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Monday, January 8, 2007
Jamelle Holloway, Brice Butler, Urban Meyer and Cameron Heyward
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Growing up in Oklahoma, the wishbone era of the mid-80s turned me into a passionate college football fan. Jamelle Holloway pitching to Spencer Tillman on option, or back to Keith Jackson on an end around … Ahhhhh, those were the glory days.
While the triple option may be a lost art, I certainly enjoy the creative offenses that teams like Arkansas and Florida are running these days. Seeing teams line up running backs and receivers at quarterback is fun to watch and definitely a potent weapon.
It will be interesting to see how many high school teams begin implementing some of these tricks into their offenses next year. Sure, not everyone has a Derrick McFadden or a Tim Tebow. But every team knows who their top playmaker is. So why not find ways to get the ball in your best player’s hands as often as possible?
A team like Norcross, which will be breaking in a new quarterback, but does return a standout receiver in Brice Butler, would seem to be a prime candidate to play a little Urban-ball. Dacula’s in the same boat: New quarterback with a talented receiver in Blair Frost.
You can bet Peachtree Ridge’s Cameron Heyward had his eyes glued to Monday’s BCS title tilt. The stud defensive tackle has narrowed his choices down to Georgia, LSU, Florida and Ohio State.
A two-sport star at Peachtree Ridge, Heyward has said that he’d like to play both football and basketball in college. But, make no mistake about it, the big fellow’s meal ticket is the pigskin.
At 6-6, 280, he’s a dominant force in the paint against inferior and undersized competition. His skills don’t translate well to the next level, however.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: David Purdum
Mad About… mandated co-champs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He blogs about statewide preps, whether you like it or not.
It has been a few weeks now since the unprecedented occurred — two championship ties in the same Georgia High School Association season. But the pattern remains the same.
First, there are the fans who watch the clock drain away and sit in anticipation for the overtime that never comes. Followed, of course, by the same befuddlement that accompanies a balk call at a major league game. Fans spend all game clamoring for a balk and then when it happens, they say, “What just happened?”
So it is when co-champions are announced to a smattering of boos.
Then, of course, there’s the ceremonial handwringing. The “we’ve-got-to-do-something-about-this” indignation fades into the “well-if-they-couldn’t-settle-it-in-48-minutes” cop out which then fades into some lawmaker thinking, “Hey, here’s an opportunity to score political points,” which ultimately winds up back at the fans’ “When does spring practice begin again?”
And it’s all forgotten until it happens again. What do we need to get real action on this? Five championship ties in the same season?
Why, in what is supposed to be the most important game of the season, in high school sports’ marquee event, is a tie good enough? Five weeks of playoff buildup, including a trip to the Georgia Dome, peters out into let’s-everybody-go-home-happy rhetoric. If everybody going home happy is the goal, why have the playoffs at all? Spread the happiness a little thinner, why don’t we?
The rule dates to 1948, but its use has been so infrequent as to make it seem like it’s stood the test of time for 59 years.
“Just because it was good enough for grandpa in 1948 doesn’t mean it’s good enough for us in 2007,” state Sen. John Douglas told the Rockdale Citizen.
That’s the point. It wasn’t good enough in 1948. Or 1958, when Avondale and Thomasville tied. Or 1978, when Griffin and Valdosta tied.
And it won’t be good enough in 2008, which is when I’m betting the status quo next gets questioned. When does spring practice begin again?
Let the Madness begin! The line for back-and-forth banter with Maxie starts right here. No pushing.
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Let’s ditch classes and just play, GHSA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the recent holiday break, the 1986 movie classic “Hoosiers” was shown several times. The movie was inspired by Milan High, a small-town Indiana team that won the 1954 state title in a non-classification tournament.
It got me to thinking about what-ifs — what if Georgia had a state championship game that would pit, for instance, Dunwoody against Norcross — title winners from different classifications?
Some states have had great success with teams playing open classification in basketball. Basketball in this state is getting to the point where the smaller schools are capable of competing with the larger ones on a regular basis.
Take the 2003-04 Southwest Atlanta Christian team with Dwight Howard and Javaris Crittenton, which beat several large schools in games from coast-to-coast. The Warriors more than proved their worth by playing a national schedule during Howard’s NBA quest.
The 2004 Class A all-state team would have more than held its own with Howard, Randolph Morris and Dwayne Day against any of the other four classes.
Last season, Dunwoody and Westlake, a pair of AAA powers, would have matched up well with anybody.
This season, Wilkinson County, with its three Division I signees, is certainly capable of making a run in any class. SACA proved that it is still a force by finishing runner-up in the Bojangles High School Shootout in North Carolina against some solid competition.
Is it time for the GHSA to strip the classes away in basketball and let them play?
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