FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

[runyr]

What they obviously forgot is that (especially back then) that big for a HS student is just fat, not strong.  We won 35-0, and just to make a point scored all 5 TDs right up the middle.  Clearly we could have run all day around the outside (they were fat AND slow), but why bother?!

That's been true till recently on a lot of D3 teams till recently. My brother's quote about Tom Arth's JCU offense line was, "Five guys named Tater."

And wasn't their TE named Todd?   

[runyr]

Yes, the times have definitely changed when it comes to the size, speed and strength of players. 

Back in my HS playing days of the mid-80's, we were a mid-sized school (smallest of the AAA which would equate to about Division 2 now) that won our conference (Senate League) with pulling guards/LB's that went 5'10" – 180 lbs.  I started at center/D-tackle and was 2nd biggest guy on the team at 5'11"-225 lbs.  The only one bigger was the 300 lb fat kid that never saw the field.  Our off-season training program consisted of bailing hay when the sun was shining and marginally lifting weights at the school when the weather sucked.  As a senior in 1986, I benched 305 and was the 2nd strongest behind one of our guards/LB's. 

In 10 games, I can only remember playing against one guy that manhandled us at the line of scrimmage.  Big ole SOB from Carrollton (Warner I think was his name) that went around 6'4", 250.  Every other opponent we could match up with just fine strength-wise.

Fast forward to the late 90's as a line coach at my alma mater with an O-line averaging 240 with most of the guys over 6'1".  And everyone of them benched over 300.  Our TB was a beast (Levi Madison) who went 215 lbs, benched 400+ and could squat more than we had in free weights to load the bar with.  The amount of off-season weight training/speed work Levi did in a week was more than we did during the entire time span between wrestling season and the start of football summer camp.  The speed and strength increase in the average HS player in 10-15 years between me playing and coaching really shocked me.   And it's only increased more since then.

Interesting.  Thanks, hscoach.
I wonder if it's like that all over or just in places like NE Ohio, where football is king.  The number of players and coaches from NE Ohio has got to be, per capita, as big as it gets.  I know there are other places like Texas and parts of the South where it's big too.
What do some of you from other parts of the country notice in your area?

PS - Do you know if that kid from Carrollton (Warner) ever played college ball?

[reality check]

I can't really claim to be an expert as to how it was but I do know a little about Arizona football.  My HC and former OC played together on a state championship team in the mid 80's.  The HC played FB/LB and was strong as an ox but no bigger than 5'9" 190 as a high school kid and the OC played QB at about the same height but 10-15 lbs lighter.  They were in the big school division so I would think the situation was similar.  

We are extremely undersized now as we start our first varsity season with our most imposing (physically) player coming in at 6'3" 250 lbs and the next biggest kid being at about 225 lbs.  We looked like midgets as JV players last year going against established programs.

As a SR, I was the smallest Offensive Lineman that started in the GCL.  I was 6'2", 195 at LG.  My position coach joked that I was the fastest pulling guard he had in at least twenty years and possibly ever (probably because he hadn't had a sub-200 lb guard in about that same time-frame).  It was also said by the coach that the reason I was such a quick pulling guard was because I was a "wide receiver that got lost."  

I thought I could play O-Line if I just bulked up a little when I looked at OAC schools.   Kaz looked right at me when I visited ONU and said, "Son, if you want to play on our offensive line the first thing you need to do is put on about seventy pounds."  I came to camp at 220 lbs and was quickly told I was an outside linebacker where I played until my knee injury late in my freshman season.  I was told in that visit with Kaz that they target the same size kids as OSU does, but their 6'4" 290 lb target runs .5 seconds slower in the 40 and can read/write.

[HScoach]

Runyr:  No idea whether the guy played college ball or not.   Or whether he even graduated HS.  We are talking about Carrollton, Ohio.

[jaypeter]

I was told in that visit with Kaz that they target the same size kids as OSU does, but their 6'4" 290 lb target runs .5 seconds slower in the 40 and can read/write.

[Blutarsky]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

I chuckled out loud, when reading the article, he was quoted as saying:  "I like snow".  You better--welcome to Ohio!

[Raider 68]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

It will be interesting to see where the Heidelberg football program is in 5 years. My guess is that they will be a winning program by how much, who knows! 

[reality check]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

It will be interesting to see where the Heidelberg football program is in 5 years. My guess is that they will be a winning program by how much, who knows! 

Where will the Heidelberg program be in 4 years?  My guess: Still in Tiffin.  And in that time they will have gone back to calling themselves "The Berg", then "Student Princes" again, "The Berg" again, "The Paupers" and finally "The Artists Formerly Known as Student Princes" where they'll just use a symbol to represent themselves.

[seventiesraider]

From where I'm standing, whatever Big Mike wants to call them is fine Not sure what goes with Orange, Red and Black. I think with the excitement and inherent  pride that goes with a new, on-campus "stadium"  plus additions in the coaching staff as well as on the field  talent, we should see at least a 500 team..

PS +K for the athletes formerly known as Student Princes. The bookstore is equally confused with tons of Berg Pride items

Maybe the Tiffinators, or Sandusky River Rats (Mike might like Red Riders)

Hopefully in five years Coach Hallett has an office bigger than 8x10

[oldtiger]

As memory serves, Witt had an All-OAC DT on the '75 Stagg Bowl team that pushed the scale at 180# by the end of that season.  My how times change.....

Dave Biddlestone from Niles.

At Delaware he required treatment for a back problem after arrival on Friday. The trainer's room was adjacent to the Blue Hen's locker room. Their players found it amusing that he was actually a player, not support staff; even more when informed of his position.

Compensated for the lack of physical attributes with a very nasty demeanor.

I was told he had a couple sons that played at MUC/UMU.

[HScoach]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

It will be interesting to see where the Heidelberg football program is in 5 years. My guess is that they will be a winning program by how much, who knows! 

Assuming the Berg continues to slowly rise, my guess is they'll be run by someone other than Hallett in 5 years.  No inside info,  just a hunch that he isn't in Tiffin for the long haul.  Rebuilding that program would make a great selling point to a D2 or 1-AA school looking to rebuild.

[seventiesraider]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

It will be interesting to see where the Heidelberg football program is in 5 years. My guess is that they will be a winning program by how much, who knows! 

Assuming the Berg continues to slowly rise, my guess is they'll be run by someone other than Hallett in 5 years.  No inside info,  just a hunch that he isn't in Tiffin for the long haul.  Rebuilding that program would make a great selling point to a D2 or 1-AA school looking to rebuild.

I know Mike is a small town, small college kinda guy. I think he see's himself following the Kehres Legacy. Don't know, I've been wrong once or twice before.

[Raider 68]

Coach Hallett gets another Florida player:

Land O' Lakes CB going to Heidelberg

It will be interesting to see where the Heidelberg football program is in 5 years. My guess is that they will be a winning program by how much, who knows! 

Assuming the Berg continues to slowly rise, my guess is they'll be run by someone other than Hallett in 5 years.  No inside info,  just a hunch that he isn't in Tiffin for the long haul.  Rebuilding that program would make a great selling point to a D2 or 1-AA school looking to rebuild.

I know Mike is a small town, small college kinda guy. I think he see's himself following the Kehres Legacy. Don't know, I've been wrong once or twice before.

Whether Coach Hallett stays on or moves on in five years, the Heidelberg program turns the corner, IMHO!

[Blutarsky]

One of things I've always found interesting is that Tiffin, a town of approx. 20,000, has two schools fielding NCAA athletic programs.  I'm guessing that Tiffin Univ., which plays div.II, may get "top billing" over the 'Berg.  This, in time, may frustrate Coach Mike to look around......kind of like being the White Sox coach in Chicago?