Well, it's about time we started talking football.....
Believe you guys are right about the top 2, think Lexington and Salisbury will tussle for 3rd. Honestly don't know that much about the non Davidson County guys. First 2 games of season for ND are going to be tough!
For ND: (in my humble opinion)...
-You have to replace Joe, but Josh is going to be fine based on what I have seen/heard. Good arm and head, just needs reps.
-TJ is going to have 2000 yards if we commit to the run and go deep in playoffs. That young man ran a 4.45 two times in a row (saw it myself) at the Shrine Bowl combine. Benched 185 either 19-20x. Believe you will see D1 offers coming after summer camp circuit.
-O and D line should be as good if not better this year. Some good guys coming up from JV plus starters like Tate Leonard and Carson to anchor the O line. Blake should have a really good year up front for the D. Him, Zander, Maddox and Evan V should make a lot of tackles. I know Jackson Perrell will be in the secondary, not sure if at corner or safety. D won't be huge, but should be really fast and able to swarm. The D has to improve as a unit for us to be elite this year.
-WRs probably in line with last year as well. Sure Zi will make a lot of catches/yards/TDs in this offense. Looks like he has grown since last year when I was at ND kicking with Christopher last week. Hope and believe Jacob LaFlesh will have a really good year as well. Not sure about who lines up at TE or how deep we are for this area.
-Special teams, Christopher will have to get a new holder and snapper this year, if they can gel and if protection is there, this offense will score an awful lot of points. Could be a year where he gets a ton of extra points and not as many FG attempts. Selfishly, would like to see a ton of both. Punting is stronger than last year, hope he DOES NOT get a chance to showcase that too many times each game.
-The wild card is the new coaching staff and the new conference/classification. Coach Flynn seems to be doing all the right things, is motivated to have a special season. Believe he is an aggressive coach who will want to make a statement. Hated to see Coach Holcomb leave but after seeing him interact, the passion is undeniable and I do believe Coach Flynn is the right man for the job.
All that said, not sure what ND has to offer in a couple of years, but this year should be one to watch closely. Don't know enough about 2A teams to make a crazy statement like "state champs", but do believe the talent exists to play into December...✌ Injuries and unlucky bounces aside, very good team should be on the field at Palmer Field for the ND faithful.