To me, doing pre-season prep football polls is a lot like being a TV weatherman. People assume you know what you’re talking about, you supposedly have a high level of expertise on the subject, so they pay attention to you, but really you’re just making stuff up. Seriously, how many times have you found yourself saying “sunny and 75 my butt Johnny Lightning on Channel 15” a day after he assured you that you’d have perfect picnic weather? You ever notice he never apologizes? Just once I’d like to hear him do so.
“Johnny Lightning (you know that isn't his real name) here in the Channel 15 Doppler 7000 Super Extreme Weather Center. Owe you folks an apology for our forecast yesterday. We said it would be 75 and sunny today and we ended up with three feet of snow. So, you know, if your car is burrowed into a deep, frightening snowdrift on the frozen roadside or you wore flip flops and Jams and will have to have some toes amputated because of frostbite...our bad." On the rare occasion they even mention that their forecast was misguided, they always come up with some kind of excuse. "Well, it's impossible to calculate the effect El Nino has on the pressure system and that arctic front shifted in our direction overnight...and also, um, there's this guy named Melvin who has a magic wand that makes it snow sometimes. I bet ol’ Melvin had something to do with this.” Just ramble on about El Nino and arctic shifts and Melvin being a loose cannon and not only do you never know the difference, you watch him the next day and believe him all over again. And seriously, the Doppler 7000? It's the same as the Doppler 5000 they touted last year, they just toted a can of Krylon up on the tower and painted a new number on there. I say all this to tell you that I’m about to show you my votes for the South Carolina Prep Media 1A Preseason Poll. Now, I’ve read up as much on every team as I can, I’ve talked to coaches, I’ve gone to practices and scrimmages, but seriously, who knows? Until they strap ‘em on and get down to businesses Friday night, I’m just taking guesses…educated guesses, granted, but guesses just the same. At least if they’re wrong, they won’t ruin a family outing and leave you buried in an icy grave. First, my “almosts.” There are three teams I really wanted to get in, really have high hopes for and really think will end up in the top 10 as the season goes along. The first is Dixie. This is a program that has taken nice, incremental steps forward in recent years under Coach Vic Lollis. Part of the success story is that they’ve dialed back the schedule a bit out-of-region. That’s not a slam on them at all, it’s actually really smart. When you’ve struggled decades, you know what scheduling The Rabid Elephants of Undefeated High every year gets you? Draggings. Lots and lots of painfully lopsided tail draggings. So, they lined up some less formidable, non-SCHSL opponents while they built. Now, with some success under their belts and returning talent in RBs Chandler (I’ll be calling him Stuart by year’s end) Smalley, Deiveon Donald and a good core of seniors, they are stepping things up a bit. The out-of-region slate includes Christ Church, Landrum, West Oak and Ninety Six. I just need to see them be competitive in the opening month of the season before I totally buy in. Up next is Whitmire. In addition to having the awesomely-named Charlie Jenkins at coach, the team also returns a lot of players from what was a very young squad last year. They also get some serious tests out of the gate on with Mid-Carolina and Ridge Spring-Monetta on the early docket. I love watching Whitmire’s offense operate. They run a sort of modified double-wing, scrum thingy, but do a great job of balancing the inside and outside run game and deftly sneaking guys out of the backfield into deep passing routes. Their kids also always seem to play hard, which is a good sign. Lastly is St. John’s. I actually had the pleasure of taking in one of their practices while I was on vacation (isn’t that what everyone does on vacation?) The first thing that jumped out at me was how much the players genuinely seem to like playing for Coach Josh Harpe and his staff. That is not a small thing by any means. It’s hard not to want to bust your tail for a coach that quotes Kenny Rogers in practice (I promise I heard this). It was “The Gambler” by the way, not “Ruby don’t take your love to town” which would have been really weird and maybe inappropriate subject matter (Ruby was a skank, if you aren’t familiar with the tune). Anyway, the team has good size up front and some athletes outside that can REALLY go. They also have a unique weapon in Class A football in the form of a sophomore kicker who was comfortably drilling 45-yard field goals in practice. The only reason I have them at what would be number 11 if these polls went to 11, is that Coach Harpe told me he has an extremely young team. Lots of underclassmen are going to be on the field, but if they get through some early tests (Phillip Simmons, Garrett, the OC etc) then look out. Don’t forget, this bunch laid it to AAAAA James Island last year. Now, for my top 10. 10. Hemingway- I’m going to admit right up front that most folks have them much higher than I do, and they might belong there. Here is what I’m taking into account, however…they graduated 16 seniors from last year, which is a giant number for any school, especially one in Class A. They play a beefy, big-boy dadgum schedule. They open at Lamar, then face what is always a tough AA team in Andrews, go to the AA sausage kings (Johnsonville), come home for Carvers Bay, are at AAAA Lakewood, then go to C.E. Murray. You could be a good Class A team and come out of that haunted trail 1-5 or 2-4. They also had a coaching change in the offseason. Now, what they do have is a consistent tradition and transcendent talents in Darius Taylor (who was moved to QB) and frightening human Darius Williams (an East Carolina commit at DE). I’ll say this…if they go into region play with a winning record, watch out. 9. Wagener-Salley- The boys from Chitlinville have improved dramatically in the past two years. Willie Fox brings a no-nonsense, “we’re just gonna stomp on your face” running game to the table and he has a good bit of returning talent, including a three-year starter at quarterback in Mykell Landy. They play keep away on offense and play really nasty defense, and usually win about 28-3, and that’s that. I will say, they’ve run into trouble the last two years when they faced athletic teams that could throw the ball a bit. Their comfort zone is running the ball and stopping the run. They’d just assume not fool about with any silly passing stuff. Maybe this is the year they overcome that. We probably won’t see until they face Williston-Elko in late September. 8. Baptist Hill- Coach Marion Brown has got some serious weapons at his disposal in receivers Rashad Maxwell (who had a Playstation-like 19 touchdown catches last year), Raequan Holmes and Jordan Bailey along with Jayvonta Burnell (who is listed as a RB but is really just a WR that lines up in the backfield). They played improved defense last year too, right up until they faced Lamar for state. They’ve got 14 starters back from last year’s lowerstate champion. So why do I have them at eight? Because QB Corey Fields is gone. I know it seems like Brown can line a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos up under center and score points, but Fields was the single most electric player I saw last year in any classification. He was a special talent and a big part of their magical run. I need to see what they look like without him and we get a good chance right off the bat as they play The OC this week. 7. C.E. Murray- Coach Chad Wilkes pulled off something last year that isn’t easy to do. He came to a team that made its bones offensively with a power running game, switched them to a wide-open spread attack and they didn’t miss a beat. Now, they did graduate super stud do-it-all Darius Rush and QB Elijah Bay transferred to Cane Bay. They did lose in a jamboree to Chesterfield, but they came right back and hung 28 in a half on AAAA Crestwood in a win. New QB Antonio McKnight lit it up with four TD passes and RB Jamall Gibson had a big night. They aren’t going the light-and-easy route out of region (Lee Central, The OC, Mullins, Hemingway, Cross etc.) but this feels like a program now. One year might be a flash in the pan, but three seasons of competing for titles demonstrates real staying power. 6. Green Sea-Floyds- A little higher than most have them rated, but this team hosted a playoff game last year for the first time in years and has 16 starters back from that team. Bout all I got on this’n, Hoss. 5. Scott’s Branch- Again, this is higher than most have them ranked and it’s a projection selection, but follow my logic here. First of all, Coach Brian Smith is at the helm now and he built C.E. Murray from almost literally nothing to a lowerstate champion. Normally I take a wait and see approach with new coaches, but I think he’ll make the transition easy by simplifying things. His offensive playbook is basically “101 creative ways to run it straight up your bucket.” One other indicator I look for is how a team does in track, which is a good indicator of whether or not you have athletes. They won state last year going away and have lots of those guys back and in football uniforms. QB/DB Amonte Brown is one to watch, as is WR/OLB Treyshawn Moore. They’re huge up front, with guys like JeShawn Green (6’1, 315) giving them maybe Class A’s biggest offensive line. This is a team to watch. 4. Lake View- The Wild Gators have 13 starters back from a team that went 9-3 last year, with the only losses being close ones to Latta, Hemingway and Baptist Hill. Really, When you get right down to it, Lake View is never very far out of the state championship conversation and features junior and senior classes that went 23-3 the past two years and won a state title. I should note they play Dillon AND Lamar out of region, which feels like jumping in a cage with two bears naked and covered and honey, but God bless them for scheduling real competition. 3. Williston-Elko- I know they graduated at a lot of talent, but this is a program that just reloads annually and for whom 7-3 in a disappointing regular season. One thing they have on their side is depth, as they have 50 kids out this year, a mammoth number in 1A. Among them is Keshawn Toney, a 6-foot-2, 240 man beast with rocket legs. I’ve watched his highlight film (which you should do too) and it borders on comical to watch other school children try to tackle, block or cover the Gamecocks commit. He’s listed at TE, but he flexes out to receiver a lot and when he’s not running past people and making stupid, one-handed catches, he just sort of tramples them. Barnwell and Allendale-Fairfax are the notable out-of-region opponents before they open Region III play against Ridge Spring-Monetta, which might decide a title and number one playoff seed early. Speaking of… 2. Ridge Spring-Monetta- In two of the last three years, the Trojans have had deep playoffs runs ended by Lamar. It’s also been a minute since they’ve beaten Williston-Elko. They lost a really good quarterback in Tyson Bettis, but aside from that they are stacked with returning talent. That includes RB Collier Sullivan, receivers Johnny Freeman, Jason Robinson and Jerry Tyler, some bigguns up front and LBs Brendan Frazier, Hayden Cherry and Reagan Cherry. Now, I’m paraphrasing here, but Coach Kenny Lipsey said to the Aiken Standard of those three LBs something to the extent of“I bet it ain’t no other team in the state has three LBs back that had 100 tackles each.” That quote is invigorating and makes me happy to be alive. If they are to make a run, this seems like the year. Accept… 1. Lamar- The Silver Foxes are in the way. Last season. Not only did Lamar go 14-0, but only AAAA Crestwood kept the game within three touchdowns. Coach Corey Fountain is 35-1 in his last 36 games, has been to three straight title games and won two of them. They lost Rashard Coleman at quarterback who’d developed into a nice field general type with underrated passing skills and Jeblonski Green, who had a cool name and frequently hurt people. I don’t think it matters, though. They have super stud RB Jacquez Green back and generally always have athletes. They also have an abundance of physically and mentally tough kids that play with a nasty edge that gets in the heads of some opponents before the game even starts. They’re number one until someone proves otherwise.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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