Football Fanatic

Castle @ North Harrison @ Reitz Mater Dei @ Central Memorial @ Jasper VL @ Bosse

Based on knowledge of returning players, transfers, coaching changes, convos with coaches and footage from scrimmages; my final preseason rankings: 1. Central 2. Memorial 3. Castle 4. Reitz 5. Mater Dei 6. Jasper 7. North 8. VL 9. Harrison 10. Bosse

I would honestly be surprised if VL and North finish better than Reitz. Just have a feeling that the dual-threat QB Brickey and the weapons around him in Brunson's offense will thrive. I agree that Central probably finishes 1st unless teams can figure their new offense out quickly. But for now, they have a lot of weapons moving in a lot of different directions, which will be tough to defend. Would not be shocked at all if Memorial or Castle finish 1st though.

Exactly. It's about minimizing contact. Obviously there are wise, educated people who people that football can be played without causing a huge spike in cases or youth deaths. If we are going to do it, it makes sense to minimize contact as much as possible. I would imagine locker rooms will be off limits, unless it's only a small group at a time (use the restroom, positional meetings, etc.) Post-game handshake line definitely not happening. I guess the teams/coaches could still walk lines that are 6 feet apart and they could just say "good game" or "good luck" as they walk by. It will be interesting to see how many little things like that are different this year.

I agree about the asymptomatic spread. While it may be rare, I can see why people would be concerned about it. It will take some serious dedication from the student athletes and coaches to avoid any family/friends that have symptoms, avoid social gatherings and vacations, and to go out in public as little as possible. But it can be done. Then the spread at practice/games does not pose as much of a threat. If teams are doing it right at practice, players should be divided into small groups and stations. No drill or gathering should last more than 10-15 minutes to minimize exposure. And if/when players test positive, they are quarantined for the necessary amount of time and exposure to others was minimized because of the practice layout. If all of this is done correctly and cases are addressed quickly, teams should not have to cancel many, if any, games during the season. It would come down to being able to field a full team of healthy players on a week-to-week basis. There will continue to be positive cases among kids whether there is football or not. And I will continue to live and die by the opinion that kids will be less likely to get it if they are being screened and held accountable by football every day.

What do you mean? That doesn't matter if coaches and players use social distancing and take necessary precautions outside of football. Problem is people don't do that, they contract it from a vacation, party, a family member who has it, or in public and then they bring it in to practice. We've said from the start that it would take extreme measures and precautions if these coaches and players want to have a football season. I know of some teams that are doing what it takes and have had no issues, so it is possible.

Warren Central has cancelled their week 1 game against Center Grove as they have too many coaches and players in quarantine. It is what it is. If people cannot social distance and use all precautions, games will be cancelled and seasons will be shut down.

So the Big Ten caved, despite pleas from numerous ADs and coaches to go on with the season. Honestly, not surprising. Question is, does the IHSAA cave now?

I mean, ideally none of the players in the game will have the virus, which means it won't matter if they are having padded contact. That is as long as players continue to be screened every day and schools are able to react quickly to quarantine any kids that do get it.

From what I know, they should still be really solid. It will be extremely tough for them to replace who all they lost, but I could see them only losing one or two games. However, with their numbers, it will all depend on how well they can avoid COVID spreading. If only a couple kids test positive but they had extended contact with 10+ other players, then that may greatly affect how good they are/whether they can even play a game.

Good grief. Engage in realism much? It's called reading the room, or even common sense, if you will. I've had conversations with football coaches, players, parents, teachers, and social workers. Many are very concerned about the repercussions of taking the season away. Yeah, maybe they "can" go get jobs or focus on their education, and some will. I know some kids personally that will have no problem transitioning from sports to working/improving grades. But let's be REALISTIC here. What percent of student athletes that lose their season do you realistically think are going to get this sudden motivation or inspiration to go get a job or study more to get better grades? Based on the sample size of who I have talked to, I would say maybe 10% to be generous. We haven't even considered the kids who go to school/try to be eligible just because of football. Majority of kids will not naturally or wisely replace that motivation. It is not hyperbole when these are real, impending issues we have to consider.

I keep saying it but cancelling football will not help slow the spread whatsoever. With football, the players are screened and monitored every day. They have motivation; use social distancing and precautions or don't play. They have accountability, or at least a sense of it. Because of their schedules they pretty much only have time to be around family/friends and the team, so any cases can be tightly quarantined if addressed quick enough. The list of pros is not limited here either. Take football away from all these student athletes and their morale suffers, their mental health suffers, their motivation to do well in school suffers, they probably move on with carelessness as far as precautions go, and they probably go to parties and vacations as well. I hope the decision makers involved are carefully considering all pros, cons, and outcomes.

Have to wonder if MD will have to cancel their first regular season game as well. Depends how many of their players have to quarantine and if they will get in enough practices. That's if Indiana football even gets to that point anyway. 🙄

Especially with the anticipation for Reitz this year with the new faces on the coaching staff and coming off of a losing record, I'm sure there are tons of west side faithfuls itching to get out and watch games at the Bowl. The sections seem to be pretty big so I'm sure at least 200 could safely fit in each section. Then you also have up to 250 in those opposite visitor bleachers. And that still would not even be close to 50% capacity for the Bowl, which is why I feel that the local health dept might approve them to allow more in.

I wonder how that 250 limit will work at say, the Reitz Bowl. Surely the local health dept would allow more than that at places that big.

Sounds like IHSAA will have an announcement this week about various return-to-play policies including fan attendance.

I only said that because I saw it in another thread and on social media as well. Just referring to anybody who might think that.

Oh, and to the people bringing up rumors about an IHSAA meeting. The last thing they did (recently, not sure exactly when) was discuss protocol and make adjustments to it. For example, they discussed what should be considered an exposure, difference between exposure at practice and an unknown location exposure (like at a non-school gathering), how to avoid it, and what proper quarantine should look like. I would imagine any changes or additions will be announced this week. Also known as, MOVING FORWARD. No discussion on changing dates or moving to spring. The season goes on.

More and more people every day giving in and rooting for Covid to prevail. And don't give me the realism spiel. Have some hope. There WILL be fall football in Indiana. Especially if programs continue to do as told as far as sanitizing, limiting contact/exposure, and social distancing. Decisions will be up to each school and it will be a week to week situation. Basically, each week, how many players are quarantined and can you field a full team? So yes, schools may have to cancel some games due to widespread quarantines, but games will be played. I know it's difficult for people to wrap their minds around the fact that we have opportunities to be resilient and do some normal things despite Covid existing, to whatever degree. I have not heard anything close to official about fan attendance though. I have heard everything from no limit at all to no fans and live streams only. If I had to guess, each stadium will be organized and marked off to where fans can be social distant, both in the bleachers and along the fences. Once the socially distant seating is filled, fans would be turned away, unfortunately. This would leave the options of selling tickets ahead of time or some kind of will-call so that fans would never have to show up to be turned away. Just my thoughts and some stuff I have heard.

Impact players for each team. Might've forgot some or don't know some, this was just on the spot first names that came to my mind. Feel free to add some. Reitz - Brickey, Joy, Burns, Brown Central - Evans, Boberg, Leach Castle - Tilly, Butler, Allen, Pritchard North - Brawdy, Presswood, Sales Bosse - Madison, Behme, Tyler Memorial - Pence, Russell, Quick, Norman Mater Dei - Money Harrison - Hooks Vincennes - Pfoff/Vickers, Brown, Hardiman Jasper - Mann, Dawkins

I would be shocked if that were the case. I could see Reitz finishing in the top 5. They have a handful of great athletes returning who could definitely thrive in Brunson's offense. Question for them will probably be the line.

I'm with Titan on this one. I fully believe that football will be happening in Indiana. I think we can expect all decisions to be up to each school district and each school on whether to cancel games due to the amount of cases. Whether the season will actually be able to finish or not depends on how many schools statewide have to cancel games. Like somebody else said, I would not be surprised if another team needs a week 2 game due to their opponent having to cancel. Situations like that may become a weekly ordeal.

Thank you sir. I wasn't going to make an account unless I had a strong feeling that we're having a football season. So I guess you know what this means 😉

There may be some bye weeks for teams this season due to teams forfeiting or cancelling their season. But for the most part, I think we have games on August 21st and the weekly season is played in full. It's almost a given that cases will pop up throughout the season. I think as long as teams handle each case quickly and appropriately, the season will not be in jeopardy. This also may be the hopefulness in me talking...

Bold prediction (considering all the negativity being spread) - There WILL be high school football games on August 21st!