Tigertalker

The BIG Booster at UHA is a UT man and speaks to Pearl 3-4 times a week. This summer Pearl was in town to visit this certain booster and the two of them made an appearance at one of the UHA summer workouts. If you play for UHA it's like a written rule that UT is always a possibility. They got Isiah Voctor after some persuasion and tried to talk Lamont Barnes into signing there. Andre Buckner had a offer from UT prior to the Duke offer and the same for Ravi Moss. I wouldn't rule out North Carolina. Hopson went to the Vince Carter Nike Camp and was the talk of the camp. Vince Carter sung his praises highly after several one on one conversations and 1 on 1 skill competitions. Word is Carter made the call to Roy Williams himself and UNC has been in to see him. Hopson came away this summer with a totally different outlook at everything. One recruiting evaluater said that everything they had read and been told about Hopson was not apparent to them when they talked to him and watched him at camps this summer. They was pleased with his work ethic he showed. As they put it he said and did all the right things BUT it was the things/work he did when he didn't know anybody was watching that really impressed them all. Stansburry has 4-5 close contacts in Hopkinsville and Clarksville, TN and he's trying to keep MSU in Hopson's ear. With one of the Delk twins at UL their a possibility because of his friendship with the Delk Brothers. But also his AAU Coach and Stansburry are real close and many think that's where he will still end up.

Boom, I would have like to seen the game against Christian County that year. County ended up winning the 4A title, winning all of their games on the road. They shut out Mark Higgs from Owensboro, and then defeated Bryan Station on their home field with 3 players who ended up in the NFL 28-0. Christian was lead by Jerry Reese, one of the best defensive line I've seen in high school and Mack Majors who did not play against Highlands.

Highlands and bowling green r just on another level this year than anybody else in 5A. Next week contest will be a war.

North Carolina has gotten in on him in the last month or so. Bruce Pearl and Tennessee are trying to get in and offered teammate TyShawn Edmondson a scholorship. But if you play basketball at UHA your going to get a look for Tennessee as exleast a walk-on if nothing else. Big UT booster with big ties to the UHA program. UL is getting some mention. One of the Delk twins that transferred from Miss. St. to Louisville is friends with Hopson. Rick Stansburry has close ties to Hopkinsville dating back to his days as an Assistant at Austin Peay under Lake Kelley. Hopsons' AAU Coach is good friends with Stansburry as well. Hopson has recently said he's putting the sign off to see how things fall into place. I am expecting to see a different Hopson play this year. He's not a "thug" or street kid. The UHA administration will tell ya they have never had 1 issue with him as far as trouble goes. Former Coach Phil Keller seems to be getting a pass last year. But he didn't run that team ver well and had different rules for different kids. Edmondson misssed practice to attend a funer so his punishment was not playing in the 1st quarter of the next game. But yet another kid missed practice because he wanted to and he gets no punishment as Keller looked the other way. Then Keller had the remark of "monkey boys" when talking about Hopson and Edmondson. So say what you will about Hopson but Keller is no bed of roses and I know for a fact that UHA is glad that marriage is over.

We played both of these teams (Hoptown) and no disrespect towards Lincoln, good program and staff but this game should not be close. The only chnace you have against Fort Thomas is to throw the ball. 3 yards and a cloud of dust won't work against them. They have 3 very good linebackers who will knock your head off. Their DB's are average athletes who play with good fundementals but can be beat. Lincoln's QB is very mobil and will need to make alot of plays and get the ball to #24 as often as you can. If Lincoln can take away counter trey & qb trey that would help. Fort Thomas passing game is there only weakness we could see. The only team I think can beat Fort thomas is Bowling Green who can throw the ball all over the place. Good luck to both teams.

In a wild rumor week in Hopkinsville of possible transfers to coaching changes this rumor has been confirmed and turned out to be true. Local TV station reports that sources close to Hopson and UHA say that Hopson has cancelled the signing for Friday Nov. 16 at the Blazer tipoff party. Hopson reportedly said there is no intent in signing in the near future.

Starting RB/LB Cardell McGregor and backup NG/OL Joe King were out for a violation of team rules. Starting CB and backup RB DeShawn Johnson was suspended for a seperate incident. Starting NG and their best defensive player Dee Allen was also out. Coach Jones has the kids walk a fine line and isn't afraid to punish them when it's called for. Dixie Jones played no execuses and blamed himself for the loss while praising the offenses efforts. The game was decided by the Christian Co. O-Line where they gave Banks the holes and creases he needed to get into the Tigers secondary. Couple of bright sides for the Tigers was their passing game led by Senior QB Kyle Graham who threw for 308 yards. And Freshmen RB Jeremy Coleman 6'1 195 showed signs of a very promising future. This was his 1st varsity action of the year. He got 1 rushing TD while getting 2 others called back on penalties.

Hopkinsville held in there til the final 7:00 minutes. Good effort by the Tigers though. Had to play their JV offense tonight and start a Freshmen RB who hasn't been in a varsity game all year. With 5 starters out for Hopkinsville Christian Co. had success on the ground with VoShaun Banks. Christian Co.'s new found running game has taken pressure off QB Bauer. They've got the outside playmakers offensively but Banks has carried the load the last 3-4 weeks. FYI: Pat Gates, Steve Lovelace, John Faulk, and Tony McCombs. WESTSIDER is my very own witness that I am NOT Rusty Goble.

Hopkinsville Tigers Head football Coach Dixie Jones's Father Jimmy Jones passed away Monday after suffering a massive heart attack.

2 costly turnovers by the Tigers. One as their driving for a potential TD inside the Lincoln 15 but a interception gets returned 90 yards for a LC TD. Next series for the Tigers another pick gives LC great field position leading to another TD. 2 other offensive drives for the Tigers go inside the 10 but Hoptown had to settle for FG's. DeShawn Johnson got his 1st start on offense this year for Hopkinsville due to the absence of Joe Harris. Johnson showed some ability to make plays out in space. But the Tigers run game was inconsistent. I don't know if it was the running style of the LC Backs or poor tackleing on Hopkinsville's part. But the tackleing hasn't looked this bad since 6 weeks ago. Tiger need to recover from this one quickly with the playoffs starting. Getting QB Kyle Graham and FB/LB Joe Harris back will be key for the Tigers if they wanna advance pass next week.

We must have not been at the same scrimmages. 1st scrimmage Lone Oak didn't score against Hopkinsville's varsity. They put on a show when Haskins played his varsity against the JV kids. scrimmage two Lone Oak won 4-3 when Hopkinsville held out 6 starters. It was obvious Lone Oak was putting a lot of stock into the SCRIMMAGES. Some Coaches choose to do so and some don't.

The drive isn't a concern IMO. It is what it is Hoptown will get charter busses and make the ride as comfortable as possible and stop somehwere about midway and let the kids out to stretch and all that good stuff. Some Coaches make the bus ride a distraction and harp on it so much that it mentally becomes a factor. Unfortunately for Hopkinsville they will be without starting FB/LB Joe Harris who suffered a ankle injury in practice on Tuesday. He is the teams 2nd leading tackler on defense and has the best hands of the RB's. Harris could be out for next weeks playoff game. Hopkinsville needs to not give up the big play and the defense needs to continue to play the way it's played the previous 3 weeks. Offensively it would be nice to see WR Darrick Dillard step up. He has the body and athleticsm to be a difference maker outside and even over the middle. He has the tools he just needs to put out the constant effort.

Hopkinsville has wanted to set something up with Lincoln for several years. Hoptown did scrimmage Lincoln Co. back in 93 & 94. Last week the Tigers made some changes in the lineup. It showed in a unorganized performance against Warren Central. This week they need to be a little more sound in the passing game.

Travel time should be around 4 hours or so. This should have been the year everybody in wky should have wanted to play the tigers. Only 3 starters back on offense and 4 on defense from last year team that made it to the regional finials. The tigers are very young at the skill position with all but one starter returning for next year. Talk to several coaches this week and they feel they have a good shot at upseting Lincoln this Friday but have to play better then they did last week vs Warren Central.

The Tigers made a QB change tonight and went with Kyle Graham who is the passer of the QB's. Graham was 8/14 107 yards 1-TD and 1-Interception. He made good decisions with the ball except once on the pick. But he played composed and went through his reads. Hopkinsville moved the ball with success most of the night but bogged down in the orange zone and had to settle for 3 FG's. Set up for another but ran a successful fake. Hopkinsville had good success in the run game with Cardell McGregor being the workhorse tonight. The Tigers defense played tough and physical. Warren Central got one TD off the 1st team defense after a turnover set them up inside the 20. They put together 2 good drives late in the game. Cardell McGregor 26 carries 124 yards and 1 TD Victor Moulden 4 catches for 73 yards Joe Harris 2 interceptions Marshall Stewart 11 tackles and 2 QB sacks Dee Allen 7 tackles with a sack. Jim Adkins 3/3 in FG's and 1/2 on PAT's