jake94

excellent players that i did leave out. definitely guys that were very, very good players.. my mind slipped on me a bit. thanks for adding those great players.

Well, I can't completely agree with your assessment. Of course Tony has the most champs and supers because he runs an academy and it is his full time job out at Brentwood. And, to his credit I have heard that he is doing a fine job out at Brentwood. I play often with Jorge and he has some good things to say about Tony and lets Grant go out there sometimes. The other coaches mentioned-- David is head women's coach at LU which consumes most of his time. Jorge is head tennis coach at Nederland and that consumes much of his time. This is the reason that many juniors do not take from them. Jorge is also the best player in this area. Ron is kinda in semi-retired mode when it comes to tennis. But, he has coached some excellent players including Tara Shelander and Andrew Danos. I know that is not where they started, but it is where they ended.

So, while Tony has the numbers of players, let's look at this.. Jorge and David have both been quite instrumental in the success of both Deaver bros. even though they may not coach them now. I know that David still has some sort of connection with Matthew because he called me the other day to see if I could start hitting with him.  Danos started early on with Tony and was a good player and was with Ron in his dominant high school days. Buagas does not get much publicity, but he is a very good teacher and a heckuva player himself.

I agree with you wholeheartedly though on your assessment about SETX tennis vs. the rest of the state. I hate to be blunt, but we are bottom of the barrel. A lot of that has to do with facilities and country clubs. We have a few places to play, other cities have TONS.  We have not been able to and cannot compete with the facilities that other cities have. It has been that way for the last 15 years. It was that way when I was in school and it is still that way in adult levels.

Has anybody heard what the structure of this scrimmage is? I really hate those that are 15 play and switch, etc. I like the game type scrimmages. My guess though is since it is a 1st scrimmage that we will see 15-15-10-10 structure with possibly a quarter of game type. I am hoping for more, but won't get my hopes up too much. The 2nd Nederland scrimmage is usually a full game.

1. Michael Wesbrooks

2. Scott Stewart

3. Todd Taylor

4. Tara Shelander

5. Kirk Colligan

6. Callie Creighton

7. Andrew Danos

8. Salina Aranda

9.  Jacob Vernon

10. Kody Duplechin

In the past few years, I have always come away from the first scrimmage for Nederland nervous as hell! I can't remember a time in the 1st scrimmage in the last 7 or 8 years where I have left feeling like we would be real good. There always seem to be major question marks that seem to get ironed out by midseason. I think this year will be similar with the new offense and all. I am hoping that the defense looks as good as I think they will be.

As a former player and state qualifier(singles 1994, Nederland), my vote goes to Jorge Lopez hands down as best H.S. tennis coach in the area.  If you are looking for lessons for young kids, I would say Ron Wesbrooks is an excellent place to start. As your kids mature, get them to Lopez or David Wong. A very underrated coach in my opinion is Tony Buagas out at the city courts in Beaumont.

Is this scrimmage set for Friday night or Saturday night? I have seen conflicting reports.

I agree, Scalp'em. The spread is all about execution. I also tend to agree with you on Hemmings speed. He probably falls in the 4.6-4.7 range, but a big powerful 210-220 lb. runner. I think the Indians have the makings of a really good offense.

Dayton in a tight one. Based on the past in close games it often comes down to the kicking game which is usually an area that WO-S struggles in. Dayton usually has a good kicking game on kickoffs, PAT's, FG's and punts. So, I will go with Dayton by 4! Should be a great game though and would not shock me either way it went.

Good post, aki. I think PN-G will be a much improved team and will field one of the quickest squads they have had in a long time. I just hate when I see 4.4 and all that crap because most COLLEGES don't have multiple guys in their backfield that do that. I think that PN-G has the makings of a really good offensive team with Tatum having a year under his belt. The backfield has thunder and lightning with Hemmings and Tezeno(I am assuming he will be the RB?). I really like Brett Doty at WR if they will use him correctly. He gets overshadowed by the taller Matt Johnson, but I can personally tell you that Doty is very strong for his size and very fast. Not 4.4 fast, but plenty fast. The 2ndary should be really good too assuming some of these guys go both ways. On paper this PN-G team will be pretty dang good. Only question marks I see are offensive line and I have not heard much about the D-Line(but that does not mean they won't both be good.)

Hmmm?? Matt did not mention having several 4.4 runners and no mention of "Superman" either. I do think the Indians are gonna be pretty darn good this year though.

DAYTON is clearly the team to beat in my opinion. They return great talent on both sides of the ball and I expect their QB to be special. Central will probably take second although I am not sure how well they will cope without their stud QB. Nederland, PN-G, LC-M, Lumberton, and Ozen should all battle for 3rd. I see another bottom tier finish for Vidor, although they always play my Dogs tough. Should be great games each and every week.

LOL.. I am sure you are about to catch some hell from our neighbors after that one!! They probably won't ever have to punt with Superman, Carl Lewis, and Michael Johnson on offense though.    All in good fun, PN-G guys. Just don't believe the hype about having several 4.4 guys. I think y'all will be much improved though and probably battle with the Bears and Bulldogs for 3rd.

Yep, that is the one. I have not seen much of Sampere other than the last playoff game last year. But, I have heard a lot of good things and I am excited to see him run this offense.

The reason I brought up Dean as well is that he was good when he tucked the ball and ran as well.  Remember the long TD run at PN-G? Also, we had NO running game at all that year and I think it would have worked with him. I am sure Neumann had good reasons for not doing it. I still think it would have been best suited to Sullivan's abilities. I hope Sampere is similar.

I completely agree, Scooter. Sullivan would have been the prototypical Spread QB in my opinion. We also could have done it years later with Dean who was also a good scrambler but did not have to scramble all that much because his O-Line was so good. I am excited to see if Sampere has even a fraction of the scrambling and play-making abilities that Sullivan had because if he does it will make the offense extremely exciting to watch.

I think the spread can work for both Mid-County teams, but I do not think it will be the exclusive offense for either team. I think both will show the spread at times but not all the time. I think a lot of the reason for teams moving to the spread is seeing what teams like SLC and some others have done with it. They play several teams each season with more speed than them and more athletes, but it seems to work well for them.

I also will have to see all of this supposed PN-G speed to believe it. Where were all of these world class sprinters last season?

I think Nederland will go 6-4.

I think Nederland is the better team and should have a pretty good defense this year, unlike last year. With that being said, Vidor always comes to play against my Dogs and it is always a battle. I'll say Dogs by 10 at home, but not without a fight from the feisty Pirates.

Well, I think my Dogs are probably a little underrated this season. I look for them to be quite a bit better than last season although most do not agree. Lots of question marks though. I will agree that we have several fans that do overhype us each and every year. I am excited about this season and seeing some changes. I think the defense will be MUCH improved and that the offense will progress all season long. Looking forward to the first scrimmage. Silsbee will be a very good test with their speed. I am going to use Lumberton as the most overrated team and that is due to the hype that we heard last year and are already hearing this year. I think they will be improved and should have a very good offense, but most of the defense that allowed over 400 yards rushing in the final game last season is back. Their games will probably all be shootouts. But, I do not see the playoffs for them. The third place spot will be battled for by nearly everyone in the district. Should be lots of fun.

I think the rankings look pretty good. There is a lot of parity in this district after Dayton. I think Central will be the clear cut favorite to be the 2nd place team, but I am not sure how much of an impact graduating a great QB will have. Nederland seems to be the frontrunner for 3rd at the moment, but lots of question marks. It would not shock me to see PN-G, LC-M, Ozen, or yes even Lumberton make the playoffs. I think PN-G is going to be pretty damn good this year. LC-M headed in the right direction, but the battle for 3rd is gonna be tough. Lumberton should have an excellent offense, but they are normally soft enough on defense to negate any offense they might have. I feel like Vidor will come in last even though they always give my Dogs hell. They always come prepared for that and it is always a fun game to be at. Ozen could be the most improved team in the district. Should be a helluva race.

My predictions:

Dayton

Central

Nederland

Port Neches

LC-M

Lumberton

Ozen

Vidor

3-8 are extremely difficult to put in order in my opinion.

If he was your uncle then that would give them the advantage. Since he is just your cousin, LaMarque will win by 10. Just kidding man.. I think LaMarque is on a mission.

I am a Nederland fan and really anti-PN-G for the most part.. But, I feel like they are going to be very good next year. If Burnett will take the shackles off the offense and lineup with Hemmings and Tezeno in the backfield and let Tatum throw the ball to Matt Johnson and Brett Doty then I think the Indians will have one of the best offenses in the district. I wish we had receievers at Nederland coming back next year with as much talent as Johnson and Doty. I think the Indians will be much improved and a team to be reckoned with if they tweak things a little.

Does that whole defense that allowed nearly 450 yards rushing against Nederland return?

The PA News cited Rice, Tulane, and University of Houston as interested parties yesterday.