MHSTigerFan

On a non-football related note, Memorial needs to do something to lift their enrollment. That’s pathetic - particularly considering the expanded availability of vouchers. This new president has his work cut out for him.

Total SIAC record, all teams: 47-53 Pretty sure that won’t happen. 😉

I’ve heard rumblings — and it’s a good source — to expect more COVID restrictions soon. They didn’t specifically say what the restrictions would be. In fact, I’d guess the people deciding that don’t even know at this point. But it would not surprise me if we’re not at 100% game attendance capacity again this season. Either that or they’ll require proof of vaccination. Pure speculation on that, but not on the likelihood of new restrictions.

It’s never been a good idea to overlook Jasper. You’re right…they’re one of those programs that just doesn’t seem to have much problem reloading year after year. For one thing, they always seem to have a pretty high percentage of their boys come out for football. Their roster usually seems big enough for a 5A school.

As much as Central and North are replacing, I'm glad we're playing them early on. I think Jasper had a fair bit of turnover, too.

He was scary good. Turned down offers from just about every elite program for hometown Purdue - where he started as a true freshman. You’d see film of him destroying doubleteams, spinning, swimming, etc. Easily the most dominant HS defender I’ve seen play in recent years. Granted, we ran away from him about every play. So it’s unfair for me to say that he didn’t affect the game. He actually did - effectively taking away half of the field. But, still, Austin did a magnificent job against him. But, as explosive as our offense was that year, it’s easy to forget that — up until that Finals — our starting defense had only surrendered something like 6 or 7 TDs all season.

I disagree with that - especially if we’d have been healthy. I think we win 7 or 8 out of 10. Austin Jones held Karlaftis in check. He was averaging something like 4 or 5 TFLs a game. And I don’t remember him affecting the game all that much, outside of his TD. All the talk was that Chatard was the class of 3A - and we curb-stomped them.

They’re off this week. This team has a good shot to win the SIAC and to make a good tourney run. But, no, they aren’t going to be better than the 2018 team — which, IMO, was up there with the McIntosh-era Panthers and Schiff/Mallory Wildcats as far as recent SIAC teams go. Still amazed they lost in the state finals. I have to think that a healthy Turnbaugh would’ve changed the outcome of that game. WL went deep twice on his backup for early TDs. And MHS still almost came back to win.

- While I'm optimistic about the Tigers, they are not going to be better than any of the 3 teams that went to the state finals recently. We do not have players of the caliber of Lindauer or either Combs brother. - Jury's out on QB. I know a lot of people are high on Caleb -- Josh Russell had some encouraging things to say about him on Igierski's preview the other day. But we'll just have to wait and see. - I agree that we'll run the ball more than we have in recent seasons and that Russell and Tyler could be a really good rushing duo. - I also agree about the D. D line and LBs should be solid. Hopefully Carac Johnson stays healthy. If he does, his name is going to be mentioned a lot. A little concerned about the defensive backfield.

North lost a lot. But Joey’s a great coach and I’ve heard they had some solid talent on the bench last year.

Ha! Well, if it’s any consolation, this Tiger fan thinks MD may well be the team to beat in the SIAC this year. I’m still officially thinking that there are 3 (or maybe 4) teams that have a legit shot. But, if I was forced to pick just one, MD might be it.

Probably so. My sources tell me that Fisher looks better as of now - but neither are ready at this point for varsity duty. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they kept Russell in the fold.

Especially with the threat of Ellspermann on a QB draw or some other keeper. He’s quick and elusive for a QB. And he showed that a couple times last year. That said, his backup might well be a freshman (assuming it’s not Russell). So they may make a concerted effort for him to take as few hits as possible.

It is. But it can be misleading, as many bubble screens as MHS runs - high complete rate but often for little or no gain. What was his YPC? FTR, I don’t want to sound down on him. Caleb, first and foremost, is a genuinely great young man. I don’t have a daughter - but if I did, he’s the kind of guy I’d want her to bring home. Beyond that, he’s quick and athletic. To me, at this point, the biggest questions will be about his arm and his ability to withstand hard contact. Somebody mentioned O-line above. I think MHS should be really good up front on both sides of the ball. Vaughn is the only regular lineman we lose. And, quite frankly, I thought we were better when Kelton Farmer was inside.

40 attempts in 7 quarters? I don’t recall it being anywhere near that number. But I do recall Caleb having a generally high completion percentage in those 2 games. I’ll see if I can find the stats on Maxpreps.

Evan Quick also. Memorial’s season is largely going to come down to how well Ellspermann does replacing Pence. The good news is that he has 1.5+ games of experience - playing most of the last 3 quarters against VL and the entire Castle game.

Yeah, those ratings aren’t far from useless. It’s a tough thing to do at the high school level, really. Too many teams to know in any way other than on paper. Too much turnover. Too much impact these days from sophs and even freshmen.

I’ve had Jasper as a wildcard. I have thought that MD, MHS, and Castle will be duking it out for the title. But I’ve also said that you can’t count Jasper out. Speaking only for myself, the primary reason I’ve singled those 3 teams out is that they all return more from last year than Jasper does. Of course, that can be an unreliable way to gauge a HS football team. But we just don’t have much more to go on.

Definitely a good thing for some stability in the Bulldogs’ program. That’s very important for any program, but especially for one that has struggled. Not a big fan of Ganaway taking the job and then skipping out after just one season for his own career advancement. It just sends the wrong message. But congrats to Mullen!

I think we should just make PPs play in concrete shoes. Maybe that’ll help even out the outcomes. 🙄

Any one of MD, MHS, and Castle could win the conference. It could be a year where those three teams go 1-1 against the other two. You can’t ever discount Jasper. Very possible they’re competing for the conference, too. Reitz should be improved. But I still see them as a tier below the above 4. Central is going to be a question mark for me. Obviously, they lost a whole lot. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t have some really good players who just didn’t see much action while Boberg, Madison & Co. were getting all the reps.

Well, I'm sure what we're doing is within IHSAA rules. I would certainly hope so. It is mostly conditioning and drills. But there have been at least one or two sessions in pads.

As far as I know, the prospect of shuffling guys on OL was just some discussion prior to OTAs. I don't know that anything has actually made its way into practices. I'd guess that, come fall, we'll mostly be seeing the same OL that we did last year. Also, some other MHS news is that Soph. WR/DB Tucker Tornatta isn't playing. Not sure why. He spent most of his freshman season recovering from an early torn ACL - so it could be that. He probably wouldn't have seen too many varsity reps this year. But he's 6'4" and athletic. So not a huge loss for '21 -- but potentially a big one for '22 and '23.

You flipped the sides of the O-Line. And we’ll see a fair bit of Russell in the backfield. But other than that, I agree. There’s been some talk of mixing things up on the OL. Hurley supposedly wants to see Weinzapfel pulling. Not sure who else they’d put at center, tho. Look for Carac Johnson to see reps at end/slot. He’s probably the best athlete on the team, if he can keep that knee healthy.

Barring an unforeseen change, yes. That will probably change the Tigers’ offensive approach. For one thing, Ellspermann is quick and elusive. He showed that a couple times against Castle. But he’s also a little on the shorter side and he’s got a few pretty tall OLers that he’ll have to get used to passing over. He’s reportedly very coachable and I’ve been told that his arm is developing, but pretty good. I’m curious to know who QB2 will be. Josh Russell? He’s played some QB in the past. Terrific athlete. But also critical on D. Aside from him, you might have to get into the freshmen.