I thought I was looking at and answering questions on regular season schedules but you're right about FH's general standing among computer and human polls even downstate coaches.
I promise not to rag on anyone's schedule...
- Thread starter bigsavage
- Start date
The success of the PG County 1A schools to get players to the college level might be surprising in lieu of their on field record. For the most part the county coaches association in PG prides itself on placing kids in college and many coaches take more pride in that success than their win loss record. The county runs a yearly recruiting jamboree and has for most of the last 20 years to coincide with the county all star game whose success prompted SMAC coaches to inquire about becoming a part of the festivities resulting in the now Chick-fil-a PG-SMAC all star game. That said the historic lack of success that FH and Allegany have had in relation to record and players who could have played at the next level was troubling for a time, although that could be pinned on county bureaucracy in terms of eligibility requirements more so than the efforts of individual coaches. Thankfully for the deserving and capable athletes that looks to be changing for the better.
I inadvertently lumped you in with BoyznBlue...he doesn't feel Fort Hill is even a top 50 team - I'll take ownership of that mistake.
Not sure of the level of play involved, but if all you say is true and Fairmont plays a tougher schedule, so be it. But in this much time, that is the only school mentioned. Given that, how can anyone rag on FH's schedule??
If Brayden brown lived in PG county he would already have been committed to a D1a school. Our location hurts us. To back that statement up Ty Johnson was headed to Albany U before he went to MD and busted a 4.34 in front of edsall. Mark my words Ty will be a standout at MD this year and was last year as a freshman. We have kids who can play at that level and always have. 1a PG kids are no more college football players than ours. It all about exposure and proximity and relationships.
The lack of playing any one good hurts the kids from this area... And that doesn't have anything to do with geographical location that's a coaches decision.. But college coaches are less likely to take a chance on a kid, who scored 4 touchdowns against the likes of MATHS and Silver Oak like teams as opposed to a kid who does it against other d-1 talent... This area is more concerned with the overall record of the coach than it is with getting kids to the next level... As ultrawalt pointed out other areas are more concerned with getting kids into college.. I would advise anyone from this area that has the talent to get away and go to a school that's more focused on getting you to the next level than it is with the coaches win percentage, the type of hair style you wear, or the way you dress...
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Being in the state title game 3 years or more...in a row (and finally winning) doesnt hurt. But the real reason kids weren't, and to some degree, aren't getting into colleges is resting on them as well. Going to camps, being seen and..being actually D1 caliber..are huge. As good as FH has been these last three years, I'm not convinced that there are that many true D1 caliber athletes of the likes of Ty Johnson.
Higher tier D1 colleges dont make a habit of "taking chances" on sorta D1 caliber athletes. Jarrod Harpers, Ty Johnsons and so forth are rare..and even so, still have to work their asses off to sometimes see occasional playing time.
I do believe the local schools are doing a better job at seeing kids get free college. Im not as concerned that they arent all going to Big10 or ACC schools..inasmuch as they parlay their talents into money.
The Clay twins just graduate from all expenses paid degrees from Marist. They arent in the NFL..but they both just started excellent jobs as a result of their athletically paid college degrees. Thats a success.
Higher tier D1 colleges dont make a habit of "taking chances" on sorta D1 caliber athletes. Jarrod Harpers, Ty Johnsons and so forth are rare..and even so, still have to work their asses off to sometimes see occasional playing time.
I do believe the local schools are doing a better job at seeing kids get free college. Im not as concerned that they arent all going to Big10 or ACC schools..inasmuch as they parlay their talents into money.
The Clay twins just graduate from all expenses paid degrees from Marist. They arent in the NFL..but they both just started excellent jobs as a result of their athletically paid college degrees. Thats a success.
When all else fails bring up the number of players from other schools that get into college programs. Never mind the population of a rural town or the size of the school... or even the extreme quality of play that a small program like FH can generate.
It is senseless to suggest that a small school like FH should increase its schedule with deep bench, top quality schools - all for the purpose of placing a handful of kids in d-1 colleges. This is disregarding the potential injuries and the long term potential effects on the player and the school program.
FH in its current size is never going to place a significant number of young men in college programs. The success of FH is not because they have a gigantic talent pool - it is because their kids give their all for coach Appel and the historic FH community. Even if you cared... you wouldn't understand.
So how damn dare you state that "This area is more concerned with the overall record of the coach... and "I would advise anyone from this area that has the talent to get away...." From the start of this thread until now your level of douchebaggery is to puff yourself up while degrading the local community, the FH program and (now) coach Appel.
And what the hell is this: "...type of hair style you wear, or the way you dress." Looks like you have gone full bigot.
How many kids have you helped get to college?
Take it from someone who has for 10 years. You are either good enough or you are not to play D1 ball. If you think kids from any area fail to get to D1 because their coach didn't help them or their schedule was weak, etc. you have no clue. Any half worthy scout or recruiter would laugh in your face at such a ridiculous assessment. Granted when I put a recruiting program in place around here back in 2008, kids didn't even have highlight videos and were not getting to summer camps or on campus, which can definitely hurt big time. You have to make contact with college coaches and let them see your face and let them see you work out obviously. But do you really believe that someone like Nick Saban and his staff (or any FBS school for that matter with the money they spend) cares squat about a kid's schedule? That's so laughable. D1 scouts with the technology that exists today can watch a kid work out against no competition and tell you if he is FBS worthy. Since 70% of all D1 scholarships are handed out at spring or summer camps where kids work out, imagine being a fly on the coaches' office wall as he scrambles to find the team schedule of a kid he wants to offer. Oh man that's priceless.
Do you have any idea how many campuses Brayden Brown has visited and worked out for far and near the last 2 years? You don't have enough fingers or toes to count them. Does anyone really believe the coaches from Syracuse, Duke or North Carolina pulled up his team's schedule? hahahahaha. But I will say this, many of them had heard of Fort Hill due to their team success. Think about that one for a minute.
Maybe the state media can start a Top 25 based on number of D1 scholarships. Where no one even cares what happens for a team when the ball is snapped? (sarcasm)
If you wish to continually bitch and moan about most everything including repeated blasts at 1A schedules be my guest. You are truly living in a time warp. My god son, you are crying about 1A schedules, LOL. The goal at the 1A level around here is to get to the playoffs and compete for a state championship. THAT IS THE GOAL FOR EVERY TEAM! And everyone avoids playing 3A/ 4A powers to get where they need to be based on the playoff system we have.
For the record...no 1A school in this area or in the entire state is interested in playing Martinsburg or TJ as you put it. Does that make you feel better someone involved with a schedule said it? Because it's been said 15 times already when it really never needed to be said at all. It's common sense. The fact anyone would cry about 1A teams not playing 4A powers is a joke. It's 1A ball here, deal with it. What you think about the toughness of anyone's schedule is completely irrelevant. We have a playoff. Sorry a team from around here can't be in a higher playoff class with anywhere from 400 to 800 students. From Alco to FH to Keyser to Northern to Boonsboro...none of those teams or any team in between would follow your self-interest advice to save their life. I can tell you have never coached or put a schedule together without even asking.
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This is all coming from a guy that said just last year a "certain kid" that you mentioned by name, had sec level talent.. How did that work out?? Your ability to assess anything beyond kicking extra points is zero... And playing a better schedule has everything to do with getting exposure.. If kids are getting recruited college recruiters go to those games. A kid that may not have been on the radar may get exposed simply because college recruiters were there to see someone else on the opposing team.. They're not coming to see Silver Oak and MATHS. Coaches come to games to see d-1 talent and assess how they play against other talent. You're just lying to yourself and everyone else drinking your kool-aid if you say otherwise... Stick to cherry picking schedules and beating up on the Silver Oaks of the world.
That's what you do best.
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theprocessworks I can agree with this statement because that's exactly what I'm saying.. Individual ability comes first. You also have to have some body of work... Game film is extremely important but some people would have you believe otherwise..
Basis bigdoofus' own logic, if a 1A FH were to play a 4A school, the scouts would skip the game anyway because they would not be able to judge the skill of the 4A players - given that the 4A players weren't playing against a sufficiently talented school.
College coaches don't go to high school games to discover talent. That's common knowledge for most of the 9th graders. If coaches are at a game, they already have a kid picked out they are there to see no matter who the opponent is. Stick to the recliner.
And if they're there you don't think other kids get noticed? This is coming from experience and personal conversations with a d1 defensive coordinator... Stick to serving up that kool-aid..
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Of course you wouldn't know because scouts don't come to your Silver Oak games.. You got any more cream puffs lined up for next year's schedule? I heard the nursing home is fielding a team... Hahaha
What kids have you helped get to college? I can tell bigsavage never coached or put a schedule together without asking.
Guess that about said it all!
Crickets please.
Guess that about said it all!
Crickets please.
My job isn't to get kids into college.. If it was I damn sure would be doing a better job than what they have now.. But of course that would entail putting the kids before the coaches win percentage...
Bigsavage and helmick are top notch guys with great football pasts and knowledgeable football minds.
Todd Helmick played at Florida State, he knows the college game better than a guy that had a beer with a guy whose ex sister in law was college roommates with a girl that gave Nick Saban a hand jibber back in high school.
Lol and there are day care workers I wouldn't let my kids around, mechanics that you couldn't pay me to let them work on my car and coaches you couldn't pay me to let coach my kids... So what's your point??? Lol
Your Fort Hill supporters are the people who brought those two teams up
You have definitely failed reading. FH supporters continually compare them to other schools in the state. If you are saying FH can't compete because they are 1A, we totally agree with each other. If you want to theoretically combine FH, Alco and MR - OK, but it's not reality. I can say if you combine Wise, Douglass and Suitland we could dust Bishop Gorman. But it's not going to happen so that's why you are a dumbass.
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It's their lame attempt to exaggerate what's being said in order to deflect attention away from what's actually being said...
Just like they lied and said this,
"The fact anyone would cry about 1A teams not playing 4A powers is a joke."
No one on this thread said this or cried about it, but it's their way to frame the argument to draw attention away from such a weak schedule... Its just like them saying we want area teams to play Dematha, Gilman and the Chicago bears when no one is saying that at all.. Complete lies but it fits their narrative... They've taken a page out of Donald Trumps playback which should come as no surprise being that this area is heavily Republican... They probably subscribe to Fox (Faux) News
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I think you missed the point. PG County 1A teams are not very good and they don't get very many kids football scholarships. They are very successful at 2A, 3A and 4A, in my opinion it's because of the talent level in the youth leagues, they run more complicated offenses and because they place a greater emphasis on getting scholarships than schools in WMD.
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I think it probably also has something to do with the privates poaching the publics...
You have said this in past years also. No problem with this philosophy. The endless debates begin when FH die-hards come in here making outlandish comments about how they are better than other schools.
What you are saying is basically true. I've said this before, but the "poaching" takes place at the youth level. DeMatha, Riverdale Baptist, Good Counsel, etc. go after the best players. Other very good players can choose between public schools, with most of them going to the 4A programs and Douglass or Gwynn Park, which although they are 2A, have good programs also. The players going to Fairmont Heights and Surratsville, the only two 1A schools in PG, are good kids, work hard and have a passion for the game, but they don't get great talent in there on a regular basis.
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This is good stuff. I come on here every August 15 and it's like Groundhog Day. I read the same thing I read last August 15, and the August 15 before that, and so on.
Ironically,after the next couple of reclassification cycles there is a good chance PG County will not have any 1A and possibly no 2A schools as well. The combination of declining enrollment and aging buildings is bringing about a restructuring that the closure of Forestville was just the first step in. Friendly, which will likely be a 1A school next year is in the process of having half of its population sent to Gwynn Park starting with this years 9th graders, leaving it with around 650 students by the time these 9th graders graduate in a nicer building that can hold around 1600 kids comfortably. They will likely take on most students from a closed Surrattsville building that long ago outlived its viability eliminating two 1A schools. Fairmont Heights will have a brand new building in the next couple of years that will probably see it add students from another outdated school in Central moving them up in classification. Douglass, which will probably move to 1A and was on the chopping block this past year will eventually be closed by sending its students to Gwynn Park and Wise or Largo. This will probably end in the construction of a new Gwynn Park on the grounds of the current building. The idea here being that with 3 or 4 schools at the end of their lifecycle with low enrollment, it is better to shift boundaries and shutter these buildings and constructing one new building as opposed to three new buildings with low enrollment.
No one has been saying that. The debates begin when you come on here and say that FH die-hards are specifically saying that. And I haven't seen anyone in the last few years specifically saying that FH would be consistently competitive with any of the top big school programs. You even admitted in one of your posts earlier in this thread that "in the past" people had said that. It's like you're arguing with yourself.
The FH die-hards on this forum now...myself, Brian, AllRed, Bleedred, etc..haven't been saying that FH is as good as the top big schools, or should be scheduling anyone of that ilk. The endless debates rage on when you and bigsavage, to some degree, naysay the schedule as being weak. It's an appropriate 1A schedule..with a few bigger decent schools on there, some like size schools on there, and some easy schools on there.
We have already established that FH is not comparable to a top 3A or 4A school (or should be playing that type of schedule) consistently. And thus, shouldn't be scheduling as such. If maybe occasionally FH would be considered good enough to hang with or be competitive with a top tier school from a higher class, it is usually due to several factors of FH being exceptionally good and the other team being in an average year. No one on here thinks the best 4A team is equivalent to 1A FH. No one has said it...if you see them specifically saying that FH could compete annually with the 4A and 3A top 3 schools, point that out. No one of any established level of credibility has said that.
Offer a solution. What perfect schedule is eluding Fort Hill? We've already established that Dunbar made a killing playing a similarly average schedule (based on rankings)..but they owned FH, so there isn't much to argue there.
If you;re saying 3A and 4A schools are too good for FH. And 2A schools aren't offering up dates...who SHOULD be on the schedule?
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