FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[aueagle]

Sonny Sixkiller was #6 for the Washington Huskies in the mid-70's? I remember seeing the Sports Illustrated with him on the cover on ebay. First full-blood Native American QB at the major level. Once again, it must be off-season if we are covering topics such as these. I will try to make the Ohio State spring game (April 23?) and cruise into Delaware to see if I can catch a session there. Any Bishops with recruiting info? kcreds: Did jr make a visit to Marietta? They had THE baseball program for a long while. I wondered if you two had met Glaser at the river school.

[evacuee]

Does anyone remember Craig Anderson?  MLB for OWU from 1993-97?  The guy was a beast.  An All-American.  However, I heard he was average at best in high school.  Some guys are just late bloomers which is why they weren't offered scholarships and Rusty Dalfares could go either way.  He might stay small and pudgy or he might grow up and out.  In truth, he's as good a prospect as anyone right now. 

As far as the other two, I have always been amazed at the idiot things I hear high school seniors say.  I don't suspect that will ever change.  At the same time, I find them quite entertaining. 

As far as the leak in my exhaust, I'm just forwarding what I've read. 

[Li'l Giant]

Sonny Sixkiller was #6 for the Washington Huskies in the mid-70's?

And was "the Indian" in The Longest Yard.

[wooscot]

I remember Craig Andersen.  My freshman year, when he was a senior, he without question gave me the second hardest hit I received all year.  Ultimately, his play didn't matter as we rolled OWU 35-0.   

[evacuee]

What did you think of Barnes?  Wooster was in about as bad of shape as any non-Oberlin program could be when he got that job.  I was in disbelief at how quickly he turned that program around.  An addtional note- he didn't run the wing-t at Wooster after all those championship years as a player at Augustana and all those years under coach H. 

I heard they're winging it at Augustana again.

[kcreds]

aueagle:  Let me preface this by saying this response is to a question and it will also allow a little bit of an insight on just one of many players involved with DIII sports. If you are sick of reading about JR. then do not read on. Jr. did visit Marietta but mostly spoke with Coach Jennison who was the defensive coordinator. Coach Jennison was a super nice guy who came to Jr.'s games, called often, and looked like he was about 18 years old. He had no problem with Jr. playing baseball and stated he would put in a good word for him but they appeared to be solid at the catcher position. Jr. really had a hard time telling him that he chose OWU. I think Jr. is finding out that being enticed to be able to play both sports at different schools was just to get him to their school. Ultimately, those schools, including OWU were not really interested in him playing baseball. I believe he now knows that he should focus all of his attention on football and give up the baseball dream, just speculating. This year has been a great learning experience for him at OWU. He appears to love the academic part and he also has learned a valuable lesson about football. He thought just walking on the field, so to speak, was going to solidify a starting role. He has since been very humbled and realizes that he is going to have to work very hard in practice to earn the right to play. He informs me that he is going to embrace the challenge and see what happens. I believe my son has matured academically and athletically this year. Coaches Hollway and Delaney played a big part in both issues and I appreciate their efforts. Go Bishops!

[firstdown]

TU2698:

I was in disbelief over the magazine article that you referred to.  Whoever writes that clearly has a view that D-3 football must be an extension of high school football.  The guard from Kentucky that was referred to might possess the greatest set of skills at that position, but, particularly among the top tier of D-3 schools, the average defensive back is around his size, with linebackers and d-linemen being bigger.  Given his educational goals, there is certainly a place for him in D-3, but he better be working hard in the weight room to bulk up if he wants to be successful, or, giving away that much weight, he will get tossed around like a rag doll.

As to the young man who was home schooled, if he wants to play in college, he ceratinly should try.  However, many of the kids he will play with and against, will have played organized football in high school, middle school, and football programs for elementary aged kids down to flag football in the 2nd grade.  They will know the routine for two a days and for conditioning, have been to several summer skill camps, know the langauge (red 34 streak gun etc is a lot different that go long and I'll throw you the ball.)  Finally, we gets his first hit by a wiley 230 lb linebacker hitting him at full tilt, it won't be anything like getting tackled by little Johnny from down the street.

Football in college is like academics, a whole different thing. For the magazine to assume that D-3 is only high school football part two, certainly displays a lack of understanding.

[wally_wabash]

There is no magazine article.  Actually I'm pretty sure that there is no magazine (post a link to a website if I'm wrong).  There is no 5-11, 210 guard.  There is no home schooled kid going off to play football at OWU.  As the guy at work from the south might say, I think TU's tellin' whoppers.

[frank uible]

My first, last and intermediate reactions were "this is a joke".

[firstdown]

Wally and Frank - I agree.  As I said earlier, TU must be getting some exhaust into his car and breathing it , or just stirring up the pot.  It bothered me that whether or not this was  a figment of his imagination, whatever its source, it represents at best a misunderstanding of D-3 football, and a put down at worst.

[evacuee]

I knew y'all were too smart.   However, it was fun watching everyone get fired up.    My bit was satire.  However, I was satirizing high school seniors perceptions, not national media's perceptions.  National media's take is that the market's not big enough so they're not going to touch it.  Every one of those guys are patterned after people I've either met or read about.

When I was a freshman at OWU, there really was a kid who had no experience except for street ball and his high school didn't have sports.  That is true.

When I was a junior at Trinity(TX), a home schooled kid showed up at our last practice before school started and told Coach Mohr he wanted to play, and that he could beat our fastest guy in a race.  Coach put him up against a tight end and home school, as he came to be known, lost.  Eventually, he got on the team before he graduated.

As for the one with NFL dreams, there was a bit last spring on this site about a lineman who said he thought he'd have a shot at the NFL if he went to a particular school.  Which one I can't remember. 

I cannot tell you how many kids I've met that want to go to one school where they would not play football, but if they didn't get in, they might go to their second choice, which is a d3 school and play.  It's these kids that hurt programs because they aren't serious when they come in and they more often than not end up quitting.  Some programs seem to get more of those than they do people who want to play, and those programs are stuck below .500 with less than 10 seniors every year, like the ones I mentioned- Kenyon, W&L, Sewanee.  Great schools. 

But what really motivated me to write that is that we're talking about guys that were totally bypassed for whatever reason.  There's no such thing as a "highly touted d3 prospect."  I acknowledge that there are exceptions like Kcreds jr who chose OWU over scholarship offers, but as unpredictable as recruits are at the scholarship level, they are even more so in d3.  No one name means any more than another when they are freshmen.  If you want to follow recruiting, go the first practice of the year.

But if the guys that decide to play d3 are truly on anyone's radar other than the coaches, I guess I'm just ignorant. 

[aueagle]

TU2698: Craig Anderson was a big hitter for the Bishops. Still has his name in the record books for tackles/assists. Not really a big guy, from what I remember. Regarding the "Magazine" in question; The Bishops STILL have "No Comment."
kcreds:
My opinion only. jr SHOULD play both. We had this talk on this site just a couple of months ago. Multi-sport athletes at Wabash & other schools.  GO BISHOPS

[gobash83]

While it is admittedly rare, I had a high school classmate who did not play on our HS football team who ended up having a nice football career (a 2 year starter as a D lineman) at a D-III school in the Illini-Badger Conference.  While 25+ years (yikes, I can't believe its been than long) may make a difference, I still believe that a student who really wants it can find a way to make a team

[frank uible]

Talking about athletes coming out of the woodwork. The legend goes something like this - in the 1920s a gym teacher at Cleveland (OH) Fairmont Junior High School located on the west side of East 107th Street between Chester Avenue and Euclid Avenue (closed in the 1940s, torn down in the 1950s and replaced with a police station which, I believe, stands today) laid out a 100 yard course on the stone slab side walk in front of the school for the purpose of running and timing members of one of his junior high school gym classes. In the course of that running and timing one of his students surprisingly caught his attention. That junior high school student had run the course within a few tenths of a second of the then 100 yard world record. The gym teacher remeasured the course to make sure that it was of legitimate length, which it was, and reran and retimed the student. The result was approximately the same. That student was Jesse Owens.

[kcreds]

frank uible: Nice post, if I had karma to give I would give you one.

aueagle: I appreciate your opinion and interest in jr. I did not intend the first two sentences of my last post be directed to you. It was intended for others that may read it. I looked at it again and thought you may take it wrong. Go Bishops!