I suggest that the starting line-up be determined by Grade Point Average (in a real major like say...engineering?). Got a 2.0 in women studies??? your third string! 3.8 in areonautical engineering???welcome to the big time!
Yeah...some of it. It seems like the last stronghold of true football is in the Pop Warner league. Edit: Amongst the players, not the nagging rat parents.
Glad you clarified that Dan as I just spent the last 15 years navigating the insane world of youth sports. It wasn't pretty.
NIL and prize money are coming to HS sports... Mainly the problem is tennis and golf. The kids can't earn any money from summer tournaments as the rules now stand. NIL and prize money are seen as two sides of the same coin. That'll be an interesting development. Especially with residency rules...
We already see recruiting in highschool ball here. Open enrollment, so kids don't have to attend the school in which boundaries they live.
Where's here? I haven't cared enough to look into it, but there's GOTTA be something going on in Kalifornia: couple of schools there could compete in the pac10! And Big10. Definitely not the SEC, though... Mater Dei... St. John Bosco... I think there's a couple more.
Utah. No massive programs, but a couple that are consistently ranked in the top 50 nationally. But the ability to do so has essentially made an "SEC" out of one 6A region. Including the high school boundaries I live in and those around it. Kids I coached through 8th grade that were pretty good just dropping off the radar because guys like a QB from an hour north wanted to play for this high school, etc. The game play in high school is still fun to watch, they are all playing their hearts out to get noticed, but the fact they aren't really all from the boundaries, didn't go to school together the prior 5-6 years, etc. is sad. There are teams that will have kids move from Hawaii, Vegas, California, elsewhere to live with their "uncle" for the school year. Looks like the largest state power offender ended ranked 14 according to MaxPreps. https://www.maxpreps.com/football/rankings/1/ Only team they lost to was Bishop Gorman.
I live in the northeast DFW exurbs. Lived in Allen during the Kyler Murray years. Its funny: you can trace the football dominance as the suburbs expand. It was Richardson, the Plano, then Allen. Now Frisco and Melissa are arm wrestling for it. Celina is up next.
Does club level football exist for high school aged kids? It seems like I've heard of club level for just about every other sport (soccer, baseball, basketball, etc) but I've never heard of it for football. And in most of those sports the talent is much higher at the club level.
There is club 7 on 7 stuff during the spring/summer. High school teams will have "unofficial" teams with "this isn't required, just if you want to play" to get around practice rules, but of course if you don't play you get left behind.
I don’t pay attention to that, but I believe they are both private schools, so they can pull from anywhere.
Or assistance with the district online school system? That's a big one with these schools here - you live an hour or two away, do the online school credits using the district system with all the tutor assistance you want. Set foot in the school itself only for football practice. It's a great way to teach young men to be men. Although they do benefit from not having to deal with the, uh, public teachers. I shall go no further.
Our local private schools can not offer athletic scholarships. They can, however, offer financial aid to underprivileged students. The fact that said students run a 1:52 800 is strictly coincidental. To be fair, I can waive track fees for my poor kids, and a local running store gives me shoes for kids that honestly can't afford them. That's almost as good as a free private education, right?
Notice any coincidences here??? The local catholic schools dominate high school basketball and do pretty good in football too. We don't have "freedom to choose" in PA but it's different if you just happen to go to a private school. Seems unfair to me though some of the local "regular" schools have figured something out. Southern Columbia has been state champs in football like 8 of the last 9 years (maybe more). They've had a couple make it to the NFL which is impressive for a small rural school.
Georgia is splitting out the playoffs to private and public schools next year. Currently they are combined. They are also hitting private schools with a bigger penalty as they do pull from the local public school districts in a big way. I think the bump is two levels instead of 1 (4A to 6A for example) My local HS has 3 large private schools in the same zone and they pull tons of talent from the public school. Lots and lots of "financial aid."
