2020 Greater Cleveland Conference

Who wins the league?

  • Brunswick Blue Devils

    Votes: 1 1.9%

  • Elyria Pioneers

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Euclid Panthers

    Votes: 7 13.2%

  • Medina Bees

    Votes: 9 17.0%

  • Mentor Cardinals

    Votes: 32 60.4%

  • Solon Comets

    Votes: 3 5.7%

  • Strongsville Mustangs

    Votes: 1 1.9%
  • Total voters
    53
BwickBlueDevil said:
looking at Brunswick's 2021 OOC schedule as of right now, we have Avon, Olmsted Falls, Highland, Toledo Waite, and Hudson!
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Well that pretty much says the GCC struck out in expansion. That's 5 out of conference games right there

Also interesting to note that if arbiter is right , the first 4 weeks are out of conference and then a random one late in the season. This wouldn't make sense as with 6 teams it's even. Should be league play in the last 5 weeks of the season
 
BwickBlueDevil said:
looking at Brunswick's 2021 OOC schedule as of right now, we have Avon, Olmsted Falls, Highland, Toledo Waite, and Hudson!
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While there is nothing wrong with that schedule, as...other than Waite...the Blue Devils will face some of the upper-crust of NEO D2's, but at some point a very large school like Brunswick probably should be facing more D1 heavyweights. But when you're trying to rebuild a program, incremental is not a bad way to go. Get to the point where you can beat the top D2's and then start adding in the D1's. Of course, you have some good to great D1 programs in the league already.

I'd love to see Brunswick back to the old winning ways, year after year.
 
cjb56 said:
While there is nothing wrong with that schedule, as...other than Waite...the Blue Devils will face some of the upper-crust of NEO D2's, but at some point a very large school like Brunswick probably should be facing more D1 heavyweights. But when you're trying to rebuild a program, incremental is not a bad way to go. Get to the point where you can beat the top D2's and then start adding in the D1's. Of course, you have some good to great D1 programs in the league already.

I'd love to see Brunswick back to the old winning ways, year after year.
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That was my first thought when I saw that post. It's a great non-conference schedule...for a DII school. But as you said, they already have a tough league schedule.
 
Ranking the GCC teams by non-conference strength of schedule (teams that made the playoffs in 2019 are underlined)

Mentor: St Edward, St Ignatius, Berea, and Football North (Canada)
Euclid: St Edward, Cleveland Heights, Glenville, and Benedictine
Solon: Hudson, Twinsburg, Stow, and Cathedral Prep (PA)
Medina: WGH, Wadsworth, Highland, and GlenOak
Strongsville: Hudson, Midview, Brecksville, and Berea
Elyria: Avon Lake, Lorain, Midview, Bedford
Brunswick: Olmsted Falls, Lorain, Highland, and North Royalton

I could see an argument either way that Euclid or Mentor has the tougher schedule. Both have St Eds. St Ignatius is clearly the next best team in the group, but all of Euclid's non-conference opponents made the playoffs last year. Medina, Solon, and Strongsville all have pretty similarly challenging schedules in the middle. Just one Ohio playoff opponent for Solon, but Stow was pretty close and they could have a good 2020. Plus Cathedral Prep is routinely one of the top programs in Pennsylvania. Elyria and Brunswick took the lightest load, which makes sense.
  • There are 10 DI teams, 14 DII teams, 1 DIII team, 1 DIV team, and two non-Ohio teams
  • St Eds, Berea, Lorain, Hudson, and Midview are all scheduling two GCC teams
  • Mentor and Euclid have three home games out of four, the rest of the league is split two home and two away
 
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MentorGrad2002 said:
Well that pretty much says the GCC struck out in expansion. That's 5 out of conference games right there

Also interesting to note that if arbiter is right , the first 4 weeks are out of conference and then a random one late in the season. This wouldn't make sense as with 6 teams it's even. Should be league play in the last 5 weeks of the season
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The other thing it shows is that a 6 team GCC may be able to work. For one, Brunswick already has its 2021 schedule set 15 months in advance. Second, it looks like less overall travel than a GCC with Shaker and Elyria.... I'm assuming Waite is coming to Brunswick, no way Brunswick locks into a trip to Toledo this early.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Ranking the GCC teams by non-conference strength of schedule (teams that made the playoffs in 2019 are underlined)

Mentor: St Edward, St Ignatius, Berea, and Football North (Canada)
Euclid: St Edward, Cleveland Heights, Glenville, and Benedictine
Solon: Hudson, Twinsburg, Stow, and Cathedral Prep (PA)
Medina: WGH, Wadsworth, Highland, and GlenOak
Strongsville: Hudson, Midview, Brecksville, and Berea
Elyria: Avon Lake, Lorain, Midview, Bedford
Brunswick: Olmsted Falls, Lorain, Highland, and North Royalton

I could see an argument either way that Euclid or Mentor has the tougher schedule. Both have St Eds. St Ignatius is clearly the next best team in the group, but all of Euclid's non-conference opponents made the playoffs last year. Medina, Solon, and Strongsville all have pretty similarly challenging schedules in the middle. Just one Ohio playoff opponent for Solon, but Stow was pretty close and they could have a good 2020. Plus Cathedral Prep is routinely one of the top programs in Pennsylvania. Elyria and Brunswick took the lightest load, which makes sense.
  • There are 10 DI teams, 14 DII teams, 1 DIII team, 1 DIV team, and two non-Ohio teams
  • St Eds, Berea, Lorain, Hudson, and Midview are all scheduling two GCC teams
  • Mentor and Euclid have three home games out of four, the rest of the league is split two home and two away
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Too me looks like a big drop off after Medina/Solon, but that's to be expected. No big disagreements with the rankings.

I'd say Mentor/Euclid definitely are at the top.

Then Medina and Solon a little below.

Strongsville/Elyria/Brunswick aren't horrible but a notch below the middle group.
 
I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but a good article on Strongsville's Blake Miller, who just was offered by Clemson. From what I have read, all of Miller's offers (OSU, Michigan, Auburn, Clemson, etc.) are committable and it seems like the people who follow OSU recruiting have him penciled into the 2022 class (saw a couple people mention that he may already be a silent commit). I'm guessing he'll get a huge jump in the rankings (possibly into the top 100 overall once they finally rerank, which I'm guessing is impossible now due to the shutdown).

www.cleveland.com

2022 Strongsville OT Blake Miller humbled by Clemson offer, joining Ohio State football, Michigan among others: Buckeyes Recruiting

Blake Miller is a 2022 three-star offensive tackle from Strongsville High School.
www.cleveland.com www.cleveland.com

And for those who didn't see it on the Brunswick thread, Brunswick 2021 OL/DL Tomas Rimac just committed to West Virginia.
 
Congrats to Rimac on his commitment. Good for Miller and all of his attention. Sounds like the next couple of seasons when Mentor plays Strongsville, we will see one of the nation's top tackles going up against one of the nation's top defensive ends. Miller vs Vernon should be good this season, and even better in 2021 when the two are a senior and junior.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Congrats to Rimac on his commitment. Good for Miller and all of his attention. Sounds like the next couple of seasons when Mentor plays Strongsville, we will see one of the nation's top tackles going up against one of the nation's top defensive ends. Miller vs Vernon should be good this season, and even better in 2021 when the two are a senior and junior.
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The thing Miller has going for him (and Rimac too) is the amount of high caliber DEs they will have faced when their HS careers are said and done.

Miller, since he's started as a freshman, can potentially boast going up against:
Noah Potter (2) - Ohio State
Avery Dunn (2) - Michigan State
Najee Story (3) - Northwestern
Brenan Vernon (3) - ??? (but it'll be high BCS and I'm guessing Ohio State)

Let's say that Strongsville doesn't make the playoffs the next two years and he stays healthy, that'll be 41 high school games and in 10 of them (which is a full high school schedule in itself) he was lined up across from a BCS level defensive end. I can't imagine too many other offensive lineman in the country would be able to boast that type of experience because A) you likely will have had to be a four-year starter and B) play in a league/region that has continually produced high caliber DEs in the same timeframe.
 
Publican said:
He also faced Noah Nunn twice. Nunn is a FBS DE going to Layfeyette.
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Nunn is a studd, I think the FCS schools missed out on a good one. The FCS schools don't seem to want a player that genuinely needs a redshirt year to grow and get stronger. He is an example of why D1 locals Akron and Kent continue to struggle. Instead of offering a kid like him and putting him in the weight room and training table for a year or maybe 2 and developing him physically they miss out on players like him regularly.
 
Looks like Euclid's Cam Smith committed to Eastern Michigan per 247... Euclid now has at least 4 FBS seniors, and WR Armond Scott (Kentucky) looks like his rankings are going up (up to no. 16 in Ohio and top 500 nationally).

Speaking of going up, look for Medina's Drew Allar to make a big leap once the 2022 kids are adjusted. You could very well see him and Strongsville's Blake Miller in the top 100 or so.

And in 2023, looks like Mentor's Brenan Vernon is cementing his spot as a top 100 national recruit.

Some good talent in all of the 6 remaining schools... not counting Elyria since it's the final year (though Elyria should be alot better in their final year, probably still last but could give some teams a scare).
 
I saw it coming based off some tweets, but an Ohio State recruiting guy (Marc Givler) just did a story on Allar about him being an intriguing name to watch for Ohio State's 2022 class. That was after his QB coach (who has been working with all the top NEO QBs) tweeted something to the effect of "mark my words, Drew Allar will be a national recruit by this time next year."

It's crazy because Medina still has Ryan Gillespie back who was racking up 300 and 400 yard passing games before Allar took over for him late in the year. Gillispie may not start a game this year at QB but looks like still has a chance at going D1 as a QB (Yale is recruiting him).

Plus, if something would happen to Allar, it is interesting to see if Medina turns back to Gillespie or goes with upcoming sophomore Luke Fischer, who threw for 60 TDs last year in freshmen/JV games ... and did see some varsity action.

That's first world problems, and Medina does have a lot of talent around the QBs, but it's that position is why I've been so high on the Bees these next three years (been saying that since the current junior class was in 8th grade). The 2022 and 2023 classes both have a bunch of talent.
 
If Medina doesn't beat Mentor in 2021...they will never beat them. That looks like Medina's peak AND it will probably be a huge dropoff for Mentor in the post-Kipp and post-Triv era. Yes, they will have one of the top defensive players (DE Nolan Vernon) in the state in 2021 and 2022, but I trade Vernon for a very good HS QB ten out of ten times.

A lot of solid to great QB's for Medina is a good problem to have, but it still is a problem. If these kids can't play any other position, you wonder how interested they are in being a backup if they're as good as you say. Gillespie had some nice games, but the one I saw against Mentor was not one of them. Is there any chance at all he plays QB over Allar this year? Can he play any other position? If Fischer, a 60 TD freshman/JV talent, doesn't want to wait until his senior year to be QB - you wonder what kind of decisions his parents and him will have to make. If these guys can play other positions, then I see no reason why they would elsewhere. Mentor's Conner Krizancic bid his time at receiver behind Trubisky for three years before becoming the DI Offensive POY in 2013 at QB.
 
Cardz, I agree. 2021 and 2022 is the window for this program to do something similar to what Mentor had with "the class" in what 2001 or so, which helped springboard Mentor into the program it has been for the past 20 years.

But if this group falls short making a serious run at winning the region those two years, it's a disappointment, imo.

I won't claim to know what they will do with the three QBs, but Gillispie is 6-4, 235 so they should get him on the field somewhere (and in this pass happy system that goes 5 wide and has had big WRs, makes sense to move him there)... and it's not unprecedented for a HS kid to play college at QB even if he didn't start at his HS. Wasn't there a QB that never started a HS game that went on and played QB at a major school (maybe USC??) Because he was in HS with another stud QB? Gillispie has at least started some high school games and performed well (sans Mentor).

What I can see happening is that this is Allar's job for the next two years. Even though he only started 4 games last year, he did play in every one, except maybe the Cleveland Heights game. So I can see them working Fischer in like they did Allar last year. While Fischer won't unseat Allar, unless he becomes a can't miss 5-star type kid, I think he will get in enough work the next couple years where being a one-year starter isn't going to be the end of the world, especially because he is behind a sure-fire power 5 QB. Plus, anybody who saw Allar as a freshman (in his first year playing QB) could see that he was a major talent. So, I'm assuming the Fischer family knew that heading into Luke's freshmen year where he stayed at Medina. But of course, things can always change.
 
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Here is my pre-season All-GCC team: https://mentorfootball.blogspot.com/2020/06/pre-season-all-gcc-team.html

Out of the 22 players listed, Mentor and Euclid lead the way with 6 players apiece. Solon has 4 players, Medina/Brunswick have 2 players, and Strongsville/Elyria has 1 player.

As I did my research, I just had a hard time finding Medina guys to put on the list. Even though I believe they will be one of the top teams in the league, there aren't a lot of eye-popping individual players that have earned a reputation to be on the list based on their 2019 play. I couldn't put Allar over Kipp, even if Allar ends up as a more coveted recruit. Kipp is simply a much more accomplished HS player.
 
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The link isn't working for me. Can you copy/paste?

I'm guessing for Medina you had Luke Hensley at WR and Juan Jackson at CB. I agree with Kipp/Allar. May be the two most important players in the league but going off position by position, only room for one.

I haven't looked to see who all everybody has back, but if Juan Jackson is one of the corners, personally think Keon Johnson is in consideration for the other spot. Both of them (to be juniors) have been starters since freshmen and I think both have D1 ability. Juan does have a little more highlights (partially because hes explosive in the return game) but both are players.

And I didn't even mention Matt Spatny, who another junior in the same boat being a varsity starter since freshmen. Hes another player, but since he's a hybrid in the 5 wide offense (played RB but they hardly run, so more of an H-Back, but they had a couple All-Ohio WRs, and a couple other good ones to throw to... plus, Allar can tuck and run himself). Spatny is physically a beast (6-4, 230) ... watched him get t'd up for dunking in an 8th grade warmup line a couple years ago in basketball (and both him and Juan have also been varsity in hoops since freshmen) so I'm guessing they will find a way to get him involved more this year.
 
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the123kidz said:
There are 2 Spatny boys, both are very talented.
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Yeah. I was referring to Matt. But Nate is also very good, and yes is in consideration at LB. Matt has measurables where he is going to continue to draw college coaches his way, he was more of a swiss army knife playing "RB" in a system that doesn't really have a RB. But it will be hard to imagine them not getting Matt involved as much as possible this year.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Here is my pre-season All-GCC team: https://mentorfootball.blogspot.com/2020/06/pre-season-all-gcc-team.html

Out of the 22 players listed, Mentor and Euclid lead the way with 6 players apiece. Solon has 4 players, Medina/Brunswick have 2 players, and Strongsville/Elyria has 1 player.

As I did my research, I just had a hard time finding Medina guys to put on the list. Even though I believe they will be one of the top teams in the league, there aren't a lot of eye-popping individual players that have earned a reputation to be on the list based on their 2019 play. I couldn't put Allar over Kipp, even if Allar ends up as a more coveted recruit. Kipp is simply a much more accomplished HS player.
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Good work Cardz. Very nice post.
 
SVillegrad said:
Yeah. I was referring to Matt. But Nate is also very good, and yes is in consideration at LB. Matt has measurables where he is going to continue to draw college coaches his way, he was more of a swiss army knife playing "RB" in a system that doesn't really have a RB. But it will be hard to imagine them not getting Matt involved as much as possible this year.
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Matt is a force of nature when he is healthy.
 
I saw Drew Allar was the unanimous top QB at the UC Elite underclassmen camp a couple days ago and was rated the no. 7 overall prospect (in a camp loaded with high end players from across the Midwest).
 
According to Cleveland.com they are potentially done.

Mentor is slated to have four openings, including a Week 1 visit from Clarkson Football North in Canada. That game will not happen. Three matchups with Cuyahoga County teams, including rivals Euclid and Solon, appear to be off with their districts shutting down sports. Berea-Midpark, which is a nonconference opponent in Week 8, is seemingly no longer an option.
 
Mike Gully said:
Euclid & Solon cancelling football this season??

can anyone confirm?
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Temporarily yes but these things are fluid. Mayfield reversed course today.

To be honest , it could easily be a shortened season or football played later for everyone. I'll believe we have a season when the games kickoff
 
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