JBSmash

From what I have seen over the last year, the 9th region looks to be well represented in the next few years. Not naming individual players, but there are 6 or 7 schools in the region that have some absolute athletes in the 9th , soon to be 10th grade alone, many of which have already played JV/Varsity in more than one sport. (Ryle, CCH, NCC, SK, Cooper, Conner, Dixie Heights) just to name some. All have at least two to three kids that can play athletically with anyone around. Going to be a fun few years in NKY.

True, but coach C is just dealing with the hand dealt. In high school ball any more, you almost have to over schedule and pull back the rains if necessary. It is a philosophy and I am sure willl be modified in the future.

I would say be patient with that type of thing. Jeremy Collins, I am sure, will start to schedule more like Pat R does at Ryle. Ryle consistently plays a heavy schedule against good competition. I would think that Jeremy will do the same in future years. May already be in the works.

Some college would be wise to take a good hard look at Mason Forbes. Kid could always hit, even back in his "Hollywood" days. Great job Mason!! Raider nation is proud of you.

Atta Boy Jake!!

Yes- everyone should go to open enrollment because that is what high school sports are about. If one school is down we should also be able to transfer to the "hot" school so that we can win a state championship. Everyone should be able to recruit just like college athletics. It would also be great for all of the crazy parents. Great idea! Amazing how many people truly believe that there is a level playing field to all of the "state championships" and even more amazing the people that will argue this moronic point on here.

Jeez, people are a little sensitive, aren't they.

Give him time. Younger Ross in only a freshman.

I am sure that the new coach will be able to determine his best option pretty quickly. It is also important to understand that the passing game that was formerly implemented was very vanilla to say the least. It is a big difference to play QB in a system that is set up for success with the passing game by using shorter, more high percentage routes than what I have witnessed in the last couple of years.

Colin England is a great kid and very coachable. From seeing him play over the years, I would not think of him as a prototypical QB from a pocket perspective that the new coaches will probably implement. No disrespect to Colin. He may be able to play QB but he may have better value playing somewhere else and also being able to get a good look on both sides of the ball. I have no objection and I would trust coach Engeler on this one.

I believe that most of them are back.

I'm with you for the most part. I am not really saying that the coaches are ill-informed. They are high school coaches with many of other responsibilities and cannot put too much focus on all of the intangibles that you mention when forming an opinion about an opposing team. Even putting a poll on college or pro is iffy at best and most of the coaches and media coach and cover those sports full time. Polls in general are pretty much useless but many hang on these polls that fail to give credit to where it is due on a consistent basis.

I am not trying to be argumentative and I would say that you are pretty knowledgeable about the area but this poll kind of proves my point. From seeing most of the teams play last year I would say that Ryle proved to be the number 1 team. Dixie was much better than the 9 spot. Beechwood would have to be ranked in the top 10. Boone was better than some of the teams listed here. It is just difficult to take any merit from a poll like this. Fun to debate but not accurate.

Just curious.. What did the preseason poll look like last year? What do you think it will look like this year?

I have not seen a NKY preseason poll. The state poll is even more useless than the NKY poll. Dingerbird is absolutely correct. There is no way that one rep from each region would know anything about 95% of the teams in the state. As far as the NKy poll, even if coaches present info, it is very difficult to rank teams based on a synopsis in a coaches meeting and what people have heard.

Pretty good idea. This is also based on a lot of information that coaches simply do not have.

Because many vote with their heart or have allegiances and many do not know what other teams are truly like. An example might be that if a coach from Bellevue voted on who they think is the top ten but may have not even seen 3/4 of the teams that are in the poll, would you think they have a good grasp on who the best teams are? Not picking on Bellevue. What if Ryle coaches did not play Bellevue, Beechwood, Newport, etc and they have very good teams. What if Ryle coaches voted Beechwood # 9 because they did not see Beechwood during the season. It happens all the time. It is also very common for all coaches to vote certain teams at the top based on reputation and due to the fact that people respect the coach, not so much that the team has earned a high ranking. I have seen that many of times.

I would strongly disagree with this point... Last year Ryle had a huge returning nucleus and strong senior class that had played together at a very high level in the summer and had also played for and won titles at every level in high school. I thought that Ryle was the favorites from the very start. They were the best team last year, bar none, from start to finish. You can't always go by what you see from the NKY coaches poll that gets posted in the Enquirer. That poll is absolutely useless.

Although I do not think that England is best suited to play QB, I would agree with you that it is not a two horse race. I think the important thing is that Coach Engeler will be great for all of our QB's development.

Absolutely agree that QB is key. Coach Engeler has an excellent track record with QB's. I believe the athletes in the system now are pretty impressive. The kids you mention here are great kids that have won at every level. Ryle will also have a nice sophomore class, especially at the skills spots. They have Ashley, Scherr, Burch, Long, and Cuzick that can help with team speed and can score from anywhere on the field. O'Hara did a great job and improved tremendously last year as a passer. Great athlete. Not sure if he can step in as a sophomore but he is not intimidated to compete with anyone. It will depend on how Rylewski and Brandt improve as to who actually gets the snaps. Regardless, it should be an exciting team over the next few years.

I was also at every game. Don't know if you remember or not but Micah actually got hurt at the start of his senior year. When he was a junior, there backfield of him, Kevin Ashley, Smitty, and Mo Molitor @ QB dominated. They won the state easily and were probably a 1 pt loss at Highlands away from repeating the next year. Many of the players on that team spent alot of time at my house when I was young. That team was special and besides the nickname, they also had one of the best fight songs.

I don't know why you would knock Lloyd. They used to be very competitive and in some years dominant athletically in the 70's and 80's. They have fallen on some hard times recenty but have fielded some of the better high school teams in the area. The 1976 State Championship team may have been one of the best high school teams to ever play in the NKy area. As far as the nickname, one of the most unique anywhere.

Another item of note: Ryle missed six or seven free throws in the first half as well and Will Stuhr was called for stepping on the line, whcih eliminated two points off free throws. They make half of those and it is not a different game coming down the stretch. The better team won last night. Congrats Raiders!

You may be right but it might be worth re-checking. He was up in the trophy case for years and I was pretty sure he was listed as a state champ. It was around the 84-85 time frame.

Congrats to Johnny Meiman on the State Championship and all of the Raiders!! Way to represent Raider Nation.