[Football1]

Ok, you guys are not hearing what I am saying. I am not comparing the spread to the power game. I am not saying we all need to go to the Tony Franklin school of football. I am saying that coaches have to do what their players are capable of doing. And by the way, watch Stanford or the 49er's. Andrew Luck is a product of using run formations to exploit the the defense in the passing game. Everyone is caught up in spreading to run, how about tightening up to throw. Like I said, all offenses work. But not all coaches know how to make them work. What your asking for as it has become more clear is for coaches to become better play callers. Again, when your players are better anyone can be a good play caller. I am a big fan of running the football, and nothing is more beautiful than a well executed play action pass that catches the defense off guard. I love the spread option, the flex bone, and Anything the New England Patriots do on offense. And the Highlands comments about their offense, you said it not me, when you have backs that can dominate, or a receiver that can dominate, that would be the definition of having the players. How many mountain teams can match the players Highlands has? Non. You all think the style of football will dictate championships, no. How good your players are will dictate that. Then it is how good your coaches perform (play calling).

So football1, I will ask you. You said we don't have the people to do this or that anyore in the mountains. Well does mountain teams have the speed to compete with the Highlands and Trinity's of Kentucky? If not what do mountain teams do? We can't run it, we're not fast enough to spread, what do we do? If you can tell everyone on this message board what you do to win state championships with inferior talent then NKY and Louisville teams look out. Sorry, not trying to be a smart butt, I just want your opinion, and everybody's opinion on what to do with inferior talent.

I appreciate your perspective. But let me be clear - in no way do I feel we have a lack of exceptional athletes in the mountains. My point is we are not so far superior to our competition that we can line up in the I and run over top of people to win. Teams today have highly sophisticated scouting software (HUDL, Apex, and many others) that peg coaches tendencies to formations and game situation. Any Defensive Coordinator worth his salt can plug holes even when we are bigger and stronger in many positions.

The jimmy's and joe's vs X and O's argument will long survive this discussion but consider this analogy. If two platoons of Rangers with the same training had a battle - the one with better strategy would win every time. Predictable, head on attacks would bring certain death to the advance met be L shaped ambushes and flanking attacks. That is what great leaders do - they position their team to win by employing strategy that protects weaknesses and advances strength.

I don't profess to have the key to the riddle of winning State Championships. But my strong belief is that many teams in our area would benefit from an offensive approach that is less predictable. Coach Russell worked some magic this year for Knox to do just that and I hope he continues that direction in coming years. The days of run on 1st, run on 2nd, pass on 3rd, and punt on 4th have to find their way into the history books for us to give our athletes in the mountains (who are every bit as good as NKY) a chance to win titles.