football

Lets be perfectly honest here. I want an accurate count of how many people were shocked when Justin Fields walked on the field with 5:19 left in the game and Georgia is in the battle of a lifetime with Alabama. The Crimson Tide had just rallied to tie the score at 35 and the Dawgs were going out to try and score and re-take the lead. I believe that this was the start of Kirby Smart's panic button being pushed. Now Fields has been on the field a few times before and had done nothing, but in this situation I found it quite odd that Smart wouldn't give three full plays to Jake Fromm to pick up a first down. Of course Fromm did get a first down with a perfect pass to D'Andre Swift that got us all the way to mid-field. Now lets stop our thoughts and go back to that time. We are first- and- ten from the middle of the field with four minutes to play. Wow two first downs and a field goal and this game is over and we are gonna win. Not so fast my friend. We lose a yard on first down and then two incomplete passes and we have to punt. Its ok right now, I'm not too worried. A good put makes Bama drive 50 to 60 yards to try a field goal and they don't have a great kicking game. We could still get out of this and push it to overtime. Jalen Hurts is a back-up for a reason and Mel Tucker has had time to make adjustments now. But then I look up and see Justin Fields and we are showing fake. Please please please don't run this play. Alabama wont fall for it at this point of the game. This is Alabama and they wont be caught sleeping at this point of the game. Kirby are you really going to try and out trick Nick Saban ? Please tell me no. The answer to that unfortunately was yes he was going to try to trick the greatest college football coach in America and of course it back-fired and of course we lost , wrecking the days of so many UGA fans. It was terrible. My main question is who ran up to Kirby on 4th-and-11 and screamed Hey lets fake it coach, we have them just where we want them. That man should be terminated. Come on you know someone did that.It was probably the same person who started that drive with Justin Fields instead of Fromm. We gotta get rid of this guy because if he wasn't on the sideline we would be playing Clemson instead of Texas. The fake punt will go down as one of the worst calls in the history of college football but somehow we need to get over it. Kirby needs a press conference and he needs to look into the audience and into the cameras and just say, "Guys I effed up, I don't know why I did it, it was stupid, and I apologize to every fan that breathes UGA football. I will learn from my mistakes and I will get better, I promise you that." That would be good enough for me. You see I love Kirby Smart. He is a UGA guy and he is a great recruiter and he has put UGA football back on a map that we haven't been on in awhile. I know we all kind of want to stay on that map. Kirby has only been a head coach for three years now and he will get better. I 100 percent believe that. So lets give him that chance, forgive him, and move on to bigger and better things. We are behind you Kirby. But fire the guy who mentioned fake punting in that game.

my picks for the few locals

I figured I would throw these picks out real quick this morning for the few local teams that are left in the state playoffs. Congrats to all of them for having great seasons. WRHS-Rome I went to this game last year with high hopes that the Demons could indeed play with Rome University and it was evident in the first three minutes that they couldn't. I am telling you that if Warner Robins finds a way to stay close in this game its a small miracle. Rome has not lost in forever and they have a running back named Jamious Griffin who has over 2500 yards to go with 37 touchdowns. Did I mention they have not lost in forever ? I think Warner Robins gives the effort and the Wolves defense has given up some points this year, but can the Demons give Dylan Fromm time to do what he needs to do ? Last year they could not and Fromm took a beating. I think it's a little better this year but I don't think Rome loses this year. Rome 40 WRHS 21 Peach County- Calhoun This game has all the emotions possible for a high school football game with what happened last year. I don't think I need to repeat what happened last year except to state the fact that Peach got screwed out of a possible state championship. I would take Chad Campbell to win any game against any coach when the talent is fairly equal. I respect Chad Campbell more than any high school coach in this area and that is saying a lot because I respect the majority of them. As a former reporter the way I judge coaches is how they treated me when I needed them. Sometimes it would be a text saying hey coach can we talk today. 90 percent of the time Chad Campbell calls me back immediately. If he didn't do that it was a text saying what time to call him. When he did that he would always be waiting for the call. I wish that all coaches would be that way. Most of the coaches are like that but we have a few in this area that wont give you the time of day. I talked to coach Campbell at the Northside game and he was nice enough to give me an interview at halftime of a close game. He was also willing to talk to me after that game. He understands that doing that is a part of his job. I know he probably didn't want to do either one because he had more important stuff to do, but he took the time to do it. Peach has the chance of a lifetime tonight to avenge a heartbreaking loss. You see Peach County and Chad Campbell don't play football just for the school, they play football for the community. You may as well close the county down tonight because no one will be there. Chad Campbell gets the fact the he is playing this game for the community, and I just cannot pick against him right now, even though when I started writing I had planned to pick Calhoun. Peach 24 Calhoun 23 Northside- Dacula Jadin Daniels has put Northside on his back for the last five weeks and has the amazing stats of 1500 yards rushing and passing. 400 of those rushing yards are over the last three weeks while he has only 116 yards passing. He will have to pass in this game to win, but I think the Eagles season ends tonigh Dacula 28 Northside 24

I saw yesterday that Mark Daniel has retired at Rutland after compiling a 2-27 record over three years and my first thought was me wondering if it was a voluntary retirement or did someone step up and tell him that maybe it was time to retire. My real thoughts were that he never should have been hired in the first place. His record over the five years before he was hired at Rutland was 10-30 at two different high schools. So if he couldn't win at Schley County or Wayne County, why did the hiring committee think he could win at Rutland ? I think that Mark Daniel is a very good man and that is going from the two times I talked to him over his years at Rutland. He cared about his kids and had that old school mentalitiy as a football coach. He may have been the perfect choice for a school that was steady and already winning games, but that was not the case at Rutland. The Hurricanes had struggled in George Collins last two years , winning only four of the 20 games they played. It was time for a fresh start for Rutland football. The hiring board did not deliver. So now, once again Rutland will hire a football coach looking for a fresh start. One of my questions right off the bat is who really wants that job ? Rutland, for whatever reason, has always struggled on the football field. They have made the playoffs in basketball and baseball and even soccer, but football has always been a problem. I don't know but I am guessing it has a lot to do with the number of kids it takes to field a good football team. So hiring board, here is what you must do to turn this program around. 1) Hire Local- I know several Bibb County assistants that could thrive in this job opportunity. I will not mention names because I don't think that would be fair. You want names you can contact me by email or twitter. Bibb County has some great young assistants who are ready for a head coaching job. Please don't go outside and hire another coach that is at the end of his career, Hire young- Kids want to run the spread and want to throw and want to catch and please don't hire someone who is going to come in and run the wing t. That offense is complicated and I know coaches have won a lot of games with it, but Bibb County has got to be progressive in its choice for Rutland. Look what Justin Rogers did at Jones County. I believe a lot of the success is because of his offense and how he got the kids to love it. I need to see a young guy who has worked as an assistant and maybe never even had a head coaching job get this Rutland job. Kids these days don't care what you did in the past, they want someone they can relate to . Hire from a winning program- This is a must. The coach that gets the Rutland job must come from a winner and preferably from the Middle Georgia area. They need someone that understands what the culture of Rutland football is and how they can change it. With that being said, I am urging the hiring board to find a coach from Jones, Peach, Mary Persons, or a local school. Hire a coach that has been trained by great coaches and that are hungry to be a head coach. That's the only way this will work. Trust the Athletic Director_ I have heard that the principal of the school has hiring rights for any coaching job that is open in Bibb County. I just say why why why to this. Bibb County is blessed to have Barney Hester as the AD and he and whatever committee he puts together should have full hiring power for this job. We don't need a friend of the principal getting this job. We need the best man to build a winner at a school that has basically never won football games. Rutland it is your time to change the fortunes of your program. Please don't blow it again

The thoughts on a solution

I have had many people tell me that really no solution exists to the issue of why only one of six public high schools can win more than 35 percent of their games and to me that's just sad. I don't think that's acceptable by any means but I really don't know if anything will be done about it. When I talked to coaches they did have some thoughts about things needing to be done. They are as follows.


1. Feeder systems for each high school. I had more than one coach tell me that the training to be a varsity football player and run the system they want to run does not start until they get those kids to high school. Not only did some of them question the coaching these younger kids were getting at the middle school level, but many times they had no idea how to run the offense or defense their high school team was running."I would love to see our rec league adopt something similar to what they do in Gwinnett, which is to have kids growing up playing with the kids they will play for in high school", said one coach in Macon. So on Saturdays the 7 year old Howard Huskies would be playing  the 7 year old Rutland team."
Whatever the way they do it, something needs to be done to have some underclassmen ready to play at the varsity level when they walk in the door. If a middle school coach knows that most of the kids are going to end up at Howard, then teach them how to run the wing -t.
2. Hire local- I believe that one of the most important things that Bibb County can do is hire coaches that played at the school they are coaching at. The parents need to see a familiar face on the sideline and someone that they respect right away. Macon has had some extreme failures when trying to hire outside of the district and the biggest one of those in recent history was Larry Harold at Central. Harold was hired to replace Jessie Hicks, who had turned the Central program around, but Harold quickly killed the vibe of Central football and quietly left after just a year. They now have a Central guy at the school, as does Southwest and Northeast and I feel like that's a great start.But those guys have to bring the energy and recruit the middle schools for athletes.


3. I would be interested to know who exactly hires the football coaches. Does Bibb County AD Barney Hester have control over that or is it the school principal ? I will admit that I am not really sure but I believe that Hester , as the county AD, should have full power of the hiring of head coaches. I would also be interested to see if anyone actually gets fired from a head coaches job for losing ? The high school coaching profession has many important parts that includes making young kids grow into men, but winning games has got to be way up on the importance list and sometimes I am not sure if it is in Bibb County .


4. Change the district lines- I know it sounds impossible but I had 3 out of 5 coaches I talked to suggest it. I am not sure how that would work but it is obviously something to look at. I do not really understand why Macon has six high schools instead of four bigger high schools though and maybe someone can explain that to me.
5. The overall attitude of Bibb County- I know this may come as a shocker but Macon is not really a football town or at least not a high school football town. If two Macon teams are playing, the stadium will probably be half filled and if a Macon school is playing someone else, it is less than that. We had a few nights this year, such as the Jones County and Howard game, that Defore was almost packed. But six weeks later the stands were less than half packed for Howard and Upson Lee. I guess the obvious fact is that fans support winning programs and history says that Macon has not produced football programs that win. So here is a great idea. Don't complain about private schools stealing your players because kids (or parents for that matter) don't leave winning programs unless they aren't playing, and if they aren't playing you probably don't need them anyway.
I think Bibb County is trying to promote its  product but they have a long way to go. Some of the people I talked to think Macon is an impossible place to win football games at a consistent level and that is why coaches such as Jessie Hicks left for Baldwin County, but Bibb County has to find a way to be better, even if it means starting over
I know I didn't give any surefire ways to turn the fortunes around, but hopefully I made a few eye-catching facts stick out just a bit

the question is why ??

So my main question is why Westside can win football games in Macon and none of the other five can win on a consistent basis.
Westside started playing football in 1997 and they brought in Robert Davis to build the program. Yes that Robert Davis, a legendary football coach who won state titles and won 10 games a year every year.
He didn't get close to 10 wins that first year at Westside in his first year which was 1997, but the reason was the Seminoles only played five games that first year and they were non region games. Davis just wanted the new school to feel what I was like to win.
Guess what , they went 5-0.
The next year, playing a region schedule, Westside went 9-3 and made the second round of the playoffs. Davis got the Seminoles to a state championship game and had a 101-33 record in his years as the head coach.
He handed things off to Spoon Risper and these  are the only coaches that Westside has ever had.
So my number one reason for Westside's success and the other schools failures starts with culture.
Now what do I mean with culture? Well it's simple. Robert Davis won right off and people came to watch them win and young kids 20 years ago came to watch and guess what, the kids that watched then grew up wanting to play Westside football because they won. Don't tell me that winning doesn't breed enthusiasm because it surely does.
I was able to get four coaches in Bibb County schools now or at some time over the last five years or so, and they were open to talking about the issues, as long as I didn't use names. I totally understand that since the subject of winning has not really been brought up much.
One of the coaches I interviewed for this story told me plain and simple how things were when it comes to culture. "If I had a problem with a kid and we had to get on him at practice, he would go home and tell his mom or dad about what happened and right away the dad would be calling me asking me why I was having to discipline his son," the coach said. "It was like I did something wrong because I was trying to make his kid better. Now take that same situation to Peach County and have a player tell his dad that Chad Campbell jumped his butt at practice. Well the parent of that child is probably telling that kid to do what the coach says because he knows what he's talking about.These kids grew up wanting to play for Peach County. Is it that way for Rutland or Northeast kids ? I know that isn't the case in every scenario but I cant tell you how many parents I have had to talk to because I yelled at their kid at football practice."
According to a current high school coach, the story runs even deeper. "I feel like the main problem is the culture of Bibb County is selfish and apathetic," this coach said. "I think football programs are a good barometer of the community. The kids are scared to completely buy in to anything. To be honest I don't really know how much different it is at Westside these days. Macon teams win games when they have better athletes but how often do they win a game they should have lost compared to losing a game the should have won. But there is no doubt that stability in a program is very important"
So I believe that the culture of a school is very important. Southwest is a basketball school who expects to win basketball games and everyone knows that goes way back. Northeast has been a great girls basketball and track school for years and a pretty good boys basketball program. Rutland has even had some success in basketball and baseball while Howard has put together some decent baseball teams. Central behind Andre Taylor and Shelia Toombs, have churned out some very good basketball teams over the last 10 years. But lets face it, football is the money sport that all schools want to be good at. They don't announce homecoming queens at a soccer game.
Diluted populations of athletes- Bibb County has six public high schools to go with at least six private high schools and the talent level at each schools is highly diluted by that. "I thought there was a time a few years ago that we had a chance to make a run in the football playoffs because we had some talent, but when it came right down to it, we had about 20 very good football player and that was it," a loocal coach said. "We did not have enough depth to always have quality practices and when it came down to a game with a very good football team they would be able to beat us because they had 40 good football players. Macon is supporting so many schools that the talent level at each school just doesn't go very deep. Sure Houston County has a lot of schools, but every one of those schools is still 5A or higher. Macon schools are 3A or lower, which makes it tough."
To make matters worse, the age of specialization has taken off. It is now very unusual to see the best basketball players in the school play football anymore. "That has become a huge problem over the last six or seven years," said yet another area coach. "We lose some athletes because they just want to play one sport and they give up football. I think that has a lot to do with parents wanting kids to be great at one sport and maybe getting a scholarship instead of being good at three sports and not."
Poor grades are something that all coaches have to deal with. "If we lose one or two of our better athletes because of grades it hurts us tremendously," another local coach said. "I think it we, as football coaches do all we can to keep kids eligible and on track to graduate, but it just cant come from us. It has to be coming from home too.
So we have talked about some of the reasons why Bibb County has failed to win football games. Some of them are problems that every area has but others are not that big of a deal in other areas of the state.
The next blog will focus on working on solutions to the the problems.

Why cant Macon public high schools win a playoff game (besides Westside of course)

I know that I have been around Macon forever and I have been out in the trenches covering high school football for the better parts of 13 years now. I couldn't help but think back after the first week of the playoffs this year about how long it has been since a Macon public school besides Westside has actually won a playoff game. That thought stayed with me basically all day on Saturday and by the evening I knew that I had to figure some things out.
I am sure that many of you know that the last time a public  school from Macon won a state football championship was 1975 when the Central Chargers defeated Douglas 21-14.
Let me see, that was 43 years ago.
The next quick fact I wanted to know was how long it had been since a Macon public school had actually won a playoff game. Surely I was not thinking straight because like I said, besides Westside, I couldn't remember it ever happening.
With a little research I indeed found out that it has happened, but I was stunned to find out that the last time a Macon public school besides Westside has actually won a playoff game was when a Carror Wright led Northeast Raiders defeated Thomasville by a final score of 20-13. That my friends was in 2002.
So, it has been 16 years since a Macon team not named Westside has won a state playoff game.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is something that made me go wow, or oh my, or what ?? or many other statements I wont share.
Why why why can a county like Bibb not win a playoff game ? I promise you we will get to that later.
So teams in this city win a lot of football games right ? I thought they did okay but maybe just maybe, I need to check that out . So I went to work to get those facts and I will share with you by giving a synopsis of football success since the year 2000.
Northeast
The Raiders have won 16 games over the last 5 years and have been through 3 coaches. That is 16 wins to go with 35 losses. They have made the playoffs in two of those years but lost both of them. They have a new football coach this year in Jeremy Wiggins that actually went to Northeast which will hopefully be a good fit.
Northeast has a winning record overall since 2000 with 102 wins and 98 losses.


Southwest
The Patriots are 20-31 over the last 5 years and the five years before that were even worse with a record of 14-37. Southwest football has never made it past the first round of the playoffs and since 2000 they have a record of 61-132. That means Southwest has won 31% of its games over the last 19 years.
Central
The Chargers have a record of 22-28 over the last 5 years, but the five years before that they were 10-40. They have not won a playoff game since 1989 when they beat Southwest in the first round before losing to Warner Robins. Over the last 19 years they have a record of 68-123 for a 35% win percentage. They are also on their third coach in the last five years.


Rutland
The Hurricanes are 6-43 over the last five years and the only success they ever had was a 6-5 record in 2013 and a 7-4 record in 2007. They are 16 years into playing football at Rutland and they have a record of 44-117 which means they have won 27% of their games.


Howard
The Huskies have made the playoffs the last two years but could not get a win either year. They have a 5 year record of 22-29-1 but the five years before that they were 7-53.  which leads to a 29-82-1 record in the schools existence.. That's a 26% winning percentage.


So first of all are things getting better ? Lets take a look at the combined numbers for the last five years. That would equal up to 86 wins and 166 losses which adds up to a winning percentage of 34%.
The five schools record for 2018 was 16-38 which is barely 30% winning.
Guys that means 70% of the time, these five Macon schools are losing their football game. Even if you take away Rutland and its winless season the percentage is still very poor at 38%.
One of my questions this week will be why can Westside win and none of the others can ? Did Robert Davis build the culture so high that it is just accepted that Westside would win. Has Spoon Risper fed off that great winning tradition that Davis brought to Westside ?
Westide has a 40-18 record over the last 5 years and has advanced past the first round three times in those years. In the last 19 years they have compiled a 160-61 record  for a winning percentage of  72. The last five years has seen it stay steady at 68%..
It really does not make any sense to me, so I have talked to three or four coaches or former coaches who will help me figure things out.
My question to you is are these type of records acceptable to a city like Macon ? Personally its kind of hard for me to swallow.
Keep reading guys, I have plenty more this week

The Best Picks in Central Georgia

We are getting down to it with some teams already being done with football season and others heading into the playoffs. I am thinking it should be a pretty good weekend for local teams this week and then next week it get much tougher.
So my expertise brings me to a 66-13 record, which is fairly remarkable. I will hope to continue this brilliance for at least another week.
The worst thing about this week and basically the rest of the year is I have no place to work games. The GHSA in its own audacity, charges like 900 bucks to live stream a playoff football game so that knocks me out of doing anything. I guess it is still the one thing I miss about writing for the news paper.
Howard- Burke//// Burke County is a 7-3 football team and Baldwin County beat them up pretty good. Howard is a bit up and down and it really depends which team shows up. If it is the team that beat Westside and took Jones County to the wire I expect them to win. If its the team that lost to Jackson and Upson Lee it will not be a good night.
I am betting on Jeremiah Kelly to get the Huskies going and for DeAndre Shelton to lead them to their first playoff win ever.
Howard 27 Burke 20


Cook- Westside///// Westside takes care of a 3-7 team behind the best running back in the city, Tyshaun Freeman
Westside 30  Cook 14


Veterans- Stockbridge
Veterans has had a remarkable year but they are 2-2 over the last four games and were shutout by WRHS, which is worrisome considering the Demons aren't known for their defense. The Warhawks had a great year but it ends Friday night against a 9-1 Stockbridge team.
Stockbridge 27 Veterans 6


Northeast-Swainsboro///Swainsboro is on a 6 game winning streak and as much as I want Northeast to win this game I don't think they can. The Raiders battle but cant quite get it done
Swainsboro 33 Northeast 18


Northside-Tucker// Might be a difficult game and then again it might not. Tucker is 7-3 and Northside has under achieved at 5-5 . I think the Eagles are pretty much going to peak right now.
Northside 27 Tucker 22


Upson Lee- Thompson , easy queezy win for a very good football team
Upson Lee 34 Thompson 9


Stratford-Aquinas/// Stratford pulled the upset last week over Auinas and look what happens to them. The schedule comes out and the Eagles get Aquinas again. I am sure Aquinas has been studying all week on how to stop Christian Palmer, who absolutely torched them a week ago. On the other hand Mark Fariba knows that too so Stratford will try and figure out how to get Palmer loose. I love Palmer but I just cannot make myself pick the Eagles to win this game.
Aquinas 24 Stratford 20


Ringold- Peach////Blowout city for the Trojans
Peach 38 Ringold  14


Perry- Baldwin//// I love this game and I would love to see it. Baldwin is 5-5 with 5 straight wins after a brutal schedule basically made them be 0-5. They gave up 192 points in those 5 games. Since then they have given up 34 points in the last 5 games.
Perry makes the playoffs and they can be explosive. Both teams lost to Veterans in close games one by 7 and one by 8.
Lane Rucker and Davion Ross get it done in a great game.
Perry 24 Baldwin 23


Here are the rest of them
MDS  27 Holy Innocence 13
Wesleyan 34 Tattnall 14
WRHS 43  Locust Grove 17
Jones County  35  Bainbridge  17

What can I say.
I mean I guess someone has to be able to pick almost 84% of high school games correctly.
At 56-11 I guess I can say that cant I ?
Show me another place where I can find someone picking  that high of a percentage please because I would like to talk to that person.
I tackle 12 more games this week and I will try and stretch my wins in a row to 24, which would be pretty impossible but hey I sure am going to try.
THE HEAVYWEIGHT BATTLES
Westside-Peach
This game is at Peach County which is a very difficult place to go when you are searching for a win. Peach County has dominated this match-up but they dominate most of them. I tried to see a way to get Westside a win here because they can run and throw, but can they run and throw against Peach County.
MY bigger question is can they stop Peach County from scoring ?
My answer comes to a no
Peach 30 Westside 20


Veterans- WRHS
I would love to pick Veterans in this game because they have had an outstanding year after being mediocre for their entire existence. But this is Warner Robins and the Demons are on a pretty good run on the football field.
WRHS 35 Veterans 22


Tattnall- Greene County
Of course I want to pick Tattnall in this game for obvious reasons. They have won five straight and Jamal Marshall is a difference maker. But I have heard that Greene County is a manly football team with big guys and lots of speed. Sorry guys I cant do it.
Greene Co 40 Tattnall 34


Howard- Mary Persons
I love the job Paul Carroll has done with Howard and I love the way they play. But wait a minute, Mary Persons is a different beast. I mean they are one of the biggest beasts in the area. I saw Howard come undone against Upson Lee a few weeks ago and I hope Howard learned a lesson in that game. That lesson will pay off later but not this week.
Mary Person 31 Howard 14


THE NEXT LEVEL
West Laurens- Perry
Both teams are desperate for a win and I think the home team takes this one.
Perry 24 West Laurens 13
Mount de Sales- Hancock Central
This should be a very good  football game but I think the Cavaliers wear their opponent down late in a close game.
MDS  23 Hancock 17


Stratford- Aquinas
Stratford can still sneak into the playoffs even with a loss because of their tough schedule and that is a good thing because Aquinas is pretty good.
Aquinas 30 Stratford  13


THE REST OF THE BUNCH
Northeast 46 East Laurens 6
Wilco   27- Spalding 10
Bleckley  24   SW  20
Wash Wilkes   33  FPD 16
Northside   33  HOCO 17
Thank you to all of my loyal readers who make me not be lazy and write. Please tell your friends about me :)

Old Age

I admit that I am getting old.
I mean I can't really hide it from anyone.
I have always heard about this stage in my life and I feel like I was almost promised the benefits of it by several older friends.
Well I am here to say that I have not found many good things about the age cycle.
Lets start with friends. When I was younger, which basically means 40 or less, I never watched a Georgia game by myself. I was at a party or at a sports bar or had friends over, or at the very least, I was with my son and another friend of his and another dad.
Now it has fallen to me and my wife, and while she gives her best effort, its more like her working in the yard, cleaning, reading or sleeping, and then she throws in a "good play" or something about once a quarter.
She really doesn't watch guys.
My only satisfaction is the game itself.


As you all know my kids are gone from Macon, probably only to return on special holidays. I don't blame them and I am extremely proud of them. But where is the good in this. You raise them and you get to like them a little bit by the time they have grown up a bit and then when you finally get to that point they leave and all you get is a daily text and a phone call every once in awhile. Yeah these getting older years are a blast. I guess we are supposed to be thankful that we raised good kids and they don't want to be sitting on my door step, eating Cheetos in their underwear.


Then there is the memory factor. I see people and struggle with names, I lose my keys daily, as well as my debit card and sometimes I lose them pretty good. The other day I was almost leaving for work and I went for the last comb of my hair and I had white stuff in it. Closer examination showed that I was shampoo so evidently I had forgotten to rinse the hair out after I washed it. I guess I was a little more sleepy than I thought.


I miss the part of my younger days when I just didn't really give a crap about things. That's right I have become a sentimental lush in my old days. I decided to start selling things  this weekend that had been in the house and now had been replaced in the house. The old fridge where so man spills inside had happened and that housed gallons and gallons of mile is now gone and I almost teared up as it drove away in a strangers car. The chest of drawers from one of the kids rooms is now gone and  I couldn't help but remember when we moved those things into the room and almost tore down a wall doing it.
But now they are gone.
The old microwave is also gone, the one that I got as a wedding present from all my friends when microwaves were not in everyones house. It has worked all these years, fell out of the rotation to newer stuff but made it back in when that one broke. I mean that microwave has been with us for the long haul and if it could tell stories, it would not be a good thing. I mean did one of my kids really put one of my cats in it ??
No one will ever truly know.
But its gone for 10 bucks and I was sad about it.
My favorite restaurant in North Macon, La Bamba is now torn down. I loved that place because the food was got and the man had my order ready before I sat down. Sometimes I think he cooked it before I showed up because it was that fast. I am saddened that its not even a building anymore.
Old age brings fewer friends I mentioned that but heck, sometimes I uber just to be around people. Now its everyone above 40 that I take is my cohort and we talk about old age, while everyone younger just gets my worldy advice. I am sure they love that.
But what they get is me and I really don't know any other way to be. I am past the cool age to younger people for sure and I am sure they laugh as they get out of my car. I hate being the old person !!!!
I am also hating what the age thing has done to me as an athlete. Here is the deal, I was never great at anything, but I was extremely coordinated with good hand eye coordination. I could basically do athletic things easily. I hit homeruns in baseball, many of them, and I shot 80 on a golf course. I scored over 20 points in a basketball game and I ran 22 minute 5 k races. But my hands and my eyes and my knees and my, well everything else, has failed me, or maybe I failed them. Most of that ability is gone now.
Sure I can still talk the game. I said a year ago I could score on Kate Blankenship on a PK and I still think I can. I would say 3 scores at least in 10 penalty kick tries. I would do it right now today if it was for a good cause.
I feel like I could hit a ball out of a ball park also . Give me a week to hit and I feel like It wouldn't take me more than 20 swings to do it. It prob wouldn't take that many.
I know I could hit a 30 yard field goal if I was given five kicks. That's a no-brainer.
Anyways my hands are starting to hurt now so I need to take a break. Don't hesitate to issue a public challenge because I would probably take it.
That's what old people do
Have a great week everyone

My High School PIcks

I should not have taken a break in the middle of high school season with my picks but I did.
I am sitting at 44-11 on the year which I think is somewhere around 79% and I usually pick only the difficult games but this week I decided to pick a few more games to raise my average over 80%. That's what people do right ?
THE REAL DIFFICULT ONES
Northside vs Valdosta
Please don't tell me that Northside is great this year because they are not. They are a good football team and getting better while Valdosta may be a good football team getting worse. Both teams have quality wins over the same Coffee County team and both teams have that quality win recently. Of course I know that Valdosta is coming off of a 63-7 loss to Lee County University, but does that kill a team or wake up a team ? We don't know what it does to Valdosta.
Valdosta is at home and it is senior night so emotions will be high. The winner of this game has a great chance at the number 2 seed in the region.
Please don't think that I hate Northside even though I graduated from Warner Robins. My wife went to Northside and I have been with her for 33 years.
Some are picking this one as a blowout for Northside but I don't see it that way at all . I think it comes down to who makes a play late.
Valdosta 24 Northside 23


Ok now that I have pissed of my Northside reader lets move on
Thomas County Central- Veterans.
I love Zuell and Verger for Veterans and this one is a difficult pick because TCC is always pretty good.
Veterans 24 TCC 20


Howard-Spalding
Lots of folks have this one in their blowout pile also but I don't see it that way. Spalding only lost to Mary Persons by a 21-0 score and West Laurens by a 14-2 score. This is not a terrible football team but they just cant score. I think Howard wins in a must game for them, but it is way closer than people think.
Howard 20  Spalding 13


THE SEMI DIFFICULT ONES
Westside-Pike County
Being at Pike County makes this one a little close but I think Westside takes care of business
Westside 30 Pike 20


West Laurens-Upson Lee
West Laurens cant score at all and Upson Lee can
Upson Lee 28 West Laurens  17


Perry - Mary Persons
Perry is plying for its playoff life and although I don't think they can win I think they can keep it close.
Mary Person 27 Perry 18


Peach -Jackson
Jackson isn't too shabby a football team guys
Peach  28  Jackson 20


Tattnall- FPD
It is Tattnall and FPD guys.
Tattnall 31 FPD 20


ITS ALREADY OVER BEFORE IT STARTS
MOUNT DE SALES  27 WILCO 6


CENTRAL 42 RUTLAND 0
WACO 43 NORTHEAST 19
STRATFORD  35  TWIGGS 0

Back with rankings

I know its sad that I decide to take a few weeks off from blogging in the middle of football season but sometimes my mind just is not clear enough to sit down and write a blog, especially when it seems like viewership numbers were down. I have always stated that I do not write to attain numbers, but I also have to admit that numbers motivate me.
I would like to thank the many followers I have that have emailed, texted and come to me at games asking where the blog has been. I am glad that people like it and I ask you to please re-tweet it after you read it. Twitter readers are great. Facebook sharing is also great.
I am going with my top 25 or 26 high school players today and I thank every coach that makes sure that stats are available somewhere. It is difficult to compile a list like this without numbers to back this stuff up.
26) Elizabeth Rodenroth- Okay is she the 26th best offensive threat in Middle Georgia ? No she probably isn't. But I could not go any longer without mentioning her in a story. I have seen Howard four times this year and this young lady has gone from a decent high school kicker to a very good high school kicker who could probably kick for 90 percent of the teams in Middle Georgia. I saw her Friday handle extra points like it was nothing special (ask Southwest and Northeast about that) and she also added a 30 or so yard field goal like it was nothing special. She simply makes her kicks when given the chance and I love the way that she has been accepted by the Howard players. She fist bumps and head bangs with the best of them on the field.
25)Jeremiah Kelly-This young man is a top 5 talent but injuries have slowed him this year. He went out Friday night again with the same ankle that has been bothering him for weeks and he went back in but he looks to be about 75 percent maybe. Howard will not go far in the playoffs if they cant get this guy healthy.
24)Christian Palmer- Lets get one thing straight. Christian is a basketball  player first and will play college basketball. But what he has done this year is fairly impressive. The kid probably threw the ball less than a 100 times last year  and now he is pretty much doing that every three games. Stratford doesn't have many wins this year, but Palmer takes a beating every game and just keeps doing his job. The Eagles are inside the playoff bubble right now but expect Stratford and Christian Palmer to find a way to get in.
23)Victor DixonJr- Westside is 6-2 and the junior quarterback has been solid. He has thrown for 1269 yards and 10 touchdowns.
22)Cory Munson- He is the best kicker in these parts and has D1 talent. He is a pretty fair punter but he is a supreme kicker, hitting on 10-of-14 this year with a long of 53 yards.
21)Nolan Ussery- The Northeast quarterback is one of those dual threat guys and he is having a sold season with 870 yards passing and 635 yards rushing.
20)Jahlen Rutherford-The WRHS running back has been the consistent back that the Demons need to go along with their magical passing game.
19)Quintan Sewell- Howard is in the playoff picture largely because of this young man. If he is good the Huskies are good, if he struggles the Huskies cant score. He has put up over 1100 yards of offense this year but Howard has struggled just a bit because of injuries to key players. Sewell has kept things going  as well as he possibly can.
18)Malik Wooten-Just one of many weapons for Jones County. He has 30 catches this year for over 500 yards and he will only get better.
17)Jamal Marshall- Tattnall Square is a pretty good football team with Marshall on the field. Tattnall Square is a pretty average football team without him. He may be one of the five most explosive players in Middle Georgia but he has been unable to play an entire game this season because of an assortment of injuries. He played all the way against MDS and the Trojans knocked off an undefeated team.
16)Sebastian Verger- 1400 yards of offense for the Veterans quarterback. The Warhawks are 7-1 after not being so goof last year, or the year before, or the year before. Props to this young man for being a huge part of the turn around.
15)Jaydon Gibson- Peach County is always good, Peach County always has someone who can sling it, and this year Peach County has Jaydon Gibson who has 1144 yards through the air to go with 12 touchdowns.
14)Jaylon Barden- Westside has talent and Barden is one of many talents. He would probably on that most explosive list and I would love to see a Jaylon vs Jamal sprint race. Barden is having a solid year with 33 catches for 536 yards.
13)Max Rigby- Rigby is coming into his own as the Houston County quarterback and has 1453 yards through the air with  13 touchdowns.
12)Cyrus Zuell- Big strong running back who is having a great year for Veterans with 803 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns.
11)Lane Rucker- The talented Perry quarterback has led Perry to a winning record this year and will have to keep producing if his team is going to make the playoffs. Rucker has already thrown for 2260 yards and 14 touchdowns.
10)Jaydin Daniels- Northside has a huge game with Valdosta this weekend and Daniles will have to continue to do his thing. He is probably the number one dual threat quarterback in the area with 937 yards passinf and 792 yards rushing.
9)Davion Ross-Perry has a big time threat at receiver with this guy, who has hauled in 51 passes already this year for 751 yards and 8 touchdowns.
8)Jontavis Robertson- 801 yards catching passes for those Hounds with 9 touchdowns.
7)Dexter Williams-Mount de Sales lost a game but Williams is legit all the way with 1328 yards on the ground and 683 yards through the air to go with 21 touchdowns.
6)Tyshaun Freeman-He is a bruiser who has given Westside a running game, something the Seminoles don't always have. He has 926 yards on the ground with 10 touchdowns for a very good football team.
5)Quen Wilson- Mary Persons is good and Quen Wilson is very good and putting up the numbers to prove it. The running back has962 yards on the ground with 19 touchdowns.
4)Marcayll Jones- If you want to see video game numbers, well here we are. This 5'10 receiver has 63 catches for a huge, astounding 1420 yards, which gives him a chance at a 200 yard year if Warner Robins continues to win.
3)Hunter Costlow- The Jones County quarterback puts out more video game numbers  with 2001 yards of passing and 26 touchdowns.
2)JT Hartage- Ok no video game numbers here but just a sold quarterback who does everything. The Mary Persons quarterback is completing 71% of his passes and has thrown only 2 interceptions in 8 games. He has 15 touchdown passes and has thrown for 1711 yards.
1)Dylan Fromm-The las tof the Fromm brothers has a chance at a 4000 yard season and already has over 2800 yards to go with 31 touchdowns for Warner Robins.


We will be back with something else later this week

Touchinhg my heart today

Sometimes I blog because I feel like I am supposed to and I need to because maybe just maybe someone is waiting to read who I will pick in a high school football game or who I may put in my best players in the area list.
Today I blog because I write when I have feelings that need to come out, and sometimes writing is very therapeutic for me.
I write in respect for everyone who has been affected by the death of Dylan Thomas.
I can't even begin to count the number of high school football games I have seen over the past 45 years but I am sure it is many more than the average sports fan. I have been blessed to get to see many games over the last 10 years on the sideline, which is 100% my preferred place to watch. I have often been told that it would be much simpler to watch and write about the game from the press box, but that never suited me. I loved being on the field, where you could feel the raw emotions of the players who needed a win and the coaches who have to have a win.I did not personally know Dylan Thomas, but I feel like I have known hundreds of young men just like Dylan Thomas, kids who loved the game of football and just wanted to play.
 I have often talked to the trainers on the sidelines during the game who do their best to keep the players as healthy as possible.
I first heard about the injury to Dylan Thomas on Friday night on Twitter and it sounded very serious at the time. My first thoughts went towards the parents who had sent their son to play in a football game and never got to talk to him again. I thought about the other players who had to watch a player from their team, probably a best friend to many of them, get carried off the field in a situation that they knew was dire. I thought of Peach County, the team that Dylan Thomas was playing against that night and about how bad they must have felt. I mean someone hit this kid that night and knocked him down and how terrible a thought was that for whoever that player was.
I also thought about the coaches from Pike County and how hard that must have been for them. Evidently Dylan Thomas was knocked out of the game early and went back in before passing out on the sideline. Obviously they would not have put him back in the game if the had any inkling of how bad he was injured, or even injured at all. I don't know this but I am guessing Dylan Thomas, who weighed 150 pounds, was begging to go back into the game and he had clearance from the trainers to go back into the game.
Lastly I think about the trainers on the field. I think every high school team travels with trainers and they have the decision to let a kid back in a game or not. I have seen kids begging to get back in a game and the trainers saying no. I have asked trainers straight up about the worst injuries they have ever had to deal with and most of them involve a blown out or broken leg. They see concussions every day and every game and the protocol is fairly advanced. But on this Friday night, the injury was much worse, and those trainers will never forget Dylan Thomas
I pray for the EMTS who probably had to deal with an injury they may have never seen before and I am sure everyone did everything they could to save this young mans life. Sometimes however it is just not meant to be. Football is a violent sport and sometimes accidents happen. It does not make the outcome easier to deal with , but  Dylan Thomas will not be forgotten.
Pike County is 4-1 on the year and I do not know what their plan is for the rest of the year, but I am betting they will be back on the field for another game very soon. I saw a video of one of the Pike County captains and he said that Dylan would want them to keep playing.
God Bless every one of those kids and everyone who was a part of a terrible Friday night.
Lets all pray for safe Fridays to come
Rest in Peace Dylan Thomas

Ko Knows Sports Tremendous 26

I went 26 deep on the offensive depth charts this week to pick my best skill players in my Middle Georgia.
Nobody does it better, because well, nobody else dares to do it. Its not a statement its a fact.
26) Cory Munson- I have Northside Eagles in my ratings this week as they have been removed from my banned list of schools. (That's a whole story in itself) Cory Munson is the best kicker in the state and I am confident in that statement. He has a big big leg that can keep a half-time crowd interested when he comes out and warms up. He's not getting warm from 35 yards out, he's booming it from 55 or 60. UGA needs to be calling or at least someone that needs a big time kicker
25)Javarsia Meadows- He is Howards leading rusher right now but I am not quite sure what to think about the Huskies right now. We will know a lot more after this West Laurens game. Meadows has close to 400 yards rushing.
24)Eric Williams- HOCO is decent this year and Williams is one of the main reasons on offense. He already has 436 yards on the ground
23)TJ Miles- Northeast is battling this year and Miles has a chance to be a 1,000 yard rusher , sitting at 450 yards right now.
22)Quintin Sewell- He has been a little up and down this season but is capable of turning a game around with his determination and grit but he cant do it by himself. He is a solid quarterback and Howard would not be this good without him.
21)Jahlen Rutherford- Warner Robins has a solid running game and this guy is at the forefront of it. He has 436 yards on the ground in a pass happy offense.
20)Nolan Ussery- This guy is another one of a very good class of dual threat quarterbacks and he has Northeast thinking playoffs this year. He is able to run with 460 yards and  he is doing a great job in the passing game also with 469 yards. That's moving quickly towards a 1000 yards rushing and passing on the year.
19)Jaydon Gibson- Peach Couny does not re-build they just change players and this guy is the quarterback of a very balanced team. He is averaging 163 yards passing per game and has seven touchdowns.
18)Jeremiah Kelly- He has struggled with an injury and his numbers have taken a huge hit and basically he just has to get healthy if Howard is going to make the playoffs. He has 388 yards on the ground but has not been a factor trying to play through his injury.
17)Victor Dixon Jr- The Westside quarterback is on the cusp of being great but has not quite reached that cusp as of yet. Don't get me wrong he is very good, averaging 181 yards passing per game, but I feel like he still has one more step to take this year.
16)Max Rigby- The HOCO quarterback had some big shoes to fill when he replaced Jake Fromm last year, and that potential is starting to show through this year. HOCO is a better football team this year and Rigby is a big part of that , averaging 191 yards passing to go with nine touchdowns.
15)Jaydin Daniels- Daniels is completing 64% of his passes and has 660 yards on the ground for Northside and has played well in big games. Look for the Eagles to finish strong.
14)Jaylon Barden- I love this kids explosiveness and he is having a very nice junior season with 395 yards on 24 catches. I want to see a little bit more out of that Westside passing game.
13)Malik Wooten- Jones County can throw it and Malik Wooten can catch it. He has around 500 yards of total offense to go with nine scores and it is easy to find him when he is on the field. He is the one with that little extra burst when he has the football.
12)Cyrus Zuell-Did we all expect Veterans to be undefeated at this point of the season. I think you are lying if you say you saw this coming. Zuell is a big reason for the success with 614 yards on the ground to go with nine scores already.
11)Jontavis Robertson- Well we have another Jones County receiver but the guys are putting up numbers and winning football games. Robertson has 484 yards catching the football and has scored five tiumes.
10- Sebastian Verger-Veterans is undefeated and a big part of that is because of this quarterback . He gives Veterans that dual threat that everyone loves and has already passed for 596 yards and ran for another 410. By the way who had Veterans undefeated at this time of the year?
9-Quen Wilson- Mary Persons may be the best team in this area and running back Quen Wilson is a big part of that. He has 541 yards rushing and 233 receiving yards and the Bulldogs have manhandled everyone they have played.
8-TyShaun Freeman- Westside has a big ole strong running back who has almost stole the offensive show . He has 578 yards rushing in five games and has been pretty dominant when they feed him the football.
7-Davion Ross- 131 yards per game in receiving yards is fairly impressive and big play capability from this guy is even more impressive.
6-Lane Rucker- The Perry quarterback is THAT good with 1550 passing yards a game. By the way that is over 300 yards per game and he also has thrown 10 touchdown passes. Rucker is having a monster year.
5-Dexter Williams- Mount de Sales is off this week and they get back Josiah Cotton after the break, but Williams has carried the Cavaliers to a 5-0 start. Williams has 776 yards rushing and 519 throwing the football and has Cavalier fans thinking deep playoff run.
4-Marcayll Jones-His number just jump out at you when you are scrolling through numbers. Lets say that he has 733 yards in receiving which means 146 per game. He went for 215 against Northside which is a big game anywhere.
3-JT Hartage- The Mary Persons quarterback has continued his move up the list by putting up huge numbers and not losing football games. He simply does no turn the football over and has thrown for 1012 yards and eight touchdowns. Basically he just wins football games.
2-Hunter Costlow- Justin Rogers knows how to make quarterbacks look great and Costlow is the guy right now. He is completing 69% of his passes for 1229 yards and 19 touchdowns. Oh yeah Jones County has not lost.
1-Dylan Fromm- What else can I say about him. His numbers speak loud enough  with 1724 yards and 16 touchdown passes. His numbers are on par with that other guy named Fromm that has done pretty well for himself.


quick picks for the week
Jones County over Locust Grove
FPD over Twiggs
Tattnall over Wilco
Mary Persons over Spalding
Dodge over NE
WL over Howard
WRHS over HOCO
Perry over Upson
Westside over Central
Peach over PIke

MY weeklies

I am sitting here at 37-10 and still have some things to figure out.
I thought Howard was really good, and now it looks like they are a playoff team, but a first round loser
I thought Northeast was pretty good after a good win over Manchester on the road, and they lay an egg against Central.
This week answers some huge questions for us as to who is good and who is not and I will discuss in these picks.
Rutland-Westside
Nothing changed here and Westside will win, well by as much as they want to win by. Rutland has struggled forever and the struggle continues  this year as they have not won a game.
Westside is only 2-2 but they get well this weekend
Westside 42 Rutland 6


Twiggs- Tattnall
Twiggs hasn't scored this year and Tattnall hasn't stopped anyone this year. But Tattnall is starting to get healthy at the right time of the season and I just cant see the Cobras doing anything with them.
Jamal Marshal and the Trojans get healthy this weekend.
Tattnall 42 Twiggs 6


Statesboro- West Laurens
West Laurens has a really good band and a pretty good football team that makes the playoffs every year. That's the same path they have going on this year.
But don't miss the band.
West Laurens 20 Statesboro 6


Dodge County- Southwest
Joseph Dupree is one of my favorites for sure but I think Dodge may be a little too good for the Patriots.
Dodge 22 SW 13


Bleckley- Northeast
I picked the Raiders last week against Central and they broke my heart. I cant get a grip on this team and I don't know who to pick.
Bleckley 23 Northeast 15


Mount de Sales- Stratford
Is Mount de Sales a good football team or is Mount de Sales a pretender. Lots of folks still thins they are the pretender because, well they have been a pretender for quite a few years.
Stratford is off to a slow start but we still have a lot of folks that think they will wake up and that would start with this game.
Sorry Stratford I think you may sneak into the playoffs, but its a Cavalier sort of year
MDS  24 Stratford 13


Veterans- Perry
Both teams are undefeated which is highly unexpected. Both teams are explosive with good quarterback play, and both teams play good defense.
Trust me on this one
LOCK OF THE WEEK NUMBER ONE
PERRY 27 veterans 20


WRHS- Northside
Folks talk like this is going to be a great football game and it will be great because of who is playing. However the hype will far outweigh what happens on the field. I don't even think this one will be that close.
WRHS 36 Northside  20

picks of the week

Have I mentioned to anyone that I am 30-8 with these picks so far ?
Hey that's not bad because I am picking THE most difficult games around and sometimes I just throw one out for the fun of it.
This week I am confident I can win at least 5 of the 9 games I am picking.
I am also finding out how important it is to get the right people (perhaps the fabulous Marvin James) to retweet about my blog because the numbers soar when he does that. I encourage you all to tell your friends to read because I try and give Middle Georgia some outlet to find out about high school football.
With that said here we go with the games.
ITS JUST NOT THE YEAR FOR THEM GAME
I would have to be speaking about FPD, who is off to a 0-3 start and things may not get better. This week they are on the road to play Brookstone, a team they would beat 98-100 times they play in different years than 2018.
This however is not the year
Brookstone 26
FPD     20


IT MAY BE THE YEAR  FOR THIS TEAM
Why that would be the Mount de Sales Cavaliers I am talking about and things have finally come together and Keith Hatcher has the best private school football team in Macon. I said it and I mean it and I believe that that they are the best by a long-shot. They still have a huge weapon that hasn't played yet but Dexter Williams has held them together so far.
Its a Cavalier type of year
MDS   28
Greene Co 18


THIS COULD BE A GREAT GAME
HOCO and Veterans has not been the greatest of games lately but this year both teams are much improved. HOCO is 2-2 and has a great passing quarterback in Max Rigby while Veterans is undefeated at 4-0 and rides the shoes of Sebastian Verger, who has emerged this year as a dual threat quarterback.
This will be a good one
Veterans  23
HOCO 21


THE NOT QUITE READY FOR PRIME TIME TEAM
I  cant blame Jesse Hicks for trying to get wins when he opens up with WACO, Jones County and Warner Robins. But the fourth week brings yet another giant as they host Northside. I just hope the spirits are sill high for Baldwin football after another loss.
Northside 33
Baldwin 16


THE BATTLE OF RIVALS
I would actually love to be at this game and thought I was going to be but Henderson Stadium has not Wi Fi so DSBN sports cant cover this game. This will be a brawl because it always is. I think Northeast and Nolan Ussery got that swag back last week with a huge win over Manchester.
Northeast 20
Central    15


FORGET THIS ONE TIL THE SCORE COMES OUT
Hey don't worry about those Hounds. Costlow has it under control.
Jones County 38
Woodland 14


WILL THEY SLEEP?
Howard is due for a let down right ?
Are you serious ? This is a different type of team and Sewell and that defense really don't allow letdowns.
Howard 30
Jackson 22


CLASSIC NUMBER ONE
My favorite game of the week with two coaching greats going at each other. Mary Persons has looked unstoppable while Peach County has been really good so far. JT Hartage is special and they can run the ball and throw the ball, but Chad Campbell has already lost a game this year and he rarely loses more than two.
This might be the year they lose three.
Mary Persons  30
Peach County  21


CLASSIC NUMBER TWO
Colquitt County is coming to WRHS loaded and ready for action but WRHS is pretty good with Dylan Fromm and company.
I don't think they can handle this team though
Colquitt 42
WRHS  24

top 25 skill players in the area

Thank you to the 253 readers of my blog last week which I don't think is half bad for a story . I mean it is probably about 100 more than most sports stories get locally. But then again we have no local coverage except for outlets like me that are really trying to keep local sports coverage alive.
I am coming out with my 25 best skill players in the area again this week and the ratings have changed a bit. Now if the coaches or whoever choose not to list stats publicly the player will not make the list so don't expect to see any HOCO players this week. They did not add stats from last weeks game. Peach County however did.
You may not agree with my rankings but just be happy someone is trying to do this . It is a time consuming challenge I do for no money.
So here we go
25)Randy Green- Ok I know this is skill players but I had to slip a defensive player in here that dominates. Mr. Green keeps the Southwest Patriots in every game and he may be the best player in the city.
24) DeAndre Shelton- If Randy Green isn't it may be DeAndre Shelton who is one of the main reasons that Howard is 3-1. He is a defensive stopper.
23)Deadrek Alford- The Mary Persons receiver is having a breakout season  and has 316 yards receiving in four games.
22) Jahlen Rutherford- Warner Robins can run the football and this guy is the main reason. He has already rushed for 300 yards this season and the Demons have only played three games.
21) Javarsia Meadows- 339 yards rushing already gives Howard a great one two punch
20)Samaj Ingram- He leads the way for Jones County with 365 yards rushing for the 4-0 Greyhounds.
19)Jaydon Gibson- The Peach County quarterback is getting it done in his first years as the starter. He has completed 42-of-56 passes for 386 yards in three games.
18)Nolan Ussery- The Northeast quarterback led his team to a huge upset of Manchester by running for 150 yards. He has thrown for 302 yards while rushing for another 230 which makes him a top notch dual threat guy.
17)Sebastian Verger- Another dual threat guy with 322 yards passing and 230 rushing, the Veterans quarterback has led his team to a 4-0 start.
16)Victor Dixon- He threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns against Howard, but he was only 10-of-25 through the air. He is having a great year though with 806 yards passing in four games.
15)Quintan Sewell- This guy is a winner and came through big in a win over Westside. He now has 350 yards passing to go with 223 yards rushing and has accounted for 10 touchdowns.
14)Malik Wooten_ He wasn't even on the list last week but his numbers cant be denied. He is a do all kind of guy for Jones County with 82 yards rushing and 339 yards receiving and hey guess what, the Hounds are undefeated.
13)Jontavis Robertson- I may as well get the other half of Jones County in here right now, and Jontavis is putting up numbers, with 20 catches for 408 yards and five touchdowns in four games.
12)Jaylon Barden-The Westside receiver went 5-113 last week and has 395 yards receiving this year in only four games.
11)Cyrus Zuell- Veterans running back is crushing it this year with 436 yards in four games and has already scored seven times.
10)Jeremiah Kelly- Jeremiah is hampered with a bad ankle which has dropped him down the list a bit but still think he is one of the best running backs in the area.
9)JT Hartage- Look at what a winner is and this is what we have. The Mary Persons quarterback is getting it done and threw for 301 yards last week. He has 835 yards passing so far and has thrown seven touchdown passes and has 0 interceptions. These are the kind of numbers that coaches and writers love.
8)Marcayll Jones- He went 7-135 last weekend for WRHS and so far he is 19-430 and that is in three games of receiving . That my friends is a go to type of guy.
7)TyShaun Freeman.- Freeman is a man of a running back who takes hits and carries defenders. Westside has never had a big back and Spoon Ripser is not afraid to deed the guy. He already has carried the ball 85 times in four games and has 454 yards on the ground.
6)Quen Wilson-He has 12 touchdowns already including three last week and he has already rushed for 429 yards.
5)Dexter Williams- The MDS quarterback holds on to his number five ranking despite having his off week least week. Lets see what he can do against Greene County this Friday.
4)Davion Ross-this kind has 9 catches for 200 yards last week so what am I supposed to do with him. He has 26 catches already for 444 yards and has Perry on the list of strong Middle Georgia teams.
3)Lane Rucker- He had 320 yards passing last week with three touchdowns to push his passing totals to 1120 yards and 8 touchdowns. The Panthers have not run the ball too well this year but they sure can pass.
2)Hunter Costlow- He is a winner and Justin Rogers loves winners. The Jones County quarterback is pushing for the number one spot on the list as he threw five touchdowns a week ago to push his numbers to 17 on the year.  That goes with 1017 yards passing and an undefeated team.
1)Dylan Fromm- He had a boring 20-25 283 and 2 touchdown games last week which pushed his numbers to nine touchdowns and 1072 yards in three games. Mercer will be lucky to have him next year.
**Two off the list**
My list of favorite guys is long but I will give you two every week. They may not ever make the top 25 list but have to be mentioned somewhere
** Christian Palmer- Palmer is a basketball guy first in my mind but has basically been handed the Stratford offense and led them to a hard fought win last week over Washington Wilkes. This may not be a win that has Stratford winning their next 5 games or anything like that, but they did beat a pretty fair team last Friday and Palmer is at the center of everything offensively.
***Miles Morris- I have no doubt the Tattnall quarterback could be a 2000 yard per season passer in the right system but he has been able to find yards out of the wing t that Tattnall runs. This guys is a winner and things are on the rise for Tattnall football starting next week. Morris is also playing defense now and had an interception last game. He has taken a beating this year at the hands of Howard and Dublin but watch him get up and keep playing. He also gets kudos for playing three sports at Tattnall which is what everyone needs to do.

MY PICKS

Its going to be another great week of high school football but I just want things to slow down a bit. This is just a fun time of the year and it is hard to believe that we are in week four for some teams.
Crazy things are happening all over the place. FPD. Stratford and Tattnall. who have basically won way more that they have lost over the last 20 or so years , are all struggling, with a combined 1-7 record, and that win was a Tattnall win over a hapless team. I don't know if and when that will change and I am wondering if ACE has really hurt those schools. Maybe it is a coincidence that all three schools are struggling the same year ACE opens its varsity schedule. But think about it, of every one of those schools lost two good football players to ACE, that's huge because the better players play both ways. That's like losing four starters.
Okay now for my picks of the week and yes I have some tough ones.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Howard vs Westside
Howard has never defeated Westside in football and this could be the year. I had a chance to talk to both coaches last night and Spoon Risper and Paul Carroll respect each other and respect each others football teams. I think this one is decided on the turnover number.
Both teams can run it and both teams can throw a little so it comes down to who can make plays on the defensive side of the ball.
Lets remember Jeremiah Kelly went out with an ankle injury a week ago and I think he will play, but will he be 100 percent ?
In the end I think this one is a nail-biter decided in the last four minutes.
Westside 23 Howard 21


Statesboro vs  Veterans
Hey everyone this is a good game and a huge game for Veterans quarterback Sebastian Verger. Statesboro comes in a 2-0, but I think the Warhawks continue to get it done
Veterans  23 Statesboro 16


Perry vs Monroe
Monroe is 2-1 and should give Perry a game. Oh wait, this is the year of the Panther and Lane Rucker
Perry 31 Monroe 14


Southwest vs Central
This one will be fun and this one will probably be very very ugly. Southwest has to win ugly because they just aren't very offensive, while Central just gave up 46 to Howard. In games I am not sure of I go with a coach that has proven he can get it done.
Southwest 16  Central 14


WRHS- Baldwin
Baldwin wants to be a heavyweight and kudos to Jesse Hicks for playing this schedule. One has to feel like it will pay off later in the year.
It wont pay off this week though
WRHS  43  Baldwin 16


Union Grove- Jones County
Another great game with two teams that haven't lost.
Union Grove hasn't seen Jones County this year.
Hunter and Jontavis, do your thing
Jones 29 Union Grove   20


HOCO- Peach
HOCO is much better this year for sure but they are catching Peach a week after Peach got destroyed by Lee County.
That does not bode well for the Bears
Peach 28  HOCO 13


Northeast- Manchester
Manchester is undefeated, Northeast hasn't won. Ah a simple one right ??
Northeast 20 Manchester 16


NOW MY PRIVATES
Lincoln County-Tattnall
Lincoln County is not the old Lincoln County but Tattnall is not the old Tattnall. The Trojans are beat up and are missing key starters. Chance Jones feels like they will be fine after the off week next week, but Tattnall needs a win now.
Lincoln County does too
Lincoln 30 Tattnall 24


Washington Wilkes- Stratford
Mark Fariba is one of my favorite coaches around here, but wins will be tough to find this year. I want to pick him to find a win, but I just don't think he can.
WW 34 Stratford 14


Hancock Central- FPD
How I want a win out of these private schools
Ok can I do it ?
Hancock 24 FPD 23

top players in Middle Georgia

Ok I am sure someone is waiting for me to come out with a top 20 players in the area and I will do that today. I have certain ways that kids get on this list and they are as follows
1. If a coach does not send his stats to Max Preps or sends me the stats for a player, I will not have him on my list. Unfortunately I do not have the time to run down stats
2. I will currently rank only offensive skill players because the stats are sitting there for me to look at.
3. Rankings are not who will be the best college football player or who will go to a d1 school. The rankings will be based on who in Middle Georgia is having an outstanding season.
4. I will accept stats from Aunt Martha or Uncle Chester if coaches don't feel like sending stuff.
5. Lets talk about bribes. No I will not take bribes that are less than 20 bucks. The bigger the bribe the higher the ranking. (those who know me and follow me know that this was an attempt at humor)


So here we go
26) Donald Lamb- The Central quarterback will need to have a big year if the Chargers are going to get out of their losing ways
25)Sebastian Verger- He has taken over the quarterback position at Veterans and has become a great dual threat quarterback with  316 yards passing and 187 yards rushing for the 3-0 WarHawks.
24)Isaia Harris- Houston County has also started off strong and Harris has been consistently good with 18 catches for 165 yards in just three games.
23)Javarsia Meadows- He blew up last game when Howard lost it's starter and will play a big part for Howard. He already has 327 yards on the ground this year and is a huge compliment to Jeremiah Kelly
22)Nolan Ussery- The Northeast quarterback may be the most improved player on the list. The Raiders have lost two tough games, but Ussery already has thrown for 266 yards in two games.
21)Eric Williams- The Houston County running back already has 244 yards this year and Houston County is once again playing good football.
20)Semaj Ingram- He is the man in the backfield for a very good Jones County team and already has 365 yards on the ground.
19)Quintin Sewell- If Howard is going to make a run this year, it will be because of this guy. He is a dual threat quarterback who hates losing and plays with a chip on his shoulders.  He has thrown for 260 yards while rushing for another 166 and has accounted for seven touchdowns.
18) Victor Dixon- Unlimited potential for the Westside quarterback and he is off to a good not great start with  612 yards passing and three touchdowns.
17) Jonathan Williams- Perry can throw the football and Williams is proving to be a weapon with 12 catches for 195 yards through three early season wins.
16)Jaylen Mills- HOCO likes to throw the football and Mills is a quality target with 15 catches for 226 yards.
15)JT Hartage- Mary Persons is really really good and JT Hartage is really really good. THe quarterback has completed 32-43 passes and has thrown five touchdowns. He leads an explosive offense that hasn't played much because they just blow out everyone. When the time comes Hartage will be ready.
14)Max Rigby- I saw him get hurt last year in the first game of the year,but this year has been great for him and he has taken the reigns at HOCO , throwing for 661 yards and six scores so far.
13)Marcayll Jones- Jones is a big time player from a big time Warner Robins team and has 295 yards receiving in two games. He will end the year with huge numbers.
12)TyShaun Freeman- Westside has a running game and it is because of this bruiser of a running back. Freeman has 353 yards in the Seminoles first three games.
11)Jahlen Rutherford- He is the main running back for Warner Robins and has averaged 114 yards in the teams first two games.
10)Lane Rucker- The Perry quarterback is a special one as evidenced by his 800 yards passing in three games. He has led the Panthers to a 3-0 start.
9)Cyrus Zuell- Veterans is off to a great start and Zuell's ability to run the football is key for them. He has already gained 342 yards and has score six times.
8)Jontavis Robertson- 18 catches for 395 yards already means a probable 1000 yard season for the Jones County pass catcher.
7)Jaylon Barden- I love this kids explosiveness and he is also on a path to a 1000 yard receiving year. He is the biggest target in a great Westside offense.
6)Quen Williams- Mary Persons can always run the football and this year is Williams turn to explode. He already has 382 yards and 9 scores.
5)Dexter Williams- Mount de Sales has a gem of a quarterback who has had to carry the load for three games because the Cavaliers number one running back is injured. In three games Williams has 533 yards rushing and 250 yards passing and has accounted for 10 touchdowns. He is the number one dual threat quarterback in the area.
4)Davion Ross-Ross is a big time player and gives Perry a big time receiver. He is basically a highlight film with 244 yards and 17 catches through a 3-0 Perry start.
3)Jeremiah Kelly- I absolutely love the way this guy runs and he may be the best Macon running back in 20 years. He did injure an ankle last game but has 374 yards already.
2)Hunter Costlow- Costlow does not look like a quarterback and will underwhelm you at times during a game. But numbers don't lie and Costlow is a winner all the way. His team is undefeated and Costlow is on the way to a 2500  yard passing season. He has 828 through three tough games and the guy has 12 passing touchdowns.
1)Dylan Fromm- I would take him 100 percent of the time if I needed a winner to be the quarterback of my team. Is he a system quarterback ? Yes he probably is. But he puts up video game number and he will end up being a star at Mercer before its over. He is not Jake Fromm, but Dylan Fromm does a great job of being Dylan Fromm.


LET me explain one thing. I welcome comments but no need to call me stupid. I do these rankings because I like kids to get noticed somewhere and it is all in fun. I think I do a pretty good job actually. If I missed someone tell me. Its all done for the right reasons.

this weeks games

We are finding out week by week who is good and who is bad and who is terrible and who is just sad.
Sorry I had to do it.
This week we will find out if some of our private schools are going to win much this year, as Tattnall, FPD, and Stratford have pivotal games. The public schools start the grind and we already know a few of them are pretty good.
Here are my games for the week
Jones County at Northside
If I was a bank robber (which I am not) I would head to Gray this Friday because the entire town will load up and go to the football game in Warner Robins. Jones County is football crazy and they were like that even before Justin Rogers. Now that they have a coach who wins, it is even more of a frenzy.
Hunter Costlow is the quarterback and he finds ways to win games, but Northside is a big big test for them. I am really torn because I believe Northside is way more athletic than the Hounds, but hey I grew up no like Northside (I am a Warner Robins grad) and last weekend did nothing to change my mind about them. So far as a sideline reporter, I have asked 13 times to interview a head coach before a game, at the half, or after the game, and I have only been turned down once. I wont say who that was .
Jones County 28
Northside       24


Mount de Sales vs Pinecrest
I love the Cavaliers this year and right now Dexter Williams is carrying the load with 375 yards rushing and 150 yards passing. Just wait till they get healthy and can throw some Cotton at you,
MDS  33
Pinecrest  14


Tattnall vs Trinity Christian
Tattnall is not as bad as they were in the Dublin game and I believe they will be fine when they play schools that they can match up with . Dublin was huge and fast and quick and athletic and Tattnall is young at key positions. They have to get everyone back on the field because most of the guys are teo way starters. Trinity is a tough match-up because they have already beat Northeast.
Tattnall plays better but its not enough
Trinity  27
Tattnall 20


Mount Vernon vs FPD
FPD is not as bad as they were last game again the bully of Macon, which is Howard. FPD lost most of its skill players from last year and they are still experimenting right now to find who should be on the field. Mount Vernon got a good win last week and will be a tough game to win.   It really is hard to say what FPD has because they didn't show much at all last week. I am iffy on this one.
Mount Vernon 23
FPD         20


George Walton vs Stratford
Stratford is just down this year, although that doesn't mean they are out. They will find a way to win some football games and make the playoffs because that's what they do. It seems like Christian Palmer has the keys to the offense and I believe in this guy and his ability to find ways to win football games. Excellent coaching staff with strong quarterback play usually leads to some wins.
Stratford 21
George Walton 17


Westside vs Perry
This has all the makings of a game of the week for sure. Both teams are 2-0 and Perry may have its best team in a long time. They have a very good young quarterback in Lane Rucker and skill players galore. Westside is very talented and has a running back, Tyshaun Freeman who is a bruiser that can carry a load. Westside has a million penalties in two games and it will cost them sooner or later. I think it might be this weekend
Perry 20
Westside 16


other games
Mary Persons 40 Morrow 6
Lee Co   33  Peach  20
Macon Co   26  SW   16
Howard   33  Central 14

this week in high school football

I think that picking high school football games at this time of year is basically like saying, hmmm who is usually good and who is usually bad. That is what I will go with right now at least.
I think I am probably two weeks away from doing a top 20 boys football players in the city because well right now its just too early to know everyone. I know that Sewell and Kelly from Howard would be on it and Dixon and the Seminoles running back would be on it, but I need a few more weeks to figure it out.
As far as team rankings we will know a lot more after this week. Yes Warner Robins is that good, but I have questions about Jones County and Westside, and even Northside. As I stated, we will know much more after this week.
So here are some picks to keep you going
Central- HOCO
I know nothing about Central except they were terrible a year ago. They have a new coach this year, but I don't know if that is enough to turn it around this quick. HOCO has a game under their belts and they weren't terrible, losing to what I think is a pretty good Perry team.
HOCO 26  Central  6


Tattnall Square- Dublin
Tattnall is not as bad as Howard made them look. They have skill players and will be bolstered by some returning skill players. But Dublin is not the kind of team that Tattnall usually plays because of their size and overall team speed. I think Tattnall plays much better than they did in the scrimmage against Howard, but Dublin is pretty good this year.
Dublin 33 Tattnall  20


Peach Co- Northside
I do not claim to know anything about either one of these teams this year. I do know however, that Chad Campbell is one of the three best coaches in this area.
I also know that Northside wins a lot of football games every year
Northside 19 Peach Co 16


Stratford- Savannah Country Day
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Christian Palmer, one of my favorite players in the city . He is that quarterback , point guard type who finds ways to win games in whatever sport he is playing. I am not sure about Stratford's skill players this year, but Palmer is enough to get a win here,
Stratford  23  SCD  13


MDS- Landmark
Mount de Sales will play again without Josiah Cotton who might be a top five player in the city, but had quarterback Dexter Williams, who may end up being the best player in the city this year. He ran for 189 yards last game and expect the same thing this week.
MDS 28 Landmark 6


FPD- Howard
Will Howard be flat heading into this game after a tough loss to Jones County ? NO they wont. If FPD is as down as I think they are, this one could get messy.
Howard 40 FPD 13


Westside-Harris County
Harris Count always has pretty good football teams and Westside always has pretty good football teams that commits 20 penalties a game. The SW- Westside game a week ago had no flow at all , mainly because of the 35 flags we saw in that game. Harris Co lost a tough one last week and Westside better be ready to go.
Harris County 22 Westside 21


Perry- Northeast
Good things are happening at both of these schools this year. But Perry will be just a little too much for the Raiders
Perry 27 Noortheast 18


Mary Persons 42 Jackson 20


Now go see a football game

week one picks

I feel like I pretty much know what is going on with sports in the Middle Georgia area.
I mean sometimes I am wrong, and people give me grief about it, but usually, usually, I am right on , especially when it comes to picking the winners of high school games.
So if I am so good at it, why not do it ?
I was doing it for the Telegraph for a few years before they decided to barely cover local sports, and last year I did it with some local celebrities.
So this year, I didn't ask anyone else to try it.
I COULDNT ask Tucker Sargent, his wife just had a baby a few days ago. Mason and Luke from WGXA as well as Evan are all gone reaching stardom away from Macon.
So my choices were limited.
I finally decided I don't need anyone else to make this fun so here are my picks. No one elses picks really matter anyways


THURSDAY NIGHT BLAST
What a way to start the high school season with 5A powerhouse Jones County coming to Macon to meet 4A secret Howard. First I must say that Barney Hester left Howard with great talent, the best and meanest being linebacker DeAndre Shelton. They are equally talented on offense with Jeremiah and Mr. Sewell in the backfield. Howard is going to have a possible playoff kind of year here but the winning will not start this week. No way , No sir, No No No. Jones County no longer re-builds they re-load and Justin Rogers is THE best coach in the area. The new Jones County weight room begins to pay off tonight.
Jones County 34
Howard          13


Friday Night Fuel
Westside and Southwest matches any game in the state this week. Westside has lost to Southwest twice and no other Macon team has ever defeated Westside. Spoon Risper knows it and I am betting he has been harping on that fact for many many weeks now. Dixon and Barden are enough to win this game but I am sure a running back or three will show up for the Seminoles.
I don't expect Southwest to be  a pushover, but they did lose a three year starter at quarterback, not because he graduated, but because he left for what he thought was a better opportunity. Yeah someone thinks playing for former UGA and GSU quarterback Joe Dupree isn't quite good enough for him.
It will be a good game and it ends with a score of
Westside 23
Southwest 12


How Bad is Tattnall
After getting beaten up last Friday in a scrimmage again Howard, Tattnall Square travels to Marietta for Our Lady of Mercy, a team that listed 22 players on the roster as late as yesterday. Tattnall is smallish and graduated some great players over the last few years, so I is hard to say what they have in the tank this year. They may struggle a bit this year, but maybe not this week. Marshall and Allen combine for 300 yards rushing.
Tattnall 28
OLM     14


Other winners
Baldwin 20
WACO  16


WRHS  36
Tift       23


Upson Lee   27
Veterans      10


MDS      30
Monticello  6


PERRY  17
HOCO   16
I WILL be live on DSBN sports tonight broadcasting the Howard-Jones game and you can join me on the live stream of Tattnall football on Friday by going to their athletics page, go to the bottom and the live stream will be waiting for you

Who will step up and be THE team in Macon

We have several contenders for the best team in Macon this year and some are regulars to the conversation while others are rather new. As I see it, some teams win every year no matter if they are re-building and others wait years to get where they want to be. I feel like this is what we may have in Macon this year.
I present to you now a bit of information where some of Macon's finest will end up this year.
Every year the Westside Seminoles find a way to have a playoff type of year and this year will be no different. In fact this could be one of those special years if junior quarterback Victor Dixon Jr . starts to become the quarterback everyone thinks he will be. I saw Dixon play last year and  he was a bit inconsistent, but hey he was only a sophomore. This could be a break out type of year for him.
Dixon has some quality protection up front, led by senior center Jayshaun Parker and some skill players led by junior Jaylon Barden, that seem to be ready for breakout years also. If Dixon can grow up a little bit from last year, look for the Seminole offense to be potent.
Westside also seems to be stout on the defensive side of the football. Look for Jayland Parker,Nate Brookins and Jehlen Canady all to have big years and look for Westside to do what they always do, which is make the playoffs.


I also like Howard, although we will find out a little bit more about them after Thursday night when they meet up with Jones County. Now I will be honest, I think Howard loses by three touchdowns but I could be wrong. Howard looked unstoppable in their Friday night scrimmage against Tattnall, but Tattnall was not a physical threat to Howard. Jones County will not only be a physical threat but they will probably be quicker than Howard. With Sewell, Kelly and Shelton leading the way, I see the Huskies making the playoffs this year, but Jones County is a bit too much right now for them to handle.


I also expect Northeast to have a very good year, while I am not quite sure about the other Macon public schools yet.


The private school sector in Macon could be very different . Stratford, Tattnall and FPD both  had massive losses from graduation  last year and from the look of the rosters posted, none of them will dress more that about 40 players. Mount de Sales however, shows a roster of over 53 players, and word is, they have several college level players this year. I feel like quarterback Dexter Williams may turn into the best quarterback in the city before the end of the year, or at least the best dual threat guy. He will be able to hand the ball off to Josiah Cotton, who has the potential to be the best running back in a tough region, giving Mount de Sales more balance than they have had in  years. But the thing that probably excites head coach Keith Hatcher more than anything is that he has 17 seniors this year and most of those have started since they were sophomores. Mount de Sales is not only a playoff team , they may take over as the best private school football team this year.
That's not to say the other big three privates wont be good by the end of the season. We obviously cant judge Tattnall by its loss in the scrimmage to Howard. Howard dressed like 100 kids and most of them were bigger than Tattnall's starters. The Trojans need a few kids on both sides of the ball to take over and one of those has to be Jamal Marshall, who is the most talented player on the team.
Stratford will play its scrimmage on Wednesday against Mount Paran so we will know a bit more about them after that, and FPD played Rutland fairly even last Friday and played three kids at quarterback so they see to be a bit unsettled right now.
As far as the playoffs I would bet each and every private school finds a way to sneak in
#####UPDATE########
FPD now has 63 players on their roster as of 8-14-2018, while Stratford was up to 43.

football

It is just going to be a weird high school football season.
I mean I feel like it will be a great season, it will just be different.
And I am afraid it will not be a good different, with the main reason being that we will no longer have a local newspaper that will actually cover high school football games and worry about some menial things as player stats..
Now some schools are quick to let their stats out on max preps, while others never ever put stats up online. With no local newspaper to help, it will be hard to figure out who the best players in the area are.
Change is good sometimes, but this change is not  for the good.
For the first time in 10 years I will not be going to a high school football game and covering it for the Telegraph. I have not dealt with that well and to tell the truth I already miss it. I explored many many avenues of ways to stay involved and I think I am pretty much covered on that right now, but it will never ever be the same.
My blog will go on and I hope my few fans are still around. I will do my best to keep everyone up to date on high school football news and I will continue to rate players and teams.
I saw some Middle Georgia rankings the other day and to be honest I thought it was laughable because really, does anyone know who will be the teams to beat in this area ? Macon schools are so inconsistent that it is impossible to know how they will do. Westside will make the playoffs we all know that, but will they take that next step and actually challenge Peach County ? I just don't really believe it.
For the record if I were picking a top five for Middle Georgia pre-season (which means nothing)
I would go like this
1- Jones County
2- Warner Robins
3- Mary Persons
4- Peach County
5-Northside
I mean why would anyone pick differently. These teams do it every year and expect them to continue.


I admit I don't know much about many teams this early but I have looked at the rosters and came up with my top 18 players from Macon schools only.  I am sure this list will grow and change all year long, but just wanted to wet the football appetite a bit.
Southwest- Jaquez Pennimon and Randy Green
Northeast- Nolan Ussery
Central- Donald Lamb
Westside-Victor Dixon Jr and Jaylon Barden
Howard- Quintan Sewell, Jeremiah Kelly and DeAndre Shelton
FPD- Josh Raines and Wesley Wilson
Stratford- Christian Palmer and Jamie OQuinn
MDS- Dexter Williams and Josiah Cotton
Tattnall Square- Jamal Marshall, Wes Allen and Miles Morris
 I cant wait to get things started with these scrimmages starting tonight then kick things off with Howard and Jones County next Thursday.

A day in the life

I have a lot of people that ask me what it's like to have 3 grown men staying at my house for an entire summer and all I can say to that question is "Well it's interesting for sure.
I know, its a pretty boring answer but it is really all I have at this point.
Sometimes I write because I feel like I need to get something on the blog, and other days I write because I just feel like it. Today I write for one reason only and that is because writing can be a very therapeutic stress reliever for me.
I am so stressed I want to scream but I know I would probably wake up at least a few tree branches and maybe even a dog. Who am I kidding the dogs are already awake, patiently waiting for their snack or two before I head to work. You see what too many people are learning is that if you stay in the Kosater house, you tend to get spoiled. Recently a friend I was talking to wanted to book a few nights in the Kosater Inns and Suites.
As many of you know I have three, yes three Macon Bacon players staying with me for the summer. Let me start by saying that they are all very nice young men and I enjoy having them around. But after living with just a wife, two dogs and two cats for the last few years, it is sometimes difficult to remember what its like to have others living with you. These are three athletes and athletes eat like, well they eat like athletes
 I think it started when I woke up this morning and walked into the kitchen and found an empty egg carton on the table. I know that's really not a reason to stress out, but I know that I bought 30 eggs on Saturday to add to the 12 I had before I bought any.
That's 42 eggs gone in less than 42 hours. That is more than an egg an hour. That's an average of 14 eggs per 3 grown men in a 42 hour period of time.
If they only ate eggs for breakfast that would mean each of them had 7 eggs for breakfast for 2 days. That is a lot of eggs.
Now I don't want you all to think that I am complaining about the amount of food that these guys can eat. I think I just didn't realize what it would be like having 3 bacon players staying here. And believe me that's not the only stressor at this time. My first job is busy, my second job is busy , my third job is busy and well yes, my fourth job is busy too.
And to make matters worse I still have not found a sure fire answer to what I am going to do in the fall about my need to cover high school football.
But really truly, things are good.
Things I have learned from being a Bacon person.
These guys actually love Bacon, to the point of 4 pounds or more a week. They like bacon with their eggs and bacon with their steaks and bacon with their, well bacon. It is probably the number one staple on the menu.
These guys can drink some milk. MY kids drank a lot of milk but these guys are amazing. I have seen a gallon disappear in one seating between the three of them. . They drink it like its water, except its not water. If you actually buy chocolate milk it will be gone in the matte r of an hour. I thought milk was not that popular but I have been proved wrong. These guys could easily play for a team called the milk cows.
These guys love a game called fortnite and they love to sleep . If they play at home that night it is get home, eat, drink milk, play fortnite until all hours of the night, and if they have a home game the next day, sleep until about 2:30, get up and go play a game, then repeat. if its an away game, the only thing that is different id that they skip the sleep part. Fortnite for two of the three, is a must.
The most difficult thing about having three is everyone of the guys is different. I have one who didn't talk much when he came and still doesn't talk that much, and when he has a bad game he struggles with it. I have a talkative one who is all positive when it comes to his game and really doesn't stay down for long. Then I have the crafty one, a pitcher, who is very serious about what he does. He is a starting pitcher and starts every six to seven days, but he is in the gym almost every other day working his tail off.. He is intense but also has the laid back feel of a true California guy.
One thing I don't do is go upstairs too often. That's where they stay and the few times I have ventured that way has been scary. I will just say that boys are slobs and my upstairs proves that point.
I don't know if I would ever host three players again just because of the financial strain, but I can say it has made Bacon games more fun. I like having this vested interest in the team. I am down when one of them has a bad game, I am thrilled when one of them has a good game, and I am pissed when one of them or both of them don't play. I know they aren't my kids, but they are living in my hotel.
Any food donations can be sent to me by the way.
Does anyone have a cow ?