue to step up in practice and maybe by playoff time we can give some of those players a series off at the beginning of the game. That way they will be fresher in the 4th qtr and not walking around.

[Russelldad]

(previous quote)There is no staff anywhere in our area that can compare to the wisdom and experience and talent of the Russell staff, particularly the coaching triumvirate of McGlone, Jones, and Morris.

 

I could not agree with you more about these three. I would also have to add Hurley and Locey. All do an excellent job of both coaching and teaching during the game. The only one that really puzzles me is Smith. Two or three times I have seen him get in players faces and rant and rave. Case in point, at East Carter game, there were probably 4 minutes to go in the game and Russel was up 28 to 3. And a flag was thrown on a punt by Russell. At the same time an East player was down on the ground. One of the Russell kids walked over to check on the player and when Smith seen him do that he yelled and got into the face of the russell player berating and embarassing him in front of his teammates and all of the fans, about not coming straight to the sideline and letting the coaches take care of their players. He was yelling so loud at him that I could hear some 50 yards away on the other side of the field. I watched the player try to tell him what he was doing but Smith didn't give him a chance and sent him straight to the bench. Personally, I don't think any coach at this level needs to act that way towards any player. As I said earlier, these are 15,17 year old kids and acting that way can often do more harm than good. Besides embarrasing the player it also makes the rest of the coaching staff look bad. Maybe he needs to take some pointers from McGlone, Morris, Jones, Hurley and Locey.

[TheRaiderNation]

Lets not get to excited just yet there Raiders fans. Our team this year is a work in proggress and I have all the faith in the world in our coaching staff. Coach Baldwin will have a good stretch of games in the next couple of weeks to work this thing out in time for the mid to end of the season and playoffs. Not taking anything away from the teams we will be playing!

 

By the way Russelldad with out going to far into it that is not exactly what the kid from Russell was doing.

[Russelldad]

Lets not get to excited just yet there Raiders fans. Our team this year is a work in proggress and I have all the faith in the world in our coaching staff. Coach Baldwin will have a good stretch of games in the next couple of weeks to work this thing out in time for the mid to end of the season and playoffs. Not taking anything away from the teams we will be playing!

 

By the way Russelldad with out going to far into it that is not exactly what the kid from Russell was doing.

 

okay I understand where your going. thanks RaiderNation. I was just going on what I heard Coach Smith saying to the player about not coming to the sidelines on a dead ball. I still think thought that acting that way at any high school level event whether sports, academics or classroom does more damage to a young person's self-esteem, and self-worth about themselves than it does help. I have coached Youth Sports for years and I have never seen one instance when calling a kid out like that in front of teammates, friends, family and fans has ever turned out for the good. Good luck to the Raiders the rest of the season.

[TheRaiderNation]

Yeah best of luck to you all too. Good luck against Mason Co. they are a very good team this year, but I must agree with flyin'intheflag I think that the Russell vs. Mason game will be alot closer than most think and wouldnt be suprised to see you all win that one. Hope we can meet back up in the playoffs and our team can have a better showing at that time.

 

WAR RAIDERS!