OldCamelNewBird

If I am watching Cov. Cath. play another NKY team, I am going to root for the other team (even though they usually beat the other NKY teams other than HHS). But I root for them against other teams that aren't in NKY or in the state (I still kind of don't mind seeing them lose though ).

That excites me. I don't mind that move a bit. He will be the main man on both sides of the ball.

We were just talking about inside linebackers ... Cecil plays outside linebacker unless the coaches made a move that I didn't hear about. As far as the safety talk, I am thinking that it might be very wise to use Simons there. He seems to have vision of the whole field from there.

Though he does have a ton of heart, it would be extremely unrealistic to say that he is going to start over Stein, Ball, Hurt, or Fitzgerald, at linebacker. He'll probably be a head-hunter on special teams, but as for being a "NKY Top Defensive Player in 2007", that is quite a stretch from what I have seen.

My oppinion about 5A: 1. Highlands 2. Bowling Green 3. Covington Catholic 4. Pretty Much Everybody else...

Isn't he a junior?

Here is a bold one, I bet Highlands has a solid passing game this season.

I looked again at the teams they will be playing against for the 5A state title and if they can get past their region, the chances of them being beaten are very slim. That is my prediction.

That's a shame...

If no one remembers correctly, let me just remind everyone that Corey Compton is the brother of a former player; a little guy named Jamie Hubbard. I can't wait to see the kid play some varsity ball.

:scared: That boy will go pro if he actually grows to be that big.

He's had more than 3 or 4, he had 2 or 3 both times they played against Highlands.

I would rather not open up that can of worms again... It has been done over and over again in previous posts about player eligibility, if you don't know of any examples then this probably doesn't seem like a problem to you. If you remember back to the Mike Mitchel case, we opened up a thread which ended up being about 9 pages long where more than enough examples were given.

For example: Covington Catholic, Highlands, Lex. Cath., Boyle - 3A Beechwood, Danville 1A I'd tell you some big schools, but the big ones are private. But these are just a couple of examples of some schools who would be looked at very closely (maybe even with a bias opinion) if they received a transfer from another school, IMO.

I can think of a few cases concerning eligibility that were swayed in a bias fashion because either the school or player was a threat to the other schools in that class or division. I am not simply referring to the Mike Mitchell case, because that is a very complex example. But some of the cases which they eventually allowed or rejected the eligibility seemed very ridiculous and one sided. Other than these types of rulings, the KHSAA has not really seemed to come in conflict with anything. Some people have their thoughts about the 6 classes, which I can say that I don't really like the idea, but I have no problem with trying it out and seeing the results. There is no real harm in experimenting for the overall good.

I agree with you on everything you just said... especially the last part about THE RUN... :walk: Quote- "The linemen opened up a hole for me and I just walked right in..." (Jamie Hubbard) It doesn't get any better than that!

I know what you're saying, but I still know that Mueller goes with speed first. If you can't run a 4.8ish 40, you can't be a runningback for Highlands. In this aspect, Hubbard was a special athlete (this is quite obvious). Not only could he outrun most players on the field, but he had the quickness to juke people out, and the power to carry 10 players from Cov. Cath. on his back, into the endzone. Conners really doesn't seem like much of a "powerful runner" IMO. He is more of a run away and fake out defenders, runningback. Though I do think he could be more effective this season running over some guys after he puts on some more muscle, I can't help but think his best strength this season will be his speed and quickness. I keep reminding myself that he had some very nice kick returns alongside Kramer last season when he outran the other team. I can't really think of any time were he drug any players for more than 2 yards on a running play. Either way, I really respect his athletic ability and I expect him to do excellent things this season. This includes being the stud runningback for the birds.

I agree that Stein's best position would be tight end (on offense) but did you see him when he had to block linebackers and defensive ends last season? He was a force to be reconned with. And don't get me started with my respect for Ball's blocking ability, he would be a fullback if we had that in our arsinal. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, these guys are primarily defensive players. Would you rather have linebackers play skill positions where they are more likely to be winded at the end of the drive, or offensive line where they don't have to move nearly as much and can knock some guys around? And as for Hurtt, he was seeing a little less playing time towards the end of the season last season at linebacker. I feel that they want to be able to utilize his abilities wherever they can. After all, they have a very good linebacking core. You talk about the power back situation which I never understood either. We saw guys run the ball like Frisk and Hubbard, and look how those teams turned out. Ball would be a great 3-yard back, especially with some big blockers in front of him. IMO I wish Dale would have used him last season instead of Kramer on the goal line.

Yes, he played safety, but he was the backup quarterback and rarely played any QB while he was playing Safety.

Personally, I would love to see Stein catching the ball and Ball smashing through the line, but it does seem like it could benefit the team. The young guys are good, but they don't have any varsity experiance like these two guys do. I can completely understand dale's thinking when he moves Ball to the line. Dale doesn't believe in power backs. But Stein is a little harder for me to cope with since he was IMO the best reciever for the birds last season. Plus, when he has the ball in his hands, someone is going to get run over in the process of getting 5+ yards-after-catch. Zach Hurtt will be a good addition to the loss of Stein at TE. But to be honest, I don't think it is going to affect the passing game too much. We have a couple of good recievers and TE's to move into those slots and I know the skill position players know how to get the job done under some pressure.

You make a good point here. Clay is a natural leader, who placed at quarterback, is in the natural position to lead. There has been some very good quarterbacks from other schools who played both ways. One player in particular that comes to mind is Brandon Smith who played for Boyle ('01-04). He two was a quarterback who played outside linebacker, and did an excellent job at both. IMO he was the best player on both sides of the ball. With the great shape that Clay is in, he too, is physically capable of playing both ways. So I ask one question, why can't clay play QB on offense and OLB on defense?

On offense, Dowling comes in with a little experience at center, Ryan Ball is making the switch to guard, Luke Stein is moving to Tackle I think, Hempfling returns at tackle, and there are a lot of talented big sophomores who could fill in that last guard position. Also, Hurt is going to play TE, Jurgens still plays there too as far as I know, and there are another couple of underclassmen who are good at that spot too. As for defense, Jurgens is the only experianced lineman that I can think of right now, but likewise, there are some very big boys coming up that can fill in the other line positions. Otherwise, we are pretty much set everywhere else. I like the way you think. Dale does a great job getting the guys motivated and using the best techniques to get the job done. As far as I'm concerned, the man really knows what he's doing.

I think the biggest thing is going to be getting the players who are switching to different positions, along with the younger players, comfortable and confident with the physical and mental aspects of the change. I especially think that it is crucial to get the offensive and defensive lines working together and being productive after losing so many seniors at those positions. Concentrating on more of the skill positions, we will need to develop a more consistant set of recievers who are reliable in catching the ball and blocking on running plays. That (consistantly catching the ball) seemed to be a big weakness last season. Also, Conners will need another runningback to balance out the backfield and give him breathers when he is winded. Most of all, Highlands will need to get the punting/punt return game figured out. That was probably the biggest problem last season when they couldn't count on anyone to kick the ball over 20 yards or catch a punt. But like always, Highlands usually figures these things out and has a very successful season, which I expect this year.

An obvious choice, Jordan Kramer for Highlands.

Can they honestly get any good reps in with so many guys in the weightroom at once for such a short amount of time? When I played, it would have been impossible to get through 3 lifting stations, doing 3 or 4 sets of 10 in that amount of time.