Tigertalker

Alcoa: 1st game he ever played 96 yards on 14 carries. Male: 94 yards on 15 carries Mayfield: 180 some yards. Christian County: Had over 150 total yards 3 touchdowns only had 8 carries, Mario Brasher had 125 yards he was the hot hand that game. Paducah: Nearly 200 yards rushing Bowling Green: They did the best job of defending him, did have 62 yards first half never got going in the 2nd half.

Surprise Emanual Taylor RB for Hoptown did not make the list. Ran for over 1,600 yards against good competiton (Alcoa, Male, Mayfield, Bowling Green, Christian County & Paducah). At 6'foot and 210 pounds runs a legit 4.5 forty, Emanual has more up-side than any other running back mention. Some of the Tigers staff felt if they would have gave him the ball instead of replacing him when they had big leads he would have made the the list. He only averaged 10 carries a game and did not play in 5 4 quarter games. Next year no more Mr. nice guys, look for ET the get around 2,500 yards. On a side note, ET started wrestling a couple of Tuesdays ago for the first time in his life, two weeks later he is 5-0 with all pins at the 218 pound weight class.

Emanuel Taylor Rb (Hopkinsville) Keith Tandy QB/ATH. (Christian Co.) Colleges love the size of E.T. (Hopkinsville) 6'0 195 and has the frame to add another 10-20 pounds. Chisled natural body and just last January he began lifting weights on a consistent basis. Keith Tandy if he chooses football in college will be a WR/DB. School's would like to see him get more physical on defense. Good all around athlete but size his a concern.

Chris Thomas (QB) Hopkinsville broke the school's all time passing completion percentage mark. But to some of the outside self-proclaimed experts he was the wink link on offense. They are way off.

Any list of top Quarterbacks has to have KEITH TANDY (Christian Co.) on it. Great athlete, accurate arm, quick release, throws well and accurate on the run, strong arm, and can hurt defenses with his legs or arm. Too small to play QB at the next level but is getting looks as a possible WR/DB.

LeVar Weston (Hopkinsville) if he was taller he would have offers coming in from everywhere. 5'10 260 benches 350 and squats over 600 pounds. Explosive runs a legit 4.8 40 time. Scored a TD and a 2 point conversion this year off the "Guard Reverse" play for the Tigers. 2 year member of the All State team and a 4 year starter in the O-Line for Hoptown. In a scrimmage against Trigg Co. LeVar dominated the highly touted Jeff Adams in every fassion. LeVar was quicker, more aggressive, more explosive, and used better technique. LeVar was the best Linemen at the Hawg Heaven camp in Owensboro last summer.

His wife getting an administrative job is what held up the announcement of his hireing at Christian Co. in 2001. The job they wanted wasn't available for her. Christian Co. gave him the take it or leave it offer and Mike eventually took it. His wife was an Asst. Principal at Hopkinsville High School before she was moved to another position in the system. Whitaker will probably stay for next year since Tandy is back at QB. Other then him though they lost a lot and won't have that deep WR threat like they've had the last 2 years. It also looks like Defensive Coord. Steve Lovelace is staying and that would be the first time in Whitaker's tenure that he has had the same Defensive Coord. in consecutive years since coaching at Christian Co. Mike's taken some criticsm for his scheduling at Christian Co. and for the constant coaching changes at the Defensive Coord. posisition. He also took some rips from some Christian Co. people for his comments after they lost to Warren Central in the playoffs. Whitaker blamed the loss on the officiating and blasted them pretty good. That didn't sit well with some people who doesn't want to be a program known for blaming officials when they lose. But I know Whitaker was not happy with the officials in that last game but he also made simular comments in 2003 when they were eliminated.

Beechwood has indiciated that they might be interested playing. Would the fan base of Beechwood make the trip this far down south?

That's been tossed in as a scenario. The talk is a Hoptown VS MBA game IF the kinks can get straight for everybody.

MBA has said they want to be apart of the bowl event. But that they might need to do some adjusting to their schedule. Hoptown, Male, NH, and MBA have reached the verbal agreements but NO contracts have been signed. It is also unsure who would play who. I will say Hoptown will play either Male or MBA unless those 2 want to play each other leaving Hopkinsville to play North Hardin.

One is LB/FB from Logan Co. He played for them as a freshmen. Been here for over a month. Looks good and will add depth to the LB position. Will get better and stronger as he grows and mature as I said right now he's just a freshmen. Also got an OL transfer from out of East Tennessee. Now he looks good and benches 340 and works hard in the weightroom. He has been here for 2 weeks.

Mike Whitaker might stay at Christian Co. simply because he has a QB that is being talked about as a Mr. Football canidate. Other then that he has his eyes wide open looking at what is out there. It's been no secret that he hasn't been the happiest coach in the area. Mike has upset some people with his comments in the past and every year he has been at Christian Co. he has had a new Defensive Coordinator every year. Besides having Tandy back Christian Co. lost a lot both WR's, TE, and RB throw in he had a couple of younger kids quit in midseason both of whom will not be playing football next season giving Christian Co. some question marks to fill in at a lot of holes. 2 years 2003 and 2005 his teams fell apart at the end of the season. This year they got it together in the playoffs but the players let it be known in the local paper they turned it around because of the motivation from Defensive Coord. Steve Lovelace.

Hopkinsville ran VERY FEW screens this year. When Clayton was here he was the screen lover but on 05 they didn't run much of their screen package. Chris Thomas struggled with the deep ball this year. BUT a lot of that was after he played the last weeks 7 weeks with a dislocated thumb and bruised hand on his throwing hand so that did affect his throwing. The O-Line will be fine with Will Beville (starter returning), Jacob Johnson (started 5 games) and Caleb Johnson (started 2 games at C). This years backups are more then capable. Antonio Tolliver will move into a starting spot benches 340 and by next season will be higher. Throw into the mix 4 key starters/rotation players from this year that wasn't with the team due to injury the last 8-9 weeks of the season. Brandon Ethridge (WR/RB) speed guy fastest kid in the school. Antwain Loving (WR/FS) best athlete in the school Both of them are difference makers with "special" tallents. Adam Briggs (SS/WR) Michael Atkinson (WR) The Tigers staff is high on next years team especially with the new editions to the program. Hoptown will be better in 2006 then they were in 2005. Nobody knows the Tigers players/program the one of their own. Will have more depth and more speed. Chris Thomas if he is the QB knows what he needs to work on and will do that. He just finished his 1st year of playing anykind of varsity football and broke the schools passing percentage record. Not bad for a kid that as a freshmen and sophomore didn't see the field in any type of fassion.

A lot of kids do this each year. Curtis Pulley was rumored last year to do it but chose to stay and play basketball. Eric Zeir (Georgia) is one of the first ones that I remember doing it. You get a headstart of college life and a inside track on the system your going into.

Hopkinsville with the maturity at the QB position and with Emanual Taylor in the backfield, Hoptown will be hard to handle. This upcoming tiger team already has two transfers who started at other schools looks to be special. If it all pans out all of their skill kids should run under 4.6 fortys. Another addidtion will be TE Chad Brown who is 6'4 240lbs and cleans 260lbs two days ago.

Mike Whitaker has never wanted to do a bowl together. A few years back there was talk but he said no and made it clear. Thought with Lovelace and Faulk joining his staff last year the 2 schools could come together on that and do a bowl game but that won't be happening.

1999 & 2000 were the last and only years for the Stadium of Champions in Hopkinsville hosted bowl games. But that could be changing. Hopkinsville is in talks with Male, North Hardin, & Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA--Tennessee) about participating in a bowl game. If for some reason one of the schools mentioned above can't play then there is another out of state team that has contacted Hopkinsville about an invitation to the event. Hopkinsville originally asked crosstown rival Christian Co. about getting together and putting on the event but to no suprise Christian Co. said no and wants no part of a bowl at the SOC for some reason.

That's correct E.T. was a transfer difference maker BUT since were going to get credit for haveing a transfer impact also consider what the Hoptown team overcame because of injuries. Brandon Ethridge (WR/DB/RB) fastest player on the team projected starter until breaking his leg in a scrimmage. Adam Briggs (FS/WR) starting SS until a shoulder injury in a scrimmage against Warren Central Antwain Loving (FS/WR) best athlete in the school started first 3 games before being lost for the season. Michael Atkinson (WR) was in the WR rotation up until week 7 where he was lost for the remainder of the season. E.T. was a difference maker for the Tigers but these 4 mentioned above were all legit players/playmakers. Especially Antwain Loving & Brandon Ethridge both of which previous Head Coach Craig Clayton said would be "special" the good news for Hopkinsville is all 4 are expected to be ready to go next season.

Most of the people OUTSIDE the Hopkinsville program wrote them off before the season started. No Curtis Pulley and a new Head Coach that some away from Tiger country questioned. Hopkinsville has never been one to care what other people thought and this years team took the same approach. Some sports reporters were sure that Hoptown was behind BG and Franklin Simpson in the Region. Behind BG was understandable but behind FS was a joke and that was proved in the playoffs. There was no doubt in the Coaches and Players minds at Hopkinsville that they would win the district and eventually get a matchup with BG in the Region finals. All that happend with an eventual loss to BG in the Region Championship in a game that came down to the final seconds and wasn't the domination that some of the BGP experts were guaranteeing. Hoptown's success was due to tallent and coaching. This team overcame odds that weren't in their favor. A new Head Coach that the players wanted but people outsde questioned. Add to that this team had several key injuries that resulted in starters being lost for the year. On preseason rankings a lot of times the top 3-5 are easy but after that you can mix in 7-8 teams in any order. But when people don't know nothing about another team/program they go under the rule of assumption and assume that since this team lost this & that then their going to struggle.

I thought David got out of Coaching.

Hopkinsville RUSTY GOBLE (offensive Coordinator) and his Father DAN GOBLE (QB Coach and coaches upstairs on game nights). Dan Goble that former longtime coach at Christian Co. where he won some state titles and coached Jerry Reese (UK & NFL) and Tony McCombs (EKU & NFL). Coach Goble has also had several of his former players become coaches.

If your judging BG on that performance in the state championship game then you are not giving them the fair shake they deserve. Break them down on 4-5 films and you can see they were a great team especially on defense. Offensively they don't do a lot never really have. Vear and Quick Pitch is their favorites and throw in some option and you have thier offense. Never been a team that was comfortable coming from behind having to throw the ball. On defense they had the speed and size. They played aggressive and physical. In thw state championship game the wheels did come off. BG committed too many turnovers and gave LC the short field too many times. Now you have to give the LC defense credit for forcing the turnovers and taking BG out of their offensive gameplan. BG is better then what they showed in the final game but unfortunately for them they don't have another chance to prove that to their critics.

Emanuel Taylor rushed for over 1,600 yards. Impressive with the fact that in 3 games he didn't play in the 2nd half. But even more impressive is the fact that this was his first year of playing organized ball. He'll put on another 15-20 pounds to his already chisled frame. Next year he'll have an exceptional lead blocker in Cardell McGregor who will give Hoptown that explosion at the FB spot they haven't had since Travis Hampton and Jimmy Wilson. Add to that you will see Taylor involved in the passing game more lineing up at WR and getting his athleticsm matchuped against some DB's. This year he only lined up as a RB and never lined up outside. E.T. works hard and since the season ended as been in the weightroom everyday working with Coach Dixie Jones. Keith Tandy quick release, throws well on the run, athletic, and accurate. This year he had a running game to help him and he had 2 outstanding WR's. He loses all those targets except for Neil Carner a seldom used WR this year. Tandy is a great Student Athlete. While also being the school's best football player & basketball player he is also a highly respected baseball player.

Jerry Reese NG for the 1982 Christian County 4A state champion. Jerry Reese man handle Dawson (Bryan Station) in the semi finials. He had 3 sacks, three tacles for losses & pick up a fumble and scored from 58 yards out. Also started on Kentucky 1984 team, the last team to beat UT. Christian County beat Bryan Station that year 28-0, who had three players play in the NFL.

That would be Keith's dad. He graduated from Hopkinsville High School and signed to play at WKU. He was tragically killed in a car accident several years ago.