It is not personal to me, other than the fact that I will stand up for any kid from the West. I just do not understand why you chose to blame one kid, a kicker. I watched the game with no bias toward any kid. I also looked at the combine numbers from across the state. My main beef with some of the comments made is that they are made with very little specific information to back them up. That is why I chose to research the numbers and to go back and watch the game again to be sure that I knew what I was talking about. Part of my motivation for doing so is something I think we can all agree upon, and that is NC improving their chances of actually winning the game. Sadly, after what research I have done, I conclude that I do not know the answer. It would appear that some of the top players do not go to the combines. Like the combines or not, they are a big part of the process, probably the one that counts the most. Do some players get picked because of who they played for, sure. Do some coaches get picked because of who they know, probably so. I have read some of the criteria they use for picking the coaches, and I cannot disagree with the rationale. I do know that there are players out there who deserve to be on the team, yet those players do not play in a big city league. They do not get the mass media attention, because they are from Small Town High in a rural county in the middle of nowhere where there is very little or no media coverage. As stated earlier, I was very impressed with the LB from a school that was 0-22 over the past two seasons, a school that I don't remember ever hearing much about. I suppose the combine was this kid's chance to show his worth. I was under impressed with some other players from big-name schools and a couple of kids who supposedly have committed to D1 colleges. Did NC have the absolute best players at every single position, I doubt it. But I also doubt that I or any poster on this board has the facts necessary to determine exactly why that happened, and what could be done to make it more perfect. I saw a lot of football games live this year, and I saw some very good players. I do not know why some of them were not chosen. I saw a few that were dominant in their respective leagues. Would they have been as good against SC's best, again I do not know. I definitely would liked to have seen how the Gardner kid from Owen would have fared, but at what position. The backs this year played good in my opinion. Gardner could easily have been a slot receiver, I suppose. I know he could carry the mail with the best of them once he got going. I apologize if my comments seemed personal, I just felt like the kid being singled out deserved someone to offer an unbiased defense of his performance. I simply think anyone who watched the tape objectively would have to conclude that the foot to the ball was not the issue. No. 3 from SC was the issue. He came through the line like he was shot out of a cannon. Whatever comes out of this, I definitely will be watching on Saturdays in the next couple of years to see what that kid does. He was a man amongst men. Finally, I have seen that a far west coach or two is on the short list for future coaching considerations. I would love to see them coach this game and see some smash mouth mountain football brought to our neighbors to the south.
Merry Christmass All!
