Cougar14.2

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.

It's literally the perfect example of capitalism. The app the tech nerd creates is only as valuable as the purchaser deems it to be. One purchaser may be willing to pay $1M for the app, the next purchaser might think there are equivalent apps and only be willing to pay $1k for it. Prime example is the old My Space platform. It was sold for $580M in 2005 and I'm sure the buyer thought they would get a huge return. It just sold for $35M a few weeks ago. The original buyer took a risk just like someone would purchasing any other stock without a guaranteed rate of return, even if that stock has performed in previous years. It's the same for NIL deals. Kids are only getting them because of proven performance in the past. If someone deems that past performance is worth taking a gamble on a kids' future performance they're now allowed to do so at whatever cost they see fit. NIL isn't supposed to be tied to performance anyway(even though we know it is), it can simply be for social media influence. There's a gymnast at LSU who has NIL deals worth about $1M and it's not because she's the next Simone Biles, it's because she looks good. In a free market you can spend your money however you see fit.

That’s the issue. Y’all looking for smoke when you should actually be pulling the fire alarm. PAM is like a lot of those Crosby teams 5-10 years ago. Y’all like to run fast and look pretty. You can win a lot of games like that, especially with the level of athletes y’all have at the skill positions but you’re still going to struggle with teams like Crosby that are going to walk right through your kitchen. Two things that were easy to identify in last year’s game were that Crosby was better coached and also the more physical team. They’re solid programs but I don’t think Ned and PNG do anything for y’all in terms of preparation for making a 3+ round run in 5A-D1. PAM should be able to out-athlete those teams and win on talent alone. You’re not going to beat Crosby or several other teams in our new region with that approach though. I’m glad we get to play PAM when we do. The district is weaker than the 5A-D2 district we’ve played in the last two years but PAM is a good replacement for the athleticism and physicality we saw from Texas City in district play the last couple of seasons. Playing on the other side of the bracket from the #2 position PAM would have the easier route to a regional final. Let’s see if Crosby can get through Longview and possibly meet y’all there?

I kind of thought so too but for example, who out of 7-9 would you for sure out in front of us? You knew Consol. was going to be good because they had a freshman QB and sophomore RBs when we played them last year but they also lost some of those huge trench guys that gave us issues. Results are a direct product of your play so you can’t say there should’ve been an alternative outcome in the Manvel game but you’re probably one of the ones that walked out of Randal Reed thinking “There’s not a lot of daylight between these two teams, if any?”. They lost both RBs and a bunch of Power 5 kids on defense. Not too many years ago we used to complain about be disrespected and overlooked, for better or worse I think we’re getting the benefit of the doubt now.

1. Austin Westlake 2. North Shore 3. Southlake Carroll 4. Duncanville 5. Katy 6. Denton Guyer 7. Lake Travis 8. Desoto 9. Spring Westfield 10. Rockwall

1. Longview 2. Denton Ryan 3. Aledo 4. College Station 5. Frisco Lone Star 6. Crosby 7. A&M Consolidated 8. Manvel 9. Mansfield Timberview 10. Amarillo Tascosa

1. Dallas South Oak Cliff 2. Lucas Lovejoy 3. Liberty Hill 4. Fort Bend Marshall 5. Mansfield Summit 6. Argyle 7. Wichita Falls Rider 8. Leander Rouse 9. Colleyville Heritage 10. Texas High

I know the McNair’s don’t own the stadium, very few pro sports franchise owners do own their stadiums/arenas. They lease them from the city/county but Bud Adams moved the Oilers because the city wouldn’t build him a new stadium. He was also a huge proponent of football at every level. That’s why we would play 1st round games all the way through the state championships. What I’m saying is that if Cal wanted games at NRG they would be playing games at NRG. You can read their lease agreement below and see how much stroke he has over the decision making. Cal and his dad have always been more skewed to the business side of things though. [Hidden Content]

Capitalism at it's finest. If an 18 year old tech nerd who creates an app can make millions for his talents then why shouldn't the 18 year old QB make millions for his talents if someone is willing to pay it? Do we tell the tech nerd to wait until he graduates and gets a professional job before he starts receiving just compensation? Do we tell him the academic scholarship he's on IS his compensation like I see some who are against NIL do with athletic scholarships? If the consensus #7 QB in the country can get this type of money that tells you the emphasis college coaches place on getting the right guy at that position, just like they do on Sundays. Tennessee's QB commit got $8M for his commitment earlier this year. If rich boosters/collectives want to spend their money on kids for their entertainment then so be it. Unless the NCAA places guidelines on NIL deals then you're going to see this a lot, especially at the QB position which has the most impact on if a staff gets fired or not. NIL has basically turned college athletes' scholarships into one year deals with a player option at the end, which is totally fine with me. If a player outplays the "value" that one team sees them in then they're allowed one free transfer to another team that may see greater value in them, same for adults when they switch jobs. It also makes college coaches a lot more culpable for the lies they tell kids on the recruiting trail to get them on campus which IMO is the best part of the new NIL structure. The only downside I see to the current NIL structure is that it hurts a lot of middle to lower tier kids initial high school recruitment. If a program has 20 scholarships available in a class they're a heck of a lot more likely to take 15 high school kids and 5 transfers than they were a few years ago when those transfers would've had to sit and lose a year of eligibility if they transferred up or laterally. Some people don't like the fact that NIL has taken some of the "amateurism" away from college sports, which I totally agree with, but why place stipulations/limitations on when a kid can receive financial compensation that may change the course of their lives just because they play sports?

There may be something to reason #1 but I doubt reason #2 had much of an impact. NRG hosted the title games in 2016 and has hosted a lot of playoff games since then including BH vs Manvel in 2019. North Shore and Katy have played there multiple times since then also. They would've shut all the games down right afterwards if it was the title games' attendance that steered them away from hosting high school games. It would clear a lot of things up if Cal McNair just came out and vocalized the reason/s, some of us might even agree with him.