Boilernation

How many IHSAA sponsored sports do MIC teams play that will be completely dominated by Center Grove and Carmel? I don't blame Carmel and Center Grove at all for jumping on this opportunity as they were not getting invited to another conference. The MIC can do what they want, but a lot of current voting members just voted for a majority of their athletic department to be competing for 3rd place finishes. They certainly have the right to make that decision.

How is it better for everyone involved? Carmel and Center Grove's AD Departments? Sure. It eases their scheduling. Current MIC athletes? Not so much. Playing for 3rd place in conference across a majority of male and female sports.

Portage is indeed horrible. Lost way too many players to the portal. They're reaping what they sowed by firing Richards. Merrillville's JV will be getting some good minutes on Friday night.

No. Not at all. I'm really surprised the MIC welcomed them back. Ignoring the racial comments made by certain representatives of the MIC when the first split happened, only a few football and basketball programs in the MIC can compete with Carmel and Center Grove. Why not stick to OOC scheduling as it's currenty happening as opposed to eliminating any chance a majjority of your athletic departmnet has at winnign a Conference title?

Crown Point is going to steamroll through the Duneland and likely Penn again. I just think someone like Carmel or a Hoosier Crossroads team is going to be an AWFUL matchup for Crown Point if they get past Regionals. The Bulldogs have been killing the north with their lines. I don't think it's working again this year. It's likely Crown Point loses their advantage on the lines at Semi State unless they get Zionsville or Harrison. They took a step back in the passing game this year now that the QB is at Miami(OH). Trevor Gibbs is basically their entire offense. The 6'4 Indiana recruit is used all over the place. TE, H Back, RB, Wildcat. Feels like rinse and repeat from last year in terms of results. And the offense was arguably more dynamic last year.

From a local perspective, why Loyola and not Carmel? The Ramblers are very yound and inexperienced this year. They were VERY lucky to get ou tof Demaree with a W. Merrillville, in typical Pirate fashion, was their own worst enemy in the 2nd half when they could have put Loyola away. Credit to Loyola for finding a way to win, but I think that game showed the Northsiders have a lot of chinks in their armor.

So, on the plus side the All 22's indicate Johnson's offense works here and created a lot of open receivers for Caleb. Bad news is Caleb is either not pulling the trigger or wildly irratic when he does pull the trigger. Really hoping Johnson and J.T. Barret can fix it.

Dude is a winner. Love him. I think Bears fans would love him as the local kid.

Everything looked precise. No issues coming out of the huddle and getting plays off. Very minimal amount of penalties. No turnovers. Caleb got the ball out quickly and was throwing with anticipation and precision. Couldn't really ask for more against Buffalo's backups. I really liked what Johnson said after the game about Caleb starting to stack good practices/game on top of each other. He said he and Caleb are very transparent with each other and he'll tell Caleb when his performance in practice isn't good enough. Caleb has said the same thing as well. I would expect to continue to see Caleb stack good performance as they're going to start scaling back the offense. Johnson said himself they were going to turn the fire hose on in camp to throw everything at Caleb. I think it's fair to say at this point we have a coaching staff that knows what they're doing and is very transparent when it comes to talking about defeciencies.

Leave you feelings at the door. Wow! This coaching staff doesn’t mess around. Moved Wright and Jones to 2nd string in practice reps yesterday. Icing on the cake was OL coach publicly calling out Wright for not being consistent and reverting back to bad habits. Could just be mental, but he seemed to be indicating Wright isn’t in the best shape stamina wise.

Based on the data I've seen roughly half of the enrollment is Asian and Hispanic. No offense to those fine communities, but that's not a great recipe for football success, espeically when a majority of that cohort is likely from Burmese origins.

Good insight here from DJ on the accountability Johnson brings to the table. Johnson ripped into Burden today and kicked him out of a drill.

I can see Crown Point using the 6'4 235 Gibbs at RB as a wrinkle considering they like to run power sets. Surely they have to have another RB they're planning on using as RB1. I figured Ehrlich would be their biggest loss from offense last year. He was a 4 year starter as a varsity QB and MAC recruit. He ran that offense very efficiently.

I remember Johnson telling the players in attendance at his first presser to be ready to be uncomfortable. That's exactly what they're doing to Caleb.

I'm going with Center Grove at #1. HSE might be too low now that they have the QB from Lawrence Central. How many starters does LN have returning? Especially from that swarming defense. I know they return the WR who will be a highly coveted recruit. The little tidbits I hear from those who have seen Crown Point indicate the Bulldogs could be taking a major step back.

Wow...that is an interesting perspective. Didn't even consider the Patriots would have only 38 guys on their varsiy roster. I couldn't imagine playing OL and DL the entire game. That has to be tough. Having Ruxer at TE and Goldsberry at QB will definately help. They are rated #1 and #3 in the State for 247's composite rankings. For the record, anyone in Indiana who claims to be a HS football fan that hasn't heard of Heritage Hills is just a casual. Concord lost their speedster RB to Purdue. I'm not sure they're returning anything that would indicate they're a Top 25 team.

Those children still have teammates and coaches they're bailing on. Expecting a 17 or 18 year old to have a little bit of decorum isn't that far fetched, imo.

My issue isn't so much the transferring, it's the public spectacle of creating a clevor social media post to pat yourself on the back while publically announcing you've quit on your coaches and teammates.

Are we sleeping on Center Grove not at #1? 6'3 QB with multiple D1 offers. Multiple D1 offers on both lines. Then throw in you can always count on the Trojans having speed at the skill positions.

George Costanza once coined it's not really a lie if you believe it. I've come to the conclusion nothing truly happens to the youth if you don't get the likes social media.

Sounds like it's been a disaster from Day 1 then. I recall Cody getting a lot of negative press for the way he handled his departure from Calumet.

The crazy part is Carmel Catholic isn't a powerhouse in the Chicago Catholic League. A southside power like Mt. Carmel or St. Rita would have been a much shorter commute from City.

Haha. Man. Please don't let it be a repeat of Fields.

You expecting big things from Memorial and Gibson Southern this year? I don't know what they have coming back. I was really impressed by Memorial last year. Really liked their offense. I couldn't believe Heritage Hills gave them that bad of a beatdown. QB is going to Ole Miss. TE is going to Oklahoma. Heritage Hills vs Reitz at the Bowl would be a great playoff game atmosphere.

Yikes. Columbus North? DC I can see. they are going to have a D1 weapons at QB and skill positions. Maybe they're Top 5 good if they have depth.