nljagsfan

Congrats to both these young men for getting the opportunity to move onto the next level! They are 2 outstanding players and deserve all the accolades they get!

It was really pretty cool to see both Chris and Ashley sign their LOI's at the same time. They are two excellent young people who get to move on to the next level and get a free college education in the process!

Chris' rehab from his knee surgery is going exceptionally well and he will get to start running again very soon. Ashley just had knee surgery as well from a torn miniscus, and has begun her rehab this past Tuesday. It was heartwarming to see that Coach Brooks and his staff stuck by their offer to Chris, even after blowing out his knee early in the 2005 season, and they are getting a fine young student athlete for their excellent recruiting class.

Tusculum College! Congrats to Ashley who accepted a full ride scholarship to play soccer for D2 Tusculum College in Tennessee! Ashley was a 4-time all state soccer player for the North Laurel Jaguars. Ashley concluded her high school career as one of the state's premier scorers, scoring 150 goals (4th all time in KHSAA history), 3 of her 4 varsity seasons are ranked in the top 25 for season scoring (high of 41), and was named All State in each of her 4 years at North Laurel High.

In a joint ceremony held at the North Laurel library on Wednesday morning, Ashley signed her LOI to Tusculum, sitting beside Chris Cessna, who signed his LOI to play football for the University of Kentucky. Both were surrounded by family, friends and teammates for this exciting occasion.

Congratulations to Ashley on getting the opportunity to play at the next level! :thumb:

On a side note, Jaguar's AD Brian Coutras did an excellent job in organizing this joint signing.

Congratulations to Chris Cessna who made it official this morning by signing his national LOI to play football for the University of Kentucky Wildcats! In a joint signing ceremony organized by AD Brian Coutras at North Laurel High School this morning, Chris and 4-time all state soccer player Ashley Bradford (signed LOI to Tusculum College), have made their intentions official.

Congrats Chris and we look forward to seeing you as a Wildcat! :thumb:

Ryan Brandenburg at North Laurel is an animal. Size, strength, nasty attitude, nose for the football. All the qualities you love to have in a linebacker. I am told that he is working his butt off in the weight room right now and I expect him to have a gianormous season in 2006.

Randy Leger left coaching to enter administration and spend more time with his family - on his own terms. Get your facts straight before you use the phrase "got the ax" in reference to someone leaving a position.

:thumb: You beat me to it. The poster was way off base on this one.

From Riherds: South Laurel

 

2005- 9 wins 3 losses 2nd round playoff loss

2004- 7 wins 4 losses 1st round playoff loss

2003- 6 wins 5 losses 1st round playoff loss

2002- 2 wins 8 losses No playoffs (Irwin's first year)

2001- 1 wins 9 losses No playoffs ( Leger's last year)

2000- 4 wins 7 losses 1st round playoff loss

1999- 11 wins 2 lossses 3rd round playoff loss

 

Since moving to 4A

 

40-38 overall

29-25 verses 4A games

3-4 in playoffs

 

Leger was 2 years from a third round playoff loss and he got the ax. It is a tough profession.

Randy Leger did not 'get the ax'. Your facts are way off base here. In Laurel County you cannot be a head coach and an administrator. Randy became the assistant principal at SL middle school after he resigned. He could have stayed if he wanted to, but chose to go in another direction.

How does North look for next year?

Hard to say right now. The biggest loss would have been Cessna, but since they lost him early in the season, they had to learn how to play without him and all those close losses he really could have been the difference maker had he been healthy. They also lost kids to injury for varied amounts of time, some for the entire season, and that forced several younger kids to have experience trial by fire. The silver lining was that Brandenburg had to move to ILB a year before the coaches planned on making that move in 2006. He stepped up big with 70 solo tackles during his sophomore campaign. Some of the other losses which will hurt will be Sizemore (RB/LB) leading rusher and 2nd leading tackler, Boroviak (OL/DL/P) especially on special teams with some phenomenal punting in 2005, George (OL/DL), Brock (CB) and Joey McKnight (TE/DE). But other than that, the Jags bring back most of 2005's team and several key contributors. Asher who came up huge the final few weeks, Maggard who just keeps making plays, Brandenburg who is an animal on defense, Hartney © suffered a torn MCL in the Lincoln game and he is getting healthy, Adams and Robinson who really stepped up (Adams on both sides of the ball and Robinson as a WR with speed), Stuber who led the Jags in offensive yardage should be back at QB/CB, but could be moved if the coaches feel he can better help the team in another position, Steven White, Zak Eversole, Trevor Pennington and others really stepped up big also as frosh/frosh/soph (respectively) and will really be key contributors this season. Rumor has it also that Bryan Hughes (RB/LB) and Dylan Hampton (OL/DL) have returned to the Jags squad for 2006. They will both be key returners.

I am hearing that the entire coaching staff will return which will be huge in moving into year 2 of the David Abbott. I have also been told that the offseason weight training is going extremely well and that the numbers are growing. This team lost less than many in the district and I expect they will be back in the playoffs in 2006. The O coordinator really started to get his legs under him towards the end and this will give him momentum and confidence in his play calling as well as has increased knowledge of what the returning players are capable of doing. North just needs to learn how to put together an entire game, which they didn't do in 2005. They would have excellent halves/quarters/drives, but couldn't sustain the momentum except in the very emotional win over Madison Central. I think the district will break down like this.

1. GRC (lost a load of seniors, but more underclassmen contributed in 2005 making them a seasoned bunch in 2006 and I think they will get the #1 seed for the playoffs, but may have 1 loss in doing so)

2. Madison Central (may lose a few district games with all their losses to graduation and having their district invincibility put to the test in 2005, but with Coach Turner and staff returning, they will still be the team to beat)

3-6. SL, NL, Whitley, and Lincoln in a dog fight for the final 2 playoff spots

7. Montgomery (still a couple of years away under new coach Dan Gooch who showed improvement, but didn't realize how far down the program was when he took the job)

We are talking about HS kids here - please be careful about personal or family related comments.

 

The player in question is a great kid, still in school at SL, and is NOT the source of these rumors. It was an unfortunate situation for him last year that was not of his making.

 

One other point - SL QB's are told to slide or get out of bounds by the coaches - neither QB is afraid to run over somebody.

You are absolutely correct. Sorry if I contributed to this in any way.

The player in question IS a great kid. It says a lot about him that he stuck with the program and was a real team player.

I did not know that the SL QB's are told that, and this explains a lot. I guess I am just not used to seeing many HS QB's slide or get out of bounds.

I have heard this rumor as well, however, if he were gonna make a move, it would have already been done. He is still a student athlete at South Laurel and I expect that he will stay there. He is also a very good baseball catcher and will be playing hardball for the Cards. I think this one is just a rumor. It would be too hard to get eligible plus to learn a new system when he has run the SL system since 6th grade (6 years) and there are virtually no similarities between the two systems. One of the problems that he had with the SL system is that they also like a mobile QB (Warren, Lee, Riley, etc) and Bowling, while not a big threat to run, is more mobile. Both O'Neal and Bowling like to 'slide' as opposed to lowering the shoulder and the NL coaches want their QB to deliver the blow. I don't think it would be a good fit, and I don't see it happening this late in the game. Just my opinion.

1. Burke (if Lex Cath gets to the carpet, even as runner up). His numbers are insane right now. 45 TD's and 2 INT's!

2. Johnson (best all around player in the state by all accounts)

3. Fidler (if #1 and #2 don't perform well in the playoffs and he dazzles)

4. Everyone else

The state offered the continue the state tournament for all the teams that participated (20 teams) for the next two years. To help those teams transition to fast pitch, the state is going to require those teams to also play at least 10 fast pitch games in addition to their slow pitch games.

To ask the same girls to play slow pitch and fast pitch games in the same season is very difficult. It is hard enough to hit a good fast pitch hurler, much less if you have been facing slow pitch. The defense is also much different as the ball comes off the bat much quicker. This will be tough to do. I say when you make the switch, go all the way so the girls can adapt to a different game.

While I don't think he's coach of the year, Clay County's Aaron Steppe deserves some form of recognition. He completely revamped his offensive system this year to match his personel and has the Tigers in the playoffs for the 2nd straight season.

Absolutely. The Tigers were supposed to be way down this year after losing so many seniors. Coach Steppe really deserves an 'attaboy'!

Randy Wood of Morgan County

 

Took over one of the worst football programs in KENTUCKY at any class. Has won 15 out of 21 football games with less numbers than teams mentioned.

 

Show me a team in the last 15 years with a worse record and quicker turn around. Also, continues to win games with injuries and in the last few weeks relying on a 3rd string QB.

 

With only a couple of weeks before last year's first scrimmage they were practicing with between 11 and 14 players and the program nearly folded...to see where this program WAS and IS now is nothing short of remarkable.

Incredible turnaround! He should definitely be a candidate!

Where did you get the Strength of Schedule? I agree with you just wondering.

The Massey index. It is updated every week depending on how a team's opponents fare that week. Early season not all that great, but by midseason, is is pretty accurate! The Bulldogs SOS did get a little stronger moving from around #213 to #210. Find a team, click on that team, and you can see this seasons results and anticipated results. They are listed by actual power ranking, but the SOS rank is on each team's individual page.

Current ratings link

http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=hsf&sub=KY#sum

Ola!

Do you mean did UK drop the ball? I'd say not. UT would be hard to turn down given the state of UK football.

That may be what he is talking about. While UK is getting a lot of the good instate recruits, this is definitely one that got away. He is a manchild in high school.

Stocker is best player I've seen all year and he's going to UT. Did somebody drop the ball?

Read the list. He has been there all along and as a verbal to UT.

Chris Cessna - North Laurel - LB - VERBAL TO UK

Josh Minton - Southwestern - DE

Blake Gumm - Pulaski Co - LB

Micah Johnson - Ft Campbell - LB/DE

Leonard Gordon - Ft Campbell - CB - VERBAL TO NOTRE DAME

Orlando Misaalefua - Ft Campbell

Will Fidler - Henderson Co. - QB - VERBAL TO UK

Justin Burke - Lex Catholic - QB - VERBAL TO NC STATE

Corey Peters - Central - DT

Rico Neal - Central - CB

Jeffery Adams - Trigg Co - OT

Paul Warford - Madison Central - RB - VERBAL TO UK

Luke Stocker - Madison Southern - TE - VERBAL TO UT

Sam Gardner - Henry Clay - TE

Justin Jeffries - St X - OT

Jimorris Johnson - Western - WR

Brian Anderson - Male - QB - VERBAL TO MARSHALL

Robert Record - Garrard Co - OT

Andre Henderson - Manual - DT - VERBAL TO MINNESOTA

Newport OL Dan Runion will more than likely end up at a D1 or D1AA school.

Who is looking at him right now?

Chris Cessna - North Laurel - LB - VERBAL TO UK

Josh Minton - Southwestern - DE

Blake Gumm - Pulaski Co - LB - VERBAL TO UK

Micah Johnson - Ft Campbell - LB/DE

Leonard Gordon - Ft Campbell - CB - VERBAL TO NOTRE DAME

Orlando Misaalefua - Ft Campbell

Will Fidler - Henderson Co. - QB - VERBAL TO UK

Justin Burke - Lex Catholic - QB - VERBAL TO NC STATE

Corey Peters - Central - DT

Rico Neal - Central - CB

Jeffery Adams - Trigg Co - OT

Paul Warford - Madison Central - RB - VERBAL TO UK

Luke Stocker - Madison Southern - TE - VERBAL TO UT

Sam Gardner - Henry Clay - TE

Justin Jeffries - St X - OT

Jimorris Johnson - Western - WR

Brian Anderson - Male - QB - VERBAL TO MARSHALL

Robert Record - Garrard Co - OT

Andre Henderson - Manual - DT - VERBAL TO MINNESOTA

Against stiff competition, he's still runnin for his life. The O-line, tho no longer can be considered young or inexperienced, is still undersized.Were Fidler playing for a St.X OR Trinity with a big O-line, he would be running away with the QB stats!

Burke isn't playing behind either of those lines either.

I do love Fidler as well and believe these 2 are the best QB's in the state this year.

I have seen both Olinger and Holbrook play this year. IMO Olinger is the best qback I have seen play this year. A lot of posters is talking about Hazard lack of competition this year. Here is another perspective to consider, Olinger does not have the line and other supporting players that a Holbrook or some of these others may have. IMO if Olinger had the Oline that some of these larger schools enjoy, he would probably be a D1 prospect, he might be anyway.

I agree that Olinger is excellent. But when you look at Burke and the fact that Lex Cath was supposed to be down this season, and the top notch competition he has faced, his numbers are insane. If Burke keeps having this kind of season, he may very well be 2005's Mr Football. I thought he was a little behind Fidler, but this season, I think he has stepped up to another level.

Me and Les were talking tonight, and we feel like a "SuperFan" thread would be appropos, complete with pics.

The thread is out there. Just need you guys to add some pics! :thumb:

Gordon from Ft. Campbell has committed to Notre Dame.

Thanks! I had forgotten about the new golden domer! :thumb: