TheRebel

1. Danville -- My heart says Mercer but my mind says that Danville's passing game and tradition would be an advantage if these two met in an actual game. 2. Mercer -- Big play speed on offense and solid defense. 3. Boyle -- Good coaching and fundamentals. Don't let the record fool you, they are still a force. They will continue to improve. 4. Lincoln -- Improving but I don't think they're beyond Boyle just yet. 5. Casey 6. Garrard -- Might have been # 5 until Debord got hurt for the season.

Go Phillip Mason and Taylor Bottoms! Is Grant Tamme going to be able to play? Good luck Rebels!

Mercer - 28 Newport - 7 Mercer wins on big plays. Speed wins.

Hopkinsville and Christian County share the nicest facilities that I've had the pleasure of visiting. Danville's field and home bleachers are nice but the visitor's locker room facilities leave a bit to be desired. Hopkinsville's locker room facilities remind you of college locker rooms.

Harrodsburg students are bused to Mercer to take classes and Mercer students are bused to Harrodsburg for certain classes. It's kind of hectic, but that's the plan until we get the new school built. So they ARE taking classes together. Now, back to football. Obviously, Mercer's strength is big play speed. That's how they beat boyle. They also have a solid defense. My biggest concern is the fact that we haven't proven that we can consistently throw the ball. I'm not saying that we CAN'T. I'm just saying that we haven't had to yet and Coach Jaggers' philosophy is that you have to stop our run before he's going to pass. I wonder how that will play out when we get into the playoffs and face teams like Russell who may force the pass.

Have been to Bell County. Let's just say that Henry Clay will certainly be out of their element. Dudley Hilton's style is most effective on a muddy field. Will Henry Clay let that get in their head? When Hilton was at Bourbon, Boyle beat them by 20-something during the season on a dry field. In the playoffs, on a muddy field, Bourbon upset Boyle and played through the rainy playoffs on their way to a state championship. The wet conditions give me hesitation about predicting a HC rout.

Mercer runs the bone. Jaggers' philosophy is that he's not going to pass it until you show him you can stop the run. South Laurel didn't show that they could stop the run, so there was no need to throw it. On defense, we run a fifty front. However, we used a three man front a lot against South Laurel because of their spread sets and passing game.

Remember a few years ago when Boyle's winning streak was snapped by Danville and then they turned around and laid an egg the next week in a loss to West Jessamine? They had a new QB named Brandon Smith and some questioned his ability to lead the team effectively because the offense had been sputtering. Well, he got a few more games under his belt, Boyle won the state championship, and he ended up being a finalist for Mr. Football his senior year. History has proven that you shouldn't count Boyle County out. This is just a blip on the radar.

Henry Clay by 3 TD's.

I thought they would play it at Centre College if they couldn't use their field.

How will they handle the gate receipts? Does this mean Danville hosts next year as well?

South Laurel's QB looked pretty good. He did a good job of scrambling and creating. I didn't realize he had that many yards passing. Ford and Jackson are both special high school running backs. When Walker gets healthy and you throw him in the mix, it could be lethal.

Great start to a new season and a new era. Ford, Jackson, and even the fullback looked good tonight. It was also good to see the younger guys looking sharp. That bodes well for the future of the program too.

That seems to be the latest trend. Everybody talks about playing 2 sports but you could count on one hand the number who actually do.

You could list a line full of 300 pound kids and it could still stink. Size alone is a poor indicator of performance. I would take a kid 50 - 70 lbs. lighter who had good technique, understood how to utilize leverage, and had good feet.

I'll take Mercer in this one. 35 - 6. Mercer scores on big plays and maybe even one special teams score. Mercer's defense has proved to be pretty solid so far in a couple of scrimmages against Somerset and Danville.

Any individuals have a particularly good day? Did anything in particular stand out? Any weaknesses or concerns?

Sounds like a defensive battle and not much offense between Mercer and Danville.

Didn't get to make it to the scrimmage today. Can anyone provide any details on how Mercer County looked in the scrimmage?

I agree. 9 - 1 with loss to Boyle.

Are they still going to charge admission to watch a game on a practice field?

I agree. 9 - 1 with loss to Boyle.

I heard from a coach that the scrimmage starts at 7. Haven't heard anything about a Jessamine school.

Looked like a fairly typical "sloppy" first scrimmage for both teams. Lots of fumbles and interceptions. Somerset threw the ball fairly well but didn't catch it well. Somerset seems to have a pretty good field goal kicker. Here's the positives. I'll leave the criticism to others. Mercer's varsity scored, what, 3 TD's? However, they were mostly on busted plays. It was evident that the Mercer speed is as good as advertised. I was impressed with the vision of the RB's to see the cutback lanes like they did. Mercer's overall team speed is impressive. They seem to have a lot of depth too. Mercer's JV's looked pretty good. The JV QB, Short, showed flashes of brilliance. Beware making judgments based upon a scrimmage. Playcalling is very limited because you don't want to show much. It's your first full-speed look from an opponent. You don't do much opponent-specific game preparation. Go Titans!

Read this article from Larry Vaught that came from Monday's Advocate Messenger. Go down to # 4 on Larry's list. It doesn't sound like Coach Jaggers is without options. http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=23518&edition_id=929&format=html