FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

[...] You and Mrs. Hug gonna be in Westminster on 9/2?

Mrs. Kid and I will be.  I call your guest room! 

That could be a possibility Kid.

I have a dog now ... so you think Lucie would be OK with that?

[CBE]

[...] You and Mrs. Hug gonna be in Westminster on 9/2?

Mrs. Kid and I will be.  I call your guest room! 

That could be a possibility Kid.

I have a dog now ... so you think Lucie would be OK with that?

Lucy is very well socialized.....what kind of dog do you have?

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

Lucy is very well socialized.....what kind of dog do you have?

A purebred golden; here's a picture.  Gracie's getting there ... still only seven and a half months.  Over the chewing/biting stage, though.

[BCeagle79]

Some ODAC recruiting scoop...

Hampden-Sydney is hoping incoming freshman Bobby Owens is as good as advertised at QB ... they are looking to start him in 2006.

Owens was named the Western Valley District offensive player of the year, leading the Halifax County Comets to an 8-3 record.


Kid...this is interesting. They had 4 QB's behind Ricca last year. 1 jr, 1 soph & 2 fresh. I know that none of these saw much playing time. We shall see.

[hasanova]

Some ODAC recruiting scoop...

Hampden-Sydney is hoping incoming freshman Bobby Owens is as good as advertised at QB ... they are looking to start him in 2006.

Owens was named the Western Valley District offensive player of the year, leading the Halifax County Comets to an 8-3 record.


Kid...this is interesting. They had 4 QB's behind Ricca last year. 1 jr, 1 soph & 2 fresh. I know that none of these saw much playing time. We shall see.

In the past month or so, I also saw in a North Carolina newspaper where another QB committed to HSC for the 2006 season.  I can't remember his name, but I know he's from Charlotte - possibly Charlotte Catholic HS.  Sounds as though the Tigers have a lot of candidates for the post-Ricca era, but very few of them have much (or any) collegiate game experience.

[HeardEnough]

HSC will have a tough time replacing Ricca. They also lose Dull and Rolander, both of whom made dozens of big plays. They should be good on the o-line , and will have 2 good (Simpson may be great) running backs. The defense should be average once again. Still, the schedule is pretty easy. They should be no worse than 3-1 out of league, and 3-3 or 4-2 in the ODAC. I'd expect a winning record but a dropoff from the last 4 years.

[HeardEnough]

Is this the year BC is dethroned? I want to say yes, with the loss of Colbert,Washington,Awkward,the starting qb,the offensive line , the te's, most of the secondary, the kicker,etc. But the Eagles are still the team to beat. Highfill took over late last year and will be a star. Young may be the best back in the league, and Matthews returns. The wr's will be as fast as ever (Copeland, Warring, etc.). Craig Smith will be a beast. The o-line and d-backs are the big question marks. Weaknesses there make BC ripe to be knocked off. But by who? HSC didn't do it with Ricca and should drop off. W&L loses a lot on d and must find a qb. Guilford can score, but can't stop anybody - much less Bridgewater. Catholic lost their best offensive player and best defensive player and have to go through another coaching change. R-M seems to be recruiting well but not winning games. E&H was terrible and doesn't figure to improve much. My early prediction is that a good but not great Eagle team goes 8-2 or 9-1 and wins the ODAC. Again.

[abnrgr]

Heardenough is close. I believe the conference will be won on the last conference game played not by game 6 or 7 into the season with the usual Kid, LLama and Skoal bemoning the loss of hegemony amonght the fence riders. 

There will be alot of balance to the teams. Balance because of the loss of so many BC and HSC studs not so much that everybody is so much better.

The Bow Ties could be the dark horse but naw......... I think GC-Q with some D help will shake it up because they will not be a day off this year as in the past. This year will be a clawing and scratching year. I think GC-Q comes in second. I think the 07 season is where GC-Q wins it when their defense gets some hitting machines to go with Daryl Lamonica. BC this year but it will be HARD. Like Skoal being told the beer in the cooler has to be taken home

[hasanova]

abnrgr - Hope you're having a good spring!  The press box at GCQ is starting to look "shipshape."  Go to http://www.guilford.edu/admin/index.cfm?ID=700008570 during daylight hours and take a look.  About 168 more seats being added on the front as well.   

[abnrgr]

Looks pretty nice even in the dark. Thanks for the link. Spring is good. Watched AF Spring football a little bit. Took my younger son to Mesa State to sign up for classes and to get his brain whacked in August

SO how is Lamonica's arm? Any good hog d-linemen come in?

[hasanova]

Looks pretty nice even in the dark. Thanks for the link. Spring is good. Watched AF Spring football a little bit. Took my younger son to Mesa State to sign up for classes and to get his brain whacked in August

SO how is Lamonica's arm? Any good hog d-linemen come in?

You're welcome.  Check it out tomorrow morning and you'll get a good look.  As you well know, the press box, a concourse, a new scoreboard, nicer seats and restrooms have been needed for a long time.  I was in Colorado Springs about 10 years ago - took a hike through the Garden of the Gods and toured around a bit at the USAF.  The football stadium was locked up, but it's open enough that I could look through the fences and get a feel for the place.  I also went over to the main campus and saw the chapel and the parade area next to it.  I didn't know it until I was leaving, but I went down on the grounds where I wasn't supposed to go.  No one said anything, so I got a closer look than I was authorized to get.  lol

I didn't see spring practice, but some guys on the team told me they will still have a very potent passing game.  The same guys told me there are some "big ol' boys" headed to Greensboro next fall.  Coach Kiesel himself said they were aiming for 50 recruits and already had over 40 in April.  So far, so good.

Good luck to your son at Mesa State.  I hope he does well in studies and football this fall.  I've got one graduated from college and one halfway home.  If I have a dollar left in two more years, I'll buy you a beer! Heck, I'll buy you one anyway.  lol

[hasanova]

Nice photo of Guilford's Coach Kiesel and the seven Seniors who graduated May 6.  Good luck guys!  Thanks for suiting up for the Quakers. 

While these seven will certainly be missed, it bodes well that only seven guys will be off the 2006 roster due to graduation. 


http://www.guilford.edu/athletics/index.cfm?ID=a000008

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

[...] it bodes well that only seven guys will be off the 2006 roster due to graduation. 

Or does it?

Usually small graduation classes means that recruiting class was either really small, it wasn't very good, or that there was an issue with retention.

But at a closer look, you are actually losing quite a bit.  Four of them were defensive guys (Tull, Evans, Kiser, Stroup) and they tallied 112 tackles, 12.5 TFL and 3.0 sacks.  Now that may sound like a lot, but none of them were starters.  Where you really lose a lot is with Kirwan, Matthews and Haase.  Those three were starting offensive lineman.  So sure, you didn't graduate an offensive skill player or a defensive starter, but anyone will say that it "starts in the trenches."

[hasanova]

"While these seven will certainly be missed... "

Yep, I realize all the things you're saying are true, but I was purposely trying to look on the bright side for 2006.  And, as you noted, it will be especially interesting to look at the O-line starters this fall.  Granted, in a DIII program that's got good roster numbers and retention, you should be graduating many more, but this is where we are now.  As BC well knows, winning consistently changes a lot of things.  Hopefully, future graduation day photos will have a lot more mortarboards!  Hope so!

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

"While these seven will certainly be missed... "

Yep, I realize all the things you're saying are true, but I was purposely trying to look on the bright side for 2006.  And, as you noted, it will be especially interesting to look at the O-line starters this fall.  Granted, in a DIII program that's got good roster numbers and retention, you should be graduating many more, but this is where we are now.  As BC well knows, winning consistently changes a lot of things.  Hopefully, future graduation day photos will have a lot more mortarboards!  Hope so!

Hey, even programs that win and have large recruiting classes have "bad" players and retention problems.  Look at Bridgewater, for instance.  We had 29 graduate this May, but that recruiting class (the fall after our Stagg Bowl trip) was the largest we've ever had.  We had more than 125 incoming freshman in the fall of 2002 ... but only 29 stuck with it and played all four years.  So our retention (football-wise) was pretty bad - around 23%.  But maybe that's always the case, no matter what the size of the recruiting class is.  Maybe only one of four kids that come into a program actually stick it out on the field and are apart of the team for four years.  It could be the case that Guilford had 25 to 30 newcomers in 2002 and these seven are the 25% who made it all four years.