Putting up my thoughts on where the teams stand for the upcoming season. Obviously it is July and quite a few days from the beginning of practice.
1)SMCC, still the defending league champs despite massive graduation losses.
2)GI, return the two best offensive threats in the league.
3)Airport, second year for coach Barber should be better.
4)Riverview, solid defensive coach and super fast running back.
5)Milan, new coach will take time to learn how to run the program.
6)Huron, the Chiefs have depth.
7)FR, Rams should be better but will be small again.
8)Jefferson, lost a lot to graduation.
Any thoughts?
I'm still laughing about the Redmond and Jodeci stuff. Airport was young and very small on the line. Young QB and a 130 pound wide out. And Redmond does what with this? Airport never had a chance with Franklin. Each lineman gave up 50 pounds to the guy across from him. And remember the Chelsea playoff game a few years ago??
Please stop these silly comparisons.
eh, can't see airport beating Franklin last year. I was at the game and the jets got pushed around all night. They were fortunate the score was as close as it was. If I remember they had kick off return for a td in the 4th to make the game look closer than it was.
Watch out for Huron to pass the ball good. 2 years ago Zack Crespi and Dan Hernandez hooked up for about a thousand yards and 15 tds.
I think they would have beat Franklin and Riverview. There is no way a Redmond coached team would have given up a school record 337 points in a season.
Please don't get me wrong, Barber will be a good coach. Redmond just had the program rolling where they would reload. Milan was the same way. Those programs will take a small step backward much like SMCC did when Giarmo took over.
So Chris, what do you think Airport's record woulda been with Redmond? They would've still lost to Bedford, Franklin, and CC. I doubt they beat Riverview considering the way they got pushed around in the trenches. You gotta remember that was the youngest Airport team in a long time.
Airport takes the league this year. Barber starts to put his stamp on the program.
Not sure what you mean by doesn't understand.
That is exactly what I am talking about. SMCC will win the league because of their program, coaching and discipline. Most years I would say that is true of Airport and Milan but you can't say that anymore. Airport lost Redmond a year back. We saw what happened (5-5) Redmond wouldn't have gone 5-5. I think Milan will go through the same thing. They will miss Robb this season.
Jefferson used to fall in the same program category but haven't really backed it up over the last few seasons or so.
I feel really comfortable picking SMCC to win the league at this point based solely on the program and tradition. Right now, no other school has that.
I think what "Huronleaguefootball" doesn't understand is most teams are better than others every year and they can plug guys in and not miss too much of a beat, because their systems are just better, and the kids are more discaplined!
I am pretty sure SMCC won't be as good as last year but their coaching is by far the best in the league. If you take the same kids and put them on SMCC's team…and then you take them and Put them on Jeffersons team….SMCC would win easily because their offense is so much more explosive. Jeffersons Run up the middle twice then run the QB around the end offense is outdated by 15-20 years. But SMCC runs a lot of misdirection plays and a lot of trap plays and keeps defenses Honest
With that being said I am pretty sure teams like Airport can just plug guys in and beat GI just because their system and coaching is much much better, even if GI does have more talent…they don't know how to use it.
O.K. 9:59 poster…. Your missing some real surprises…. Who are they?
or what teams? . All the parents that I talk to have said their team is working hard in the weight room etc…. so it's not unique to the team that you support….
I guess coaches just open up the weightroom for anyone who is interested in coming in and watching.
We all realize this is just speculation but one thing that remains is that some programs are better than others every year.
I read these entries and its painfully obvious that you folks don't even get out in the sun and watch whats going on or who is making an early impact to their team. Who is talking to kids, or following who is in the weight room. Who gained 40 pounds or has the most improved hands. Please get out and watch before you make predictions. Your missing some real surprises….
Alright given it some thought…may still change. 1.CC.-just because 2.milan-should have plenty of size and speed. 3.GI-I'll take your word that kish is the real deal. 4. Airport- only if jones stays healthy. 5.Flat Rock-really wanted to pick em at 3. 6.Huron-Is there any magic remaining. 7.Jefferson-always physical but lacking talent. 8.Riverview-empty empty empty. ………….rams
Milan will struggle to win a game
Why are you guys even talking about Mays. Yes – he was a GREAT player and a big threat every time he touched the ball but the fact is – HE HAS GRADUATED – END OF IT!
How about some new-comer chat…..
what do you guys think of milan this year?? any players to look out for?? and what D1 schools are looking at Kish?
I think Kish has a great shot to play Division I. Most likely as LB I would guess.
Look for him to end up D II at Grand Valley State or something like that.
Not quite big enough or fast enough to play with the Big Big boys.
Awfully testie in the blogosphere, even before pads are on.
As to Mr. Mays….I agree he was a great back that was a TRUE TD threat every time he touched it. (See, I can compliment Airport!!)
Mr. Kish has grown a little bigger and alot faster (evidence his track performance this year vs last) which is typically rare for step level increase in speed at his age (senior). D1 is possible but not probable unless he turns in a HLPOTY, ALL-league 1st team, All-Downriver, All-Area, All-state 1st team performance…while playing Defense too.
D1 recruiters will look for DOMINENT PERFORMANCES and versatility amoungst his piers in this size league/schools long before they they take a peek or burn a ride.
SITOFN
chris is right.
Nice try. He played very limited time on defense.
He was almost exclusively an offensive player his whole career.
Mays was playing defense in those 3games too…
To the moron that ripped on Mays. You said Airport needed his leader ship against Bedford, Airport and in the playoffs.
You do realize that Airport gave up 140 points in those 3 games right?
Mays was the Huron League OPOY and had arguably the best season an offensive player has ever had at Airport. (Anderson 2000)
Please wake up and listen to the crap you are writing.
Mays was a great player at Airport!
July 19th. 2pm
Both of those kids are more humble than any others in the league. Shut your mouth and dont attack individual players. You think they honestly care what some 49 year old jefferson dad says? no. go watch your team fail
– July, 19th 2pm
Shut up. Talk about your players then. We talk about ours. Were just comparing not saying there division 1 recruits.
well i am an airport fan and I would just like to let you know I think both kish and blosser are excellent backs. so its not the boys themselves saying that? that would make no sense at all.
Why would I be hurt? I just dont understand why you would bring up Mays and put him down when he's already done playing? What kind of person does that make you? Im just a fan of the league, no team in particular.
-K
Personally I'm a little more fond of the Examiner. Easier to use for me.
I suppose the reason I continued both last season was so I could satisfy all my FANS:).
I'm leaning toward the Examiner exclusively. Just because the ease of use. I will change the way I present it. I will most likely just leave the Examiner link up on the blog all season and only post on the Examiner.
wow – july 19th @2pm,
Talk about your hurt feelings – you must be the one hurt here. Go ahead – throw your team in here as well – that's what makes this blog interesting- you must be from Jefferson, Milan or Riverview because we know you can't be from CC, GI, Airport or FR.
Why bring up Mays? He has already graduated there must be some hurt feelings there huh? But the only reason Blosser and Kish (theyre good dont get me wrong) are being brought up is the blog has been taken over by FR and GI players/fans. Used to be CC but from the last two years it almost seems like Blosser himself…always compare him, how does he look, etc. And no FR will not be good this year
I can see FR over milan. Flat Rock was shut out this past year. But it was a very good game until late in the 4th.
Fr beats Milan!
-bn
Not a Mays hater but I get a kick out of all the folks saying Mays was the savior of last years Airport season. When Airport really needed his leadership (Bedford, CC, playoffs) it was non existant. Great player – no clutch.
Samuels ran a 4.6 at the michigan football camp with lasers, which would be around a 4.4 with a stopwatch. Salser is still at Riverview he did not graduate. Riverview will be a lot smaller this year but will be A LOT faster. Could be interesting, if the offense was as good as the defense they would be league champs.
Once again chris I hope the O line at GI is as good as last years or it WILL be a long year there, that's where it all begins…..airport has justin jones (if he plays) to replace mayes the kid has athleticism….CC is CC, they will be the league champs, everyone else is playing for 2nd as much as I hate to say that….milan is always tough…..riverview and jefferson no one really comes to mind (maybe jennings from jeff…..which brings me to my rams, yea we have everyone back from a team that would of played jv at most schools and probaly would have run the table with the exception of CC (again I hate saying that) so I think we win against ida, erie, and riverview ……lose to CC and milan, with toss ups against jefferson, huron, airport(outside of jones and potcova, not impressed) and GI. Ill have better predictions in a couple weeks……..rams
Use the blog not the examiner
Everyone is sleeping on Riverview. Not wise.
-bn
Chris…I like this BLOG vs examiner, my $0.02
SITOFN
Chris – you do a great job but I wasn't a fan of the examiner type of format. Much rather prefer this way.
I'm not sure at this point.
What do you think?
Hey chris this season are you going to revert back to a mainly huron league blog type postings of game summaries that you did in 09, or are you going to continue to use the examiner-ish type approach?
I can see flat rock over
Riverview
Huron
Ida
Erie
Possibly Jefferson
Flat Rcok can only get better but where is this surprise coming from.
Flat Rock was 0-9, which was a school worst. They gave up a school record 340 points for the season. They were also shut out a school record 4 times.
The good news is most everybody is back. The bad new is most everybody is back.
Give us a number on FR. How many wins and over who?
Go figure – with all the people saying that FR and GI are awful teams they have the two players that are causing all this chatter.
My feelings is that FR WILL suprise all this year – RIVERVIEW will also show improvement. The rest of the teams show no improvement at all!
I do know for a fact blosser is close to 200 lbs
him and kish are both a load to bring down. both run hard. good atheletes
max preps shows kish running a 4.82
With the way he gets out of the blocks in track it has to be 4.6ish or better.
Any idea what the Samuels kid from Riverview runs the 40 in?
From what I can tell BN is an SMCC fan and a CC grad.
That time seems more reasonable for Kish. Everyone of my low eleven 100 meter guys I have had have been sub 4.7.
Kish was listed at 6-2 195lb last season. He looked bigger than that during track.
espn recruiting shows kish running a 4.91
Sent the post too early… Also I could not find anything on the net with Blossers times so not sure where his times came from? Kish's on line stats show him 6'2 195lbs . I will start to check others to see what Airport or Riverview may be hiding with their backs…
Nope Bloody Nutter and SITOFN are not the only ones out there that read the blog. From what I can tell BN is a Airport fan and SITORN is from GI….
Kish has been timed at….
40 – 4.62
Pro Shuttle – 4.25
We can't have that Bloody Nutter. You and SITOFN are they only people who read this sad blog:)
We will know in week 1 what GI has. They did a good thing by scheduling a tough opponent in week 1, unlike the last few years. Onsted does come to the island(advantage GI). I see GI finishing anywhere from 4-5 to 6-3. For sure losses in my eyes are @SMCC, @ Airport and @ Riverview, with 2 toss ups in the bookend matches. Week 1 will tell the story of the Red Devils… I hope they win! Huron vs LCAA.. GO HURON!
-BN
SIT,
At every level this class has performed extremely well(Airport). There really is no weakness. They can throw and run and play D. Coach Barber will have a year under his belt at the head spot so that can only help. If Airport finishes at 5-5 or worse(like they did last year)… I will never post on this site again. Which will prolly make a few folks happy 🙂
-BN
Just a hunch here but I have to believe that Kish runs faster than 4.9. He runs low elevens in the 100 meters and that usually equates to under 4.7.
I agree with the masters comments that defense wins championships and he did not pick GI 1st. The Dundee game will NOT be a gimmie and should NOT be taken for granted!
bn – GI will have the best and deepest backfield by far in the league. Kish (unanimous pick), Nellenbach (JV stud last year), and possibly McCarty if they need him (he'll be a JV stud this year). Groff can be a bull too if needed, but with Kish's size, speed, hands and tenacity…he is a TRUE all purpose back. Others are also in the mix for Z with SPEED and of course Mr White.
So…tell me again how/who Airport has to replace Mays and have the best depth in the HL, I don't see it??
SITOFN
I agree.
Kish: 6'1 195
4.9 40
Blosser: 5'10 200
4.75 40
Let's see, I would say that Kish is bigger, stronger and faster.
I would say Blosser is tougher and runs harder.
Chris, compare Kish and Blosser. I want to see your take on this
CHris, I believe another year under stergales(sp) will be the difference. He is maybe the best coach in the league. AIrport is better at almost every position. Yes they lost jodeci but he is just one player. Dundee will be very good this year. THey have a great group of seniors I do believe.
-bn
Here's a few reasons Airport will be better than last year: Backfield depth yes Mays won't be replaced, although I can say that no team in the league will have more depth in the backfield than Airport. Potcova is the best qb in the league outside of White, and Airport's defense will be much better than last year.
SITOFN, your missing my main point, the league will be down from where it was last year. I just don't see the high powered offenses in the league except for SMCC and GI.
BN wants to argue, with no support mind you, that Airport and Riverview will be better.
Riverview loses three All League players on defense in unanimous choice Brad Bosman, Brock Salser and Nick Beamish. Beamish is a Central Michigan recruit and was 1st team all league on offense. Bosman and Ali Saad were both very good offensive players who received accolades as well.
Airport loses their 3 best players in Jodeci Mays, Anthony Kitts and Jake Deweese. I personally think Mays is irreplaceable. He had the ability to score every time he touched the ball (just ask Huron).
Defense will always win championships while offense will fill the seats. Notice one thing very important that I wrote, GI 2nd place. That's not a championship.
I appreciate the dialogue, especially in mid July. My preseason picks will come out after I see most everybody scrimmage.
P.S. There is no way that Dundee will beat GI. Heck, Onsted will have their hands full in week 1.
Chris…you've got a case of "Offense wins games" disease.
Did you attend some kind of "how to avoid Defensive stratgy, knowlege and involvment and score" seminar??
"Defensively, the Devils probably can't get any worse" is a flimsy premise at BEST, especially for a 2nd place pick….you even left yourself an out with "PROBABLY".
Kish will be a "HORSE" for sure on O (White too). Should be a "FORCE" on D too….right???? Coaching makes these calls, not players.
Time for the Blog Master to call for GI D improvement too…we all know GI can score.
SITOFN
Cant see GI going to SMCC and Airport and getting wins.
The offense being their best defense is a nice thing to say but you still have to stop people when it counts. In other words, you cant play offense when the other team has the ball.
I have them going 4-3 in the league and 4-5 overall. Word is both Onsted and Dundee will be strong this year.
I disagree on Riverview and Airport being worse than last season but I do agree on all the others.
-bn
I think one of the questions we have to ask is, How good will the league be there year?
Which teams will be better than last year? Which teams not so much?
Here is my rationale on GI finishing 2nd.
In my opinion, Milan, Jefferson, Huron, Riverview, SMCC and Airport will be worse than last season.
Milan has a 1st year coach, Jefferson lost some great athletes, Huron had loads of seniors on their best team ever, Riverview lost some excellent all league players, for the first time in a while SMCC has some question marks and Airport lost by far their best player who was the OPOY.
Now FR will be better because they have most everybody back from an 0-9 team.
GI will have the two biggest offensive threats in the league in All League White and their RB Kish has a lot of size and speed which has drawn interest from several DI school. Defensively, the Devils probably can't get any worse than last season.
I would say a 2nd place finish here in mid July is a good spot for GI.
Can't believe GI picked 2nd…2 years ago (jv of course) FR pitched a shutout and kish was shut down by 10 freshmen 1 soph (rams starting D) late into the fourth qtr. One has to wonder if the O line of last year with monsters like korody is really what made the offense click…smaller O line with no D COULD have the makings for a long year in for kish and white……….rams
GI will have to come up with a defensive plan better than last years. We really hope that they have new coaches that teach the kids a proper defensive scheme. The coaches last year did not have the ability to make corrections to what is happening on the field. I will go back to my post from last year when I heard the GI staff up in the box calling down to the coaches on the sideline. Instead of them giving corrections to what they were seeing from above it sounded like they were giving a play by play commentary of the action of what just happened. That was the caliber of our defensive staff. Last year the planning by the defensive staff was dismal to say the least and hopefully this year coach B will see the light and make some changes.
Strong O and no D has done wonders for Michigan over the past couple years too……
The Airport game on the island last year was a good example of what your talking about. Airport played even up offensively but their defense was better despite the total lack of size. Airports QB ran when he wanted and Mays went untouched. White was great that night too but no D. How is it going to improve in one year?
All this GI talk about Offensive prowess is GROSSE (ile).
Chris, to your best D is O comment…. Lest you forget that GI couldn't win scoring 56 against Jeff last year. Some said it was an entertaining game, most (like me) needed a package of rollaids.
It's all about the D coach B….all the rest of the chatter is meaningless dribble for stat watchers.
When Chris starts making projections that talk about GI having the hardest hitting, meanest, stingiest, most disciplined defense in the league….then GI will have something the rest of the league will SERIOUSLY respect & talk about.
Thanks to all BLOGGER(s) who get it about the GI D….it's the wind of change urgently needed on the Island.
SITOFN
also…. SMCC/jefferson is an even 14-14 since 1982. Making it the BEST rivalry in the Huron league. It cant be any more even!
-BN
From 1968(when jefferson joined the league) to 1979, Jefferson was the worst team in the league. In 1983 they beat Monroe CC for the first time ending a 15 year drought. Since then they have had only 6 losing seasons, 4 of them were 4-5.
-BN
From 1968(the year they joined the league)to 1979, Jefferson had the worst record in the Huron league. In 1983 they beat Monroe CC, since then they have only had 6 losing seasons. 4 of them were 4-5.
I still dont see huron all too that impressive.
Yes, they have.
Has Jefferson ever finished last in the league?
Just thinking best defense will be a solid grind it out offense.
Kish may be the best player in the league.
Can't see gi finishing 2nd. Jefferson last???? That won't be popular!
-bn
What about GI's defense? They wont be a contender without playing defense.