Cougar14.2

We're actually working on our collective as we speak. So far we've secured the grass farms and tire shops in town. We have a meeting with our local crawfish vendors next week which we're expecting to really be a game-changer.

Looks like Crosby picked up another free agent last week. That makes it three that I know of this offseason. Running back from North Shore, receiver from GCM and now a DB from Spring. Think the DB from Spring could be a real contributor this year. If we could just get a 6'5" 275lb offensive tackle to sign with us we would be in great shape. The one we had last year will be playing on the defensive line next to our 6'3" 340lb nose tackle.

Wrong thread

I agree there too. I was more so talking about how the coach/administration felt about the issue. I think the PNG brass is happy they got a new coach of their choosing and even though he didn't want to leave I think BF is happy to done with the headache in Mid-County. That's what I meant by both parties coming out on the plus end.

Coach Wiggins was a great coach. I hate it ended the way it did but much like the Faircloth situation at PNG I think both parties will come out on the plus end of things.

I think you'll see more of a dropoff in Westlake's offense after next year. If healthy I think Paxton Land is going to have a huge year since he still has Greathouse and Kubecka on the outside to win 1v1 matchups. He's definitely not the athlete Klubnick was and it's highly unlikely he possesses the accuracy but he's a big kid with a big arm and can move, he's more in the Nick Foles mold. They're still very good on the o-line and Kayser is one year older after having a good sophomore season at RB. My biggest question is can they continue this sick defensive run they've been on the last few years? I just looked and over the last 46 games they've only given up 8.5ppg which is pretty impressive considering 18 of those games were against playoff teams. I also just noticed in addition to their three consecutive titles Westlake has won 40 games in a row. No pressure for Salazar at all, I'm sure the Chap fans will give him time? We laugh about our "seven year poster" on here but you can guarantee Westlake is one place where his theory will hold water.

The genesis of the debate was whether SLC could match up with Duncanville "physically" right now. You brought up their 7 state titles which some of which were in 3A in the 90's. What the heck does that have to do with SLC's athletes today matching with Duncanville? Duncanville has played for 3 of the last 4 6A-D1 titles to SLC's one. I used Katy as an example because they've been even more successful than SLC and the same thing still applies to them regarding different teams . I never mentioned a hypothetical between Katy and Duncanville either. I used a factual example with them and North Shore which has several recent iterations that reflect the point I'm making.

Yes, the heavier, faster and more versatile route runner with bigger hands and a higher vertical is the better college prospect. Dixon also averaged more yards per catch than Herndon and is better at high-pointing the ball in contested situations. Not to mention Dixon looks likes Julio Jones while Herndon looks like Matt Jones which really isn't a slight since Matt Jones was a first round pick too. I know you're pretty naive when it comes to high school football so just as a point of reference Johntay Cook is the top receiver in the state. He's 5'11.5" 170lbs and had 806 receiving yards on 39 catches last year in 14 games. Using your logic the recruiting services and multimillion dollars staffs made a mistake and should've taken Kameren Kirkwood from Crosby since he's similar size but had 1,090 yards receiving last year? NFL scouts don't look at who had the most college receiving yards and then draft accordingly, they look at what a player did in college that could translate to the next level. Philip Beck(Blinn/La Tech) had one of the greatest receiving seasons in THSF history, 124 catches for 2,202 yards and 24 TDs. He's definitely the best high school level receiver to ever play at Crosby, with that being said you're still not going to find many Crosby fans that would take him over Singleton(Utah/UH), Patterson(New Mexico/Rice) or Netherly(LSU) today.

I guess I'm in the minority? I liked the uniqueness and colors of the old format. This feels very "big box" like our board has fallen in line with other around the state. I'm sure it's for the best though.

So basically we'll be able to get the magazine off the shelf sometime around our bye week?

Yep, so can Katy who made it to state that same year SLC did and won their 9th title by 37 points. Still doesn't mean they match up with North Shore, who handles them on a regular basis, physically though.

Yeah, this is what Westlake had in the trenches last year: Colton Vasek(edge) - 6'6" 230lbs - 4 star Ethan Burke(edge) - 6'7" 225lbs - 4 star - signed with Texas TJ Shanahan(guard) - 6'4" 310lbs - 4 star Connor Robertson(guard) - 6'4" - 3 star - signed with Texas Bray Lynch(OT) - 6'5" 280lbs - 3 star signed with Indiana Tyler Knape(OT) - 6'4" 275lbs - c/o '24 but will also be at least a 3 star 6 of the 9 kids in the trenches for them last year were P5 level. To your point about the skill positions on the outside they had Greathouse who's 6'2" 220lbs and a 4 star, on the other side they have Keaton Kubecka who's 6'2" 195lbs and committed to Kansas. *They only had three 4 star trench guys last year instead of four. I was thinking Connor Robertson was a 4 star.

Just a heads up to our new district mates. This is what it looks like when we celebrate on your field. You see Coach P was so pumped he even showed off his 9” vertical leap.

Have you actually seen Westlake's football team at field level? SLC doesn't look like that. Westlake absolutely matches up with NS, Duncanville, Allen, Desoto, etc. physically. Outside of their RB's they're pretty huge 1-22. I do think Todd Dodge helped that but look at who's been recruited from Westlake recently vs who's been recruited from SLC recently? Westlake had four 4-star trench guys on last year's team alone. Their top receiver is a highly rated 4-star that goes 6'2" and about 220lbs. They have a couple of young guys who might get there but I can't even remember the last 4-star SLC had in the trenches? However, I do think that once you get through Westlake's first 22 that those other teams I just named are deeper and more talented, which again is why they all produce more D1 prospects than Westlake.

Last year was the most talented team I've personally ever seen at BH. I think they're going to have tough tasks replacing their QB/RB combination from last year. I thought QB might be a little easier to replace but with their best receiver tearing his ACL this Spring I kind of changed my mind about that. I do think their other 6'4" receiver is the better college prospect but Herndon has proven to be the better high school player to date. BH gave up 33.6ppg on defense last year so they'll probably improve there but unless they find a RB who can control the pace of the game like Hagler then I'm not sure they'll be as good as last year. I do think their record will be better than 6-6 though.

Turner Stadium on Thursday nights has been a thorn in Crosby's side for the last decade. Y'all should blow them out but it's probably about a 2 hours bus ride for PAM to Turner, on an off night, the last game of the season, with kids who probably aren't going to respect the opponent lined up across from them. Good ingredients for a long night.

There probably isn't any lease to own type language as that would likely make the leasee responsible for maintenance and repair costs. I would imagine what we see is the only part of the lease they wanted to make public. I'm sure there's punitive language for breaking the lease or a potential exit clause that neither party wants made public since it could effect their leverage in future negotiations with other parties if that time ever came to pass.

Luckily there was a buffer between him and his dad. Either way though, it's going to be seen as him having to fill some huge shoes. I think Gary Joseph is currently the best coach in the state but I probably would've given that title to Steve Lineweaver prior to his retirement in 2014. I give him so much credit for the same reason I think Reginald Samples is currently the second best coach in the state, look at their respective schools' records before they got there and after they left. I think they potentially hit a home run hiring little Lineweaver. You know he has to have a little gravitas after being an assistant at SLC for the past 20 years. Will be interesting to see if he runs Dad's offense or SLC's?

You don't lose by 44 points in a semi-final game if you match up with your opponent. Katy lost to North Shore three years in a row in playoffs from '17-'19, the next year in '20 when they didn't have to face them they went to the title game and beat Cedar Hill by 37 points. Oh yeah, they also have more titles than SLC. Katy doesn't match up with NS physically which is why NS dwarfs them in the number of D1 recruits they produce. So yeah, with 9 state titles to their name it's safe to say Katy matches up with anybody in the state too. SLC doesn't match up with Duncanville physically either. Not only does Duncanville have about 2k more kids than SLC they also dwarf them in D1 prospects just like North Shore does Katy. It took the #1 prospect in the country for SLC to mitigate that advantage in '20. Recruiters don't even view the athletes at the schools in the same light. For instance, Owen Allen ran for 1,266 yards as a sophomore and 2,063 yards as a junior last year for SLC and only has two FBS offers which are both from academy schools. Caden Durham is a '24 running back at Duncanville. He's the same size as Allen, has played one year on varsity and only rushed for 649 yards yet he's already up to 9 FBS offers including 4 from P5 schools. You don't have to agree that SLC physically doesn't match up with Duncanville, the guys that makes $100's of k's on top tier staffs around the country do though.

Past state titles have nothing to do with how you physically match up with certain teams currently. Katy has double the state titles of North Shore, even beat them recently, and doesn't match up with them physically either currently. Gary Joseph even said it in an interview after they lost to North Shore in a third round game not too long ago. Who knows though, North Shore had one state title in their history too before Kay took over in 2014 and might catch SLC by 2024.

It's going to be an interesting dynamic in the opener. PAM is going to have to defend an unfamiliar offense outside of what they'll see on film from the PNG scrimmages and PNG is going to have to defend PAM's speed with players who will probably still be unsure of exactly what their assignments are. Could make for a closer game than it seems to be on paper, especially playing at The Reservation where you're already down once you step off the bus.

I think Westlake deserves the #1 ranking coming into the season but I don't think they're better than North Shore. I didn't think they were better when they beat them in the semis a couple of years ago either. North Shore just had some uncharacteristic turnovers which changed the tide of the game, especially that fumble late on what would've been the game-winning drive. I think at the end of the season people will be saying, "Man, North Shore was 3 points away from a 5-peat in 6A-D1.", which IMO would've been significantly more impressive than what Lake Travis did in 4A/5A. No way I'm putting SLC in front of Duncanville though. I know they beat them a couple of years ago but the other three matchups the last four years were 51-7, 49-35 and 35-9. The year they won they also had the #1 recruit in the country at QB. SLC physically just can't line up with Duncanville most years and I don't think this year will be any exception if the Panthers stay healthy. I think Katy is going to be a monster this year. Unless Westlake goes D2 I think this is Katy's most for sure state finals team since 2015 which was one of the best team in THSF history IMO.

I was/am worried about the trenches too. Somebody pointed out to me the other day though that we bring back something like 60 career starts on the o-line between the three returners. Was also told that 4 of the 5 current starters squatted over 500lbs during Spring workouts. I think the problem to us is that they don't look as imposing on the hoof as some of our other o-lines have in past. I think our three primary ball carriers are going to help with that though. I've been worried about the d-line every single year except like maybe '14, '15 and '21 but we always seem to sufficiently reload there. It's going to be virtually impossible to replace the Coop and Casey combination but we're so good at linebacker this year that we don't really need the kids to do that. They just need to keep our linebackers clean so they can make plays. That Summer Creek transfer is a game changer at the 2nd level. Keep in mind that we didn't see LaRive much this Spring either because of how well the baseball team was playing. We may not have Coop and Casey but I think we'll have a more talented defense overall. Definitely think they'll be faster which I think Coach Poth prefers over size anyway.

I think Tascosa is a little over-ranked but I would still put them there over say, Cooper. Manvel is going to get beat down pretty soundly against Shadow Creek but they might not lose another game on their schedule before the 3rd round. They don't bring back a lot of starters but they play so many kids during the course of the year that it somewhat mitigates that. They should have improved QB play from their second year starter and they do better at re-stocking trench guys that any 5A program in the Houston area. I think if anything bites them it will be that they graduated their top 3 running backs. College Station lost probably their best QB in school history but Marquise Collins is so freaking good that I think you have to still give them the benefit of the doubt until the Temple game. Everybody knew he was getting it and he still rushed for almost 3,000 yards and 40 tds at the 5A-D1 level last year. Their backup running back will probably rush for 1,000 yards this year too. If they get some good qb play I could see them making another run.

I don't think capping NIL mitigates any of that. 1. It can benefit athletes and teams at every level. A bunch of colleges are in small towns and have cult followings. North Dakota State is an FCS school and has had two QBs drafted in the top 5 in recent years. It's extremely likely that Carson Wentz and Trey Lance would've gotten NIL deals from those oil and gas donors up there. In this current climate being able to offer them NIL deals would've also helped their teams by potentially keeping them at school while others offered them NIL deals to leave similarly to the way USC money-whipped Jordan Addison to pull him away from Pittsburg this offseason. Furthermore it allows kids like one of the guys I went to school with at South Dakota State, who was a good country singer, to earn money off his performances without the NCAA deeming it additional benefits due to his playing status. 2. Capping NIL won't level anything. UT donors are working with a vastly different budget than UH already. Say you cap incoming freshman at $100k, all that means is that the UT collective can pay all 25 kids $100k while UH can only afford to pay 5 kids that amount. How is that helping UH? Now, it does allow schools like Eastern Michigan to offer a $1M NIL deal to a QB which would've most likely changed the team's fortunes. In general it mostly has the opposite effect though. A kid ranked at the bottom of a Power 5 class is a lot more likely to take a $50k NIL deal to attend that school knowing they'll never play now versus signing with a non-P5 school that they would be one of the top recruits in. That hurts those non-P5 schools. 3. A lot of those broke athletes you're eluding to would've done a lot better financially if they would've learned to manage money earlier in their lives. In most cases you don't become a good welder by waiting until you're 25 to start learning. As far as guidance, what better resources to have than dozens of economics, accounting and business professors on campus? 4. When and at what level are agents and marketing firms not just looking for a paycheck? Sometime they even ruin kids' eligibility by contacting them too early. Drew Rosenhaus doesn't hit up the potential 6th round pick and say "Hey, I want to offer my services pro bono." He has his "people" reach out like they did to my co-worker about his son who was potentially going in the first round and offer their services at a premium cost. I'm for kids getting their money when they can. Too many times I've seen situations like Marshawn Lattimore's where kids had catastrophic injuries an never got an opportunity to maximize the money they were in line for when they turned pro. Not to mention, if athletic departments are going to make $100's of millions off kids' name, image and likeness then that kid should be able to get compensated also.