MHSTigerFan

I’ve talked to two different college coaches at Indiana programs who said they missed on him because he was too slow (~4.7s) to play receiver - and they just didn’t envision him in any other role. That shows me (a) a lack of imagination, and (b) an over-reliance on measurables. When you find a kid with his mix of skills combined with his motor, I think you just figure out a way to get him on the field. He bounced around a couple positions at SIU until they put 25 lbs on him and put him at ILB. Plus, Southern Indiana just doesn’t get much recruiting attention. It still surprises me that everybody missed on Mockobee. Darin Ward played at IU and begged Allen’s staff. He didn’t even get a PWO from them. I firmly believe that if Mockobee had played at one of the high profile Indy programs, he’d have had multiple offers.

That’s not entirely true. Cooper was the last one from Evansville to make a roster. But I know there has been at least one other to get a shot in the spring: TE Steven Scheu, who also played at Memorial and was a standout at Vandy. He got shots with the Pats and Broncos. As for the whole region, don’t forget ol’ Cutler. His last contract was a 1 year with the Dolphins in 2017.

I believe he was an outside LB, yes. And, yes, you could start to get a sense of the chemistry he had with Lindauer on offense. It was easy to tell that he was just a cut above. Always active, high motor, super competitive. Making an NFL roster is a tough thing to do. Even a lot of drafted guys don’t end up ever making it off the practice squad. UDFA is even tougher. But it’s cool that he’s got a chance. And it’s a real chance. Some UDFAs make it. Kenny Moore and Mo Alie-Cox were UDFAs for the Colts. Peyton Hendershot made the Chiefs as UDFA, too.

I’ll never forget our game against Reitz in 2016. We turned the ball over to them. I think Diekmann came up with the ball. And there’s this hit made on him that I “felt” as much as I heard or saw it. It was a grownup‘s hit. And you could tell it rattled Diekmann a bit too. So I’m checking my roster sheet…who is this number 8? Combs. A sophomore, really? Well, he’s going to be fun to watch for the next few seasons.

Epoxy anchor bolts?

I hope they take this opportunity to improve the field lighting. The Bowl is the most poorly lit football stadium I’ve ever been to.

I couldn’t agree more. I think a one-time freebie transfer rule makes sense. The IHSAA should just adopt that and move on. The way it’s been handled in cases I was familiar with has been a disgraceful waste of time and money.

I’m not discounting HH’s defense. I’m just saying that Memorial’s offense has been significantly better than its defense. Fisher is a terrific passer and he spreads the ball around well to 4 or 5 receivers. It’s hard for anybody to cover them all for 4 quarters if the OL can get him some time. But the Tigers’ D has struggled against the run - and just hasn’t really faced an effective passing offense…let alone one that can do both.

I think Memorial’s defense will have a tough time with an offense that is effective both through the air and on the ground. They just don’t have the horses to do both effectively (and losing an All-SIAC cornerback in JJ Lowery doesn’t help). DC Ben Johnson can scheme with the best of them. He is a phenomenal coach. But there are no standouts over there beyond Broshears and O’Donohue. And the secondary just hasn’t been challenged much all year - teams preferring to run the ball to keep Fisher, Ellspermann, and the offense off the field. I expect a high scoring game. I’d guess that it will come down to which defense can get one or two more stops than the other one.

I agree with everything you said.

Oh, no question about it. I know that crowd. They just want to have fun and the more the merrier.

Brebeuf’s offensive numbers this year are just jaw-dropping. Defensively…not so much. They’re like the Loyola-Marymount of Indiana HS football.

Great game between Castle and Memorial. And what an atmosphere! The venue had its drawbacks. But, all in all, it was a really cool experience. Castle’s offense was a workhorse. Their scoring drive in the 3rd quarter took almost the entire quarter. I’m sure that took a lot of energy out of Memorial’s defense. McCool was terrific, as expected. And they were efficient passing the ball as well. Castle’s defense played well, too. But Memorial just has so many weapons - and a terrific QB to spread the ball around to them. Tough break on the 4th down drop by Anslinger near the goal line - especially after Castle scored a long TD on the next play. What could’ve been a 21-7 game almost instantly became a 14-14 game. This game really lived up to its billing.

It would be interesting to know how much of those defensive stats for Memorial (or any school, really) came against the starters. I calculated recently that Memorial’s starters have only had 34 points scored against them in their 8 games. All of the rest have come against reserves.

I think it’s going to be a very competitive game. From all indications, Castle is on top of their game right now. McCool is the best RB in the conference - at a whopping 8 ypc. Gavin Leach is right there with Broshears as the best LB in the conference. And Patterson is a load on the defensive line. I’m expecting something closer to a one score game than a 3 score game.

Ask Norman Dale about it. He knows…he knows.

This kind of thing is vaguely reminiscent of the Three-Fifths Clause in the original Constitution — in the sense that some people “count” more than others.

That’s great! Very unusual that he’s getting offers from these kinds of programs - but not IU or Purdue. Usually, those out of state programs will take their recruiting cues from the P4 programs in a player’s home state.

Yeah, what do you do with the whole “0 and 8 and onto state” kind of school who plays mostly bigger schools in their conference? That team could easily be more deserving than a team that whips cupcakes all season long. I have my gripes about the current system. But there is no perfect alternative.

He’s talking hypothetically - the way he thinks it should be conducted (he had Princeton out). No, there will be no bye week for anybody in this sectional.

Heck, I just hope we can get past Heritage Hills. Our sectional is brutal. I couldn’t care less about hypothetical matchups against 5A teams. FWIW, while I really like our team this year, we’ve had better ones (IMO).

One pretty incredible stat about that EC team. Josh Ringer touched the ball a total of 292 times: 279 rushes and 13 receptions. He scored 60 touchdowns - or one for every 4.87 times he had possession of the ball. Ringer was a very, very good talent on his own. But the way that team blocked was just….well, I’d never personally seen anything quite like it.

One of the other quirks about Sam’s announcing that made me giggle was when he would report other scores. There was always a good chance that he would report at least one score from a game between two obscure schools nobody in the stands had ever heard of (much less cared about) - and there was also a good chance he’d report a score from his beloved Cincinnati Reds (but only if they were winning).

EC had a common opponent with Ben Davis and Center Grove: Moeller. EC put up 38 against them and beat them pretty comfortably (38-28). Ben Davis thumped Moeller. But CG needed OT to win by 1. I can’t say I watched Snider. But they barely survived (19-18) a Mishawaka team that had played Northwood to OT. EC beat Northwood in the state finals: 42-14. Last year’s EC team was one of the best blocking HS football teams I’ve ever seen play. Pretty much every play they ran was executed flawlessly by all 11 guys. And nobody they played was even able to slow their offense down.

Fair enough. I appreciate you doing it and trying as best you can to be informed about it. It just seems like a really tough thing to pull off. No worries.