FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Raider 68]

formerd3db,

Great posts again, good insight. This could be a real good opportunity for your alma mater this Saturday, Hope they get the W! +K 

[Flying Dutch Fan]

As a fan who follows basketball more than football, I have seen the same thing numerous times.  Kids get "overlooked"  sometimes.  But I also think part of this can be due to their high school coach and team too. 

No slam meant against high school coaches - there are plenty of them that do an outstanding job of coaching and building better young men and young women.  My hat off to them!!

There are kids however, who simply don't have a good fit with their coach - it just doesn't click.  That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the coach or the kid necessarily, although there are some high school coaches who are in over their heads.  High school kids, for the most part, get whatever coach they get through no choice of their own.  So if the "fit" isn't good, the kids performance is going to be affected.

Fast forward to college, and many/most of these kids were recruited by the coach - so they have some idea of what he is like, his coaching style, etc.  I've talked to many a kid whose college decision was partially or even entirely based on the coach they would get to play for.  Now this kid (who in high school was un-noticed) flourishes and appears to have been "overlooked".

[D306]

Good thread of conversation today.

Thunderhead first of all +1 for you ( you need the help  ) on the Karma great insight and comments about coaching.

As a coach for 4 decades plus, I can say one thing for sure.
All kids and stories are different.
Our job as a coach is to teach these young men to be Great Young Men!
Along the way they will learn football in the proper technique. breaking down to make a tackle, position, strength, toughness, heart, effort, commitment, TEAMWORK etc....

There is no excuse for dis-respecting a coach or any member of the staff, coaching or otherwise.
No excuse, they were and are off the team, possibly and I mean possibly we would let them try to "earn" their way back. Broke a lot of young mans "attitude" that is your job, football is short your reputation and your word are what you will be in life. Learn it now kid before your "tude" costs you a job, a friend, a wife

In regards to "diamonds in the rough" or players being overlooked unfortunatley it happens every year. I would say the reasons for this varies: coaching, recruiting, evaluaction, the young man just finally has reached the point were he mentally or physically can now perform at the required level to be noticed. The step from Middle School to HS, the step from HS to College Ball require a lot for these young men. Emotionally, Physically, some grow in mind and maturity, some grow physically so much, it changes the equation.

Parents as well pointed out in Uncle Rico's , Thunders, and D3DB comments highlight playing a critical positive or negative roll in these young mans life.
I know many a young man whose sole reason for playing FB was their family dynamics and pressure. Tough spot for the young men, putting your heart time and health on the line is not easy when your heart is not truley in it.
Of course I have been part of the most heart warming events of a young man who grows and pushes himself to be all he can, the parents being integral to the young mans heart and effort.

Football is a great lesson for not only for these young men we have the honor to coach, but those of us whom truley love the sport and the journey every season is.

Have a great weekend guys, I am out have a game.

[formerd3db]

D306, ThunderHead, Uncle Rico, FDF - indeed, excellent points and conversation here today and, in reality, the essence of what this i.e. football is all about.  Everyone's experience as a player and a coach parallels the others and each of you have explained all the facets invovled in such endeavors, not only for each of us personally, but the youth and other young men whose lives we've influenced.  Each of you have said it better than I, yet perhaps D306 sums it up for all of us when he mentions the entitlement vs. privilege aspect AND what defines you essentially and eventually as a person and human being in your life.  We all love football (and in the case of sac and FDF - basketball too ) and although these are basically just games, they are so much more than that as you have said.  It prepares us for the rest of our lives and I couldn't agree more with D306 when he asserts the importance of reputation and your word.  Perseverence and dedication are among the list of characteristics that football gives us, yet integrity (i.e. again reputation and your word) I dare say is the most important and the prize in life.  For me, my most favorite quote, that of Grantland Rice says it all in that regard, beyond all the fundamentals, Xs and Os and great plays any of us or our players have ever made.

Thanks for a great discussion to all- this may have been one of the best ever here that I can remember.  +k for all of you. All of you have a great weekend.

P.S. BTW, congrats Raider68 on your 500 k+!   You don't get those for nothing.   

[TUAngola]

Final:  TU 42 UWRF 20

Good win for the Thunder.  Big plays do it again for the Thunder.  Four of our five TD's were from 30 yards or longer, including a kickoff return for a TD by Hence and a fumble return for a TD.  River Falls dominates in the first half...but...Trine leads 21-3 at half.  Turnovers hurt them in the first half as they fumbled in the endzone for a touchback and also gave up the fumble return for a TD which was a great play by Trine DB Puryear who wrapped up a Falcon after a short pass and ripped the ball from him as he was going down and scampered for a 70 yd TD.  Offensively Trine pretty much stunk it up in the first half; we didn't get our initial first down until midway thru the 2nd quarter.  However, have to give the boys credit for running the 2 minute drill very effectively at the end of the half to score and go up 21-3.

Trine plays better in the 2nd half with 2 more big runs putting us up 35-6 going into the 4th.  Biller finally broke a big one...and it broke the Falcons at the same time.  They had us pinned at our own 6 and Biller busts one up the middle and outraces everyone for the score.  Inge had another big run for Trine for a TD.  Good to see the running game get going in the 2nd half, but still lots of work to do there.  4th quarter saw River Falls block a punt for a TD and then their stud running back Edwards had a TD.  Edwards by far the best RB I've seen play in person against us.  He was a stud, could run away AND over us, think he ended up with 240 yds on 35 carries.  I think if UWRF could have played from in front they may not have had to pass as we did not have an answer for Edwards.

Rausch and Blackport got a few snaps at QB in the 4th quarter. Big cheer when Blackport came in but it was in mop up duty and he didn't get an opportunity to pass.   Hargraves had a mediocre game.  Had a couple picks and had some throws where guys were open and his passes were short.  Total yards ended up fairly even.  Trine had big advantage in overall team speed, other than Edwards.  Crowd was around 3000 again, I counted only 30 fans making the trip from River Falls.  It got a little hot in the sun again, and I am feeling it with a nice burn on my face and arms.   Week off before facing first big conference game against Adrian.  Tough game today but again Thunder finds a way to come out on top.

[ForeverFootball]

Adrian had a big win today over Augustana.  17-14.  Last seconds field goal!  NICE JOB BULLDOGS!

[formerd3db]

Unfortunately, Hope returned to its past ways today with a very disappointing loss to Millikin.  In the overall view of the game, Hope could have won the game easily, yet after a very good almost full first half with moving the ball and enthusiasm, untimely mistakes cost us the game.  After a fumble on a drive at somewhere around the 15 yard line of Millikin which stopped a potential drive (after Hope was up 3-0), a second drive ended with a fumble at the Millikin 1 yard line that definitely cost us a score.  Then Millikin scoring on a long, sustainded drive to go ahead put a huge dent in the enthusiasm and attitude, which basically went down hill from there for Hope for the rest of the game. 

Hope had great blocking and rushing yardage today; passing game was off and our secondary gave up too many long passes.  Millikin's QB had a very strong and pretty accurate arm, their team hit hard and pressed us for the entire game, even though they were smaller in size overall in comparison to our linemen.  Although they will probably be mid tier in the CCIW, it was a good win for them, a terrible and disappointing loss for us, especially after last week's win.  A win today would have been a huge boost even more.  Hope will now have to regroup for the game against Lakeland, WI at their place next week.  Nonetheless, I feel somewhat deflated after today's loss and also for the coaching staff and our players.  But...you can't coach "not making mistakes".  

[sflzman]

Adrian had a big win today over Augustana.  17-14.  Last seconds field goal!  NICE JOB BULLDOGS!

Welcome to the board! +K

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin's QB had a very strong and pretty accurate arm, their team hit hard and pressed us for the entire game, even though they were smaller in size overall in comparison to our linemen.  Although they will probably be mid tier in the CCIW, it was a good win for them, a terrible and disappointing loss for us, especially after last week's win.

Millikin will likely be closer to the bottom of the CCIW than the middle.

[ThunderHead]

Hey all, I hope everyone had a great Saturday. I didn't make it to Trine as I wanted to get to South Bend early.

Heard the Thunder did well. Thanks TUAngola for the update. I am not sure if my old neighbor was able to set up a camera or not, but if he did I'll be excited to see the film.

Good win, again I hope everyone had a great Saturday, it was an awesome day for football.

[ForeverFootball]

Thanks slfz.  I love Karma!

[ForeverFootball]

Does anyone know...was Albion off today?

[Pat Coleman]

Does anyone know...was Albion off today?

Here's our Albion schedule page: http://www.d3football.com/teams/Albion/

[ThunderHead]

the simple answer is: yes.

but nice to get a link.

[formerd3db]

Welcome to the board ForeverFootball.  +k to help get you started!

Gregory Sager:
Obviously, you know better than I about the CCIW team assesments.  However, I will say that Millikin did look very good offensively today, so they might just surprise some of their CCIW opponents.  Their problem will be stopping the better offenses.  Hope ran fairly easily against them i.e. ones that are a "complete offense" in sustaining both passing and running.  Again, Hope's offensive line did a great job today and our running backs are not "shabby" ); one of the problems today (aside from mistakes) was lack of a sustainable passing game with some receivers who can make those tough catches, something that Hope has had in past years, but is having a tough time with this year.  Anyway, you will highly likely be right in predicting Millikin's eventual disposition in the league as those games play out, but they didn't look like a "real cruddy team" today, IMO.   We should/could have beaten them today, but did not make the plays and too many mistakes to do that.  They deserved the win today.