PantherPride

I’m planning on seeing Penn at Northwood. Still surprised Penn agreed to it even with the 2 Power 5 recruits on Northwood.

35-40 with how many Freshmen?

Just driving past practice I don’t think Bremen looks like it has many kids going out at all. Just a guess but 30-35 maybe

Well 2 are up in Nappanee at Northwood. Although 1 tried to go to IMG.

Well Northwood has 2 (Georgia and Michigan) and 1 tried to go to IMG.

That Nitro highlight tape 👀. Like I said they will be ultra athletic, Edmonds definitely looked the part of a stud player and Woods made some nice plays. I don’t know who #6 or 9 were that were playing RB but they looked decent. I think the big uglies on both sides of the ball and LBers will determine the success Northwood has this year.

I feel like Glenn in football is that program that’s always close but never broken through. Even when they were really good like 10 years ago Bremen was better. Will be interesting to see what Barron can do there. Last year was their first winning record since 2014, which I was surprised by. Don’t know what their roster is like but I’d think year 3 would be more likely for the break out year but they won’t be in the NIC by that point.

It’s still stunning to me that with as good as Plymouth used to be they haven’t won a single game in almost 3 calendar years.

Went to the Red/Black scrimmage last night. Hard to gather much from an intra squad scrimmage other than Northwood will be ultra athletic at the skill positions. I hope the receivers are just that unguardable and not that the DBs are that bad. Should know more after the Penn scrimmage.

I think it was pretty evident last year with what happened to NP in the state finals how the central part of the state is on another level. Makes me nostalgic for the “glory years” of northern Indiana football when I was growing up and teams like: Bremen, Jimtown, Northwood, Penn and St Joe were all making multiple trips to Indy to compete for a state title. There were years when 3 teams from the South Bend area were down there. Now it’s rare for anyone to break through.

Every game is going to try and be a copy of the Mishawaka game plan from last year. 1 of the most boring yet exciting games I’ve ever gone to. Just bleed the clock.

I think having a returning SR QB along with SR RB will make a great challenge for any defense trying to stop Northwood. I thought the RB was a little underrated last year with the way Tuggle and Payne were making play and as much as I like JJ Payne, Edmonds is going to be a big upgrade at that position. Having a guy going to the Big 10 opposite a guy going to the SEC in northern Indiana football is absolutely unheard of even at a place like Penn. I have heard from a couple of parents that Trey Woods was also looking really good this summer and expected to see a lot of action. Now with Nitro returning he’s probably the #3 WR or a scar back type player. TE and Oline I’ll have to wait and see before I can comment, don’t know much there.

Saw that on Twitter. I don’t know why IMG cares about 1 semester transfers, but awesome news for those of us in the Wa-Née district.

I haven’t heard anything about him returning but will see some people later tonight that are pretty plugged into the team that will likely know something. Would be quite a turn of events and 1 that you wonder what would cause such a change of heart.

You have to wonder if the author doesn’t realize that Tuggle transferred from Northwood to IMG. If he was back putting Northwood up there would make more sense. Yes there would’ve been a lot of losses, but you’d have 2 D1 WRs with a returning QB and RB. They’d score a ton of points. As it is I’d say the Panthers are top 10, but more towards the back end than the top.

Saw it reported that Nitro Tuggle of Northwood will be transferring to IMG Academy in Florida for his SR season. Damn

And seeing how it’s all played out now over the past 6 or 7 years it’s basically the old NSC minus Triton, Culver and NP while adding Tippy Valley. I get why it was done but the old NSC basically got blown up for Triton and Culver.

Bremen’s enrollment is also high right now due to a large class from what I understand. It will likely fall back below 500 in the coming years. And honestly I don’t understand wawasee wanting to stay in the NLC other than tradition. They haven’t been overly relevant in any major sport in over a decade. Fairfield is “entertaining” the offer but I’d be surprised if they join. If you were going to I’d think you’d have announced with the other schools.

Yes I realize this. They did lose a decent amount of solid seniors last year on defense but they will return the QB who passed for 25 TDs while only playing about 8 games as a JR and all conference RB as well as 2 WRs and TE while adding Edmonds to an offense that was scoring about 40 points a game last year. In 4A most of the great teams are in the south so I feel like they’ll have the talent to be 1 of if not the favorite in the north.

2 of the top 6 at Northwood 😳 coming off a state championship appearance in basketball it looks like it could be a special fall in Nappanee.

I can’t see Mishawaka leaving the NLC as long as Huppert is the AD. He’s an old Bremen guy from their days in the NLC and was in charge when they made the switch. Why would he go back? Plus from a competitive angle it’s a good fit for them AND they get a great gate from schools like Warsaw, Northwood, Concord and Northridge. Mishawaka is in a great spot and would be crazy to leave. Concord I don’t know, but even there what’s the incentive to leave a good situation? And I’ve reached out to some people I know in Bremen over the past day and from everything I’ve heard this is 100% happening and they’re just waiting to announce when the 2 other schools make their decision. I would expect a spring decision and this coming school year to be the final for the current NIC.

I hadn’t really thought how much the small schools kind of have Penn’s balls in a vice here. Say what you want about the small schools in the NIC but them leaving will cause Penn to make a decision. They can’t go back to the old NIC again. Riley, Washington and Clay have been getting beaten regularly in football by the small division. Those will be games that are over at the end of the 1st quarter for the Kingsmen. They can go and schedule a bunch of out of state matchups to beef up the schedule all they want to but when you have those games in the middle of the year how much does it really matter?

And let’s be real, it hasn’t been the little schools that’s caused Penn to decline, it’s been the decline of South Bend athletics. Penn doesn’t even play the smaller schools in football and basketball seems to be doing fine. New Prarie is a decent opponent from the old NSC so I don’t see how the likes of Bremen, jimtown and Glenn are holding Penn back.

Now see MArshallCounty our mutual Bremen friend texted me several weeks ago saying that Bremen was leaving the NIC and since he has very good connections with the school board and high school I believed him. He told me, “it’s going to be a long drive down to Pioneer” when I asked where they’d be going. So I believe 100% things in the NIC are getting shaken up. But I don’t know if this new league is happening though.

And Auburn was the day before. I think Tuggle will be a recruit that becomes a more national recruit this summer if he hits the camp circuit.