Give a Top 10 and 3 HR

[DinwiddieProud]

You hit on a point that goaded me when the "private school membership in the VHSL" argument raged a few years ago.

Public school books and records are just that, public! Slip on over to LCA and ask to see their records.

I respect that. Private schools and their niche are a choice that is and should be available. And being private, they should be able to keep their business private.

Here is the contradiction. LCA wanted it both ways. They want to be a private school, but they wanted the benefits and opportunities that public school athletics offer. These same public schools that are transparent, "by law".

Nobody, and I mean nobody will ever be able challenge LCA about their student eligibility records and win. Yeah, I know, they have to submit the same student athlete forms to the VHSL as public schools. Challenge a public school about the validity and eligibility of a student athlete, and you can force irrefutable proof. What do you think would happen at LCA? They would produce whatever document you need to see to prove their argument, and that's the end of it.

I just hate it that LCA, and any other private school that eventually joins the VHSL, can not truthfully be held to the same standards as public schools. They are protected by the same legal system that they used to force their admission into the VHSL.

(Incidently, I do not fault the VHSL for settling the case. There was NO choice. LCA could have, and would have destroyed the VHSL economically.) (And that fact goads me even more.)

 

[wikki]

You hit on a point that goaded me when the "private school membership in the VHSL" argument raged a few years ago.

Public school books and records are just that, public! Slip on over to LCA and ask to see their records.

I respect that. Private schools and their niche are a choice that is and should be available. And being private, they should be able to keep their business private.

Here is the contradiction. LCA wanted it both ways. They want to be a private school, but they wanted the benefits and opportunities that public school athletics offer. These same public schools that are transparent, "by law".

Nobody, and I mean nobody will ever be able challenge LCA about their student eligibility records and win. Yeah, I know, they have to submit the same student athlete forms to the VHSL as public schools. Challenge a public school about the validity and eligibility of a student athlete, and you can force irrefutable proof. What do you think would happen at LCA? They would produce whatever document you need to see to prove their argument, and that's the end of it.

I just hate it that LCA, and any other private school that eventually joins the VHSL, can not truthfully be held to the same standards as public schools. They are protected by the same legal system that they used to force their admission into the VHSL.

(Incidently, I do not fault the VHSL for settling the case. There was NO choice. LCA could have, and would have destroyed the VHSL economically.) (And that fact goads me even more.)

Don't like them and never will

 

[MntnrMark]

Oh okay! I had no Idea how the whole recruiting thing went. I thought that scouts came to games and watched players. I assumed that the watched playoff games live and that since Blacksburg went deep into the playoffs, they had more opportunities to be seen. My bad!

Coaches watch games when they can, which is usually on a team's bye week and jetting a few assistants to high school stadiums is easier. However, the majority of college recruiting comes from watching tape, talking to coaches and, increasingly, getting kids to attend a school's summer camps where the coaches can evaluate them under conditions the coaches can control. College coaches just can't take every Friday night during HS season and get to all of the places they're recruiting kids - there isn't enough of them to visit all the places they're recruiting kids, although the priority kids get coaches in the stands on Fridays.

If I'm not mistaken the NCAA limits the number of assistants that can be on the road recruiting at any one time during the season (for some reason a limit of 8 pops into my head.)

 

[one man]

Give me your top 10 and your 3 honorable mentions. Football season just around the corner!

1. Salem
2. Dinwiddie
3. Lake Taylor
4. Monacan
5. Lafayette
6. Blacksburg
7. Woodgrove
8. Eastern View
9. Millbrook
10. Louisa

HM - PH-Ashland, EC Glass, Sherando, Kings Fork

Notes: Salem, Dinwiddie and LT are the top 3 until someone else adds the ultimate hardware or they lose more than 1 regular season game. Monacan has a great QB/RB combo returning and will be battle tested. Lafayette & Woodgrove have "programs" and will reload to be competitive with the elite, unsure if they can take the ultimate step into the title game. Blacksburg is going to be fine in 4A, not going to be easy to escape our region, as they'll have to go through Salem like the rest of us, but they've got a lot returning and plenty of momentum. Eastern View is much like Lafayette and Woodgrove with a great program, they'll reload and they've got 1 of my 2 favorite players to watch, D'Ago Hunter, at 5'5 he's a born football player. Millbrook got the WV POY to go along with Smith. Elite players can take you far. With that schedule, we won't know how good they are until they play Sherando. Louisa returns Smith, Whalen, Bell, Thurston who should all be FBS/FCS signees come Feb. Question for them is will they have enough support for those guys, mainly defensively.

For the HM, I chose 1 from each region. PH-Ashland drops from 5A and they've got an FBS DB/WR on top of a tough schedule. EC Glass has my other favorite player to watch, Thomas Patterson. They return 19 starters from a 6-4 team that beat JF and GW, so I give them the HM nod from Region D over the Cavs and Eagles. Sherando was really young last year as well, playing Martinsburg and Millbrook will have them primed to make a run in Region C. Kings Fork is a 757 school that regularly produces D1 talent and they play in the SE District with 6A Smith, Grassfield, Western Branch and 5A Indian River so they'll be battle tested as well.