What does Whitley County need to do to improve in 2008? What do they need to keep doing to be successful? Remember, please be constructive.

Whitley will be much better just being a year older. They've played a lot of young kids the last couple of years and that will pay off this year. They also must stay healthy. Injuries have killed them the last couple of years.

Will Black still be their Head Coach?

Jim Black is the head coach and is going to be the head coach. Regardless of the stuff that floats around, Jim Black is rock solid. The kids are in the weight room and getting bigger and stronger. Look for some changes on the staff, and in some other areas also.

 

Whitley will be a year older and that should help, but maybe they can get over some the bad luck that they had last year. Losing your starting QB which you have worked with through passing camps and summer practice and to lose him in the fourth week, stunted the growth of the offense and hurt the team in several other areas. They are past that now.

 

To get better they will have to continue to grow offensively. They were almost 50/50 run/pass in the number of plays and yardage. The line should be solid with four starters retuning across the front. They have to replace Jake Lowe at Center and Shawn Baird at TE but the core of the offense is still there.

 

Defensively they return maybe the two best defenders in the district, Ed Lawson at cornor and Cody Jones at strong safety. The defense needs alot of work but they have some kids to plug in who can get the job done. Anthony Rider is turning into a really solid free safety. Spring ball should tell alot about just how far they have come in the off season.

 

Alex Patrick (much to the chagrin of Williamsburg) will now be eligible after sitting out a year. He is an athlete who can help in several different areas. There are also several young kids who had a tremendous amount of success last year at the JV level who will be able to step in.

 

All in All look for a much improved edition of the Colonels.

Jim Black is the head coach and is going to be the head coach. Regardless of the stuff that floats around, Jim Black is rock solid. The kids are in the weight room and getting bigger and stronger. Look for some changes on the staff, and in some other areas also.

 

Whitley will be a year older and that should help, but maybe they can get over some the bad luck that they had last year. Losing your starting QB which you have worked with through passing camps and summer practice and to lose him in the fourth week, stunted the growth of the offense and hurt the team in several other areas. They are past that now.

 

To get better they will have to continue to grow offensively. They were almost 50/50 run/pass in the number of plays and yardage. The line should be solid with four starters retuning across the front. They have to replace Jake Lowe at Center and Shawn Baird at TE but the core of the offense is still there.

 

Defensively they return maybe the two best defenders in the district, Ed Lawson at cornor and Cody Jones at strong safety. The defense needs alot of work but they have some kids to plug in who can get the job done. Anthony Rider is turning into a really solid free safety. Spring ball should tell alot about just how far they have come in the off season.

 

Alex Patrick (much to the chagrin of Williamsburg) will now be eligible after sitting out a year. He is an athlete who can help in several different areas. There are also several young kids who had a tremendous amount of success last year at the JV level who will be able to step in.

 

All in All look for a much improved edition of the Colonels.

 

 

Williamsburg was so devestated by him, bless their heart, I bet Coach Herron loses sleep at night thinking what if he had this student athlete, or maybe it didn't phase Williamsburg, as they made it to the second round of the playoffs, for 4 out of the last five years.

 

But I look for Whitley to be better than 2-8, this up coming year, and wish coach Black nothing but the best.

Got to do something about that offense. Go back to what Black does best (Throw the ball) and get away from whatever the heck he was trying to do last year.

You are right Daddy Cat, they seemed lost against LC this season in that single-wing looking offense. I think they will be much improved; best of luck to coach Black as he will certainly work hard for his kids out there.

Got to do something about that offense. Go back to what Black does best (Throw the ball) and get away from whatever the heck he was trying to do last year.

 

Couldn't agree with you more. After watching the Lynn Camp/Whitley game last year, I did not understand what they were doing on offense. If Coach Black will go back to his roots and run the offense he had sucess with at Williamsburg, I think he would be more succesful. Whitley will be fine. They were in most of the games they played last year (except for the Lynn Camp game). Coach Black is a class act and will do fine. The one thing that did make me mad is something Apex said "Alex Patrick (much to the chagrin of Williamsburg) will now be eligible after sitting out a year." I would say most of the fans and players from Williamsburg wish Alex the best. Williamsburg has been moderatley succesful with him and without him.

Black did throw the ball last year, in fact Jordan McCumbers set several passing records for season and single games. The offense will be fine and so will the Colonels.

Black did throw the ball last year, in fact Jordan McCumbers set several passing records for season and single games. The offense will be fine and so will the Colonels.

 

I do not think it is a matter of throwing or not throwing. I am sure he does throw the ball more than in years past. I just believe Whitley would have a lot more sucess if they would go to an offensive package closer to Williamsburg. Then again I am making that judgement after only watching Whitley play twice. They seemed to be very run oriented. If they will use there passing game more affectively. It will also make them more affective with their running game.

Apex, they did throw, but you have to admit the offense he tried made no sense whatsoever and they only threw the ball short (from the times I saw them play. I did listen to a lot of the games). Throwing and receiving records at LC and Whitley are something very attainable since both teams have ran the ball exclusively for decades. IF the O changes, Whitley is in good shape.

The offense is the same as he had at Williamsburg, except it has been adjusted to fit Whitley personnell. The game that Whitley played against Lynn Camp was their worst all year. That being said I believe Lynn Camp on that night could have beat anybody, they were well prepared, and ready to play and a better football team. In my opinion one of the best teams in Single A. I believe if Joe does not get hurt they at least make it to the Semis, and if you get that far who knows what could happen.

The offense is the same as he had at Williamsburg, except it has been adjusted to fit Whitley personnell. The game that Whitley played against Lynn Camp was their worst all year. That being said I believe Lynn Camp on that night could have beat anybody, they were well prepared, and ready to play and a better football team. In my opinion one of the best teams in Single A. I believe if Joe does not get hurt they at least make it to the Semis, and if you get that far who knows what could happen.

 

Who is the offensive coordinator at Whitley? I watch Williamsburg each week, and the offense does not look similar to me, but if you say so I will believe you. Joe was a very good player, and you are right he looked very good against Whitley that night. I was suprised not to see him ranked in the top statistical leaders in the state. I do not understand why he wouldn't be, I thought he played in 8 games.

The offense is the same as he had at Williamsburg, except it has been adjusted to fit Whitley personnell. The game that Whitley played against Lynn Camp was their worst all year. That being said I believe Lynn Camp on that night could have beat anybody, they were well prepared, and ready to play and a better football team. In my opinion one of the best teams in Single A. I believe if Joe does not get hurt they at least make it to the Semis, and if you get that far who knows what could happen.

 

I thought Coach Black went with the Tony Franklin offense at Whitley, that is not what W'burg ran...Then I think Black changed it late in the season, I may be wrong...

Apex, they did throw, but you have to admit the offense he tried made no sense whatsoever and they only threw the ball short (from the times I saw them play. I did listen to a lot of the games). Throwing and receiving records at LC and Whitley are something very attainable since both teams have ran the ball exclusively for decades. IF the O changes, Whitley is in good shape.

 

No I don't have to admit anyting. What I am willing to admit is that Lynn Camp was well prepared and ready to play and Whitley was not ready to play. The kids did not execute the offense and they weer forced to throw.

 

YOU might admit this, when you build an offense around a kid and then you lose him it puts things in disarray. When WC lost Lebanion it stopped the maturation of the offense and set them back, much like LC losing Roskoph slowed the offense of LC. If they had Lebanion the offense would have looked pretty different. Certian thing are predicated on certain positions being able to do certian things. Jordan McCumbers could throw but running was not his forte'.

 

The offense will be fine this year, and you will see some different things that nobody got see last year simply because they were never able to add the wrinkles that they wanted too due to being limited by personal.

 

Defensively may be the area that the Colonels need to improve the most. But alot of mistakes that were made last year were learning experiences and those kids who played as Freshmen and Sophs will be bigger stronger, faster and smarter, thus better.