2022 Elder Football

OnTheLine85 said:
It's definitely both. You are vastly under-estimating the importance of confidence and leadership on a 15 year old kid. The key is to continually coach these kids up when you know they have some maturing to do. Make them feel wanted and engaged even when they're not playing much. Because, as he said, a ton of kids don't develop physically until junior year. You can't just give up on those kids because there's alot of them.

St X does a GREAT job at this and it starts with Specht's culture of ongoing development for everyone that puts in the time. Obviously, the kid needs to work to improve, but it takes it to another level when your coaches continue to believe in your upside. Alot of places simply give up on kids, especially the ones that haven't matured, after freshman season. Programs that have half their team quit after freshman year should be looking in the mirror.

A coach's confidence can do wonders for engagement and culture. These are the type of things that set St X apart as being the premier high school in the area (and no, I did not go there).
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Again the kid has to put in the time. Most kids who are backups aren’t willing to do that.
 
Mad Dogg said:
Most kids who are backups aren’t willing to do that.
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This is the most ridiculous statement I've ever read. Sadly, you think it's true. Embarassing.

I can see why there's a depth issue if this is the overriding thought. I would hope most of the Elder faithful don't believe this.
 
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Mad Dogg said:
Why do half the kids quit after a year?
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At alot of schools, they don't.

But at the schools where this happens, you actually think 50% attrition is due to "kids just don't work hard". I'll give you MAYBE 20% - but to say half the kids quit because of them being lazy is something else.

It's pretty bad when you say 50% attrition is the student's fault. Never in a million years is that accurate, especially in the GCL. These kids want to be there, and want to be coached.
 
I never said lazy. Your example was a kid that went from lifetime backup to all star his senior year. I said that’s rare and in my experience this is due to the player putting in the work and making himself that all star.
 
Mad Dogg said:
I never said lazy. Your example was a kid that went from lifetime backup to all star his senior year. I said that’s rare and in my experience this is due to the player putting in the work and making himself that all star.
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But you don't think a culture of encouragement, opportunity and development plays a role in that same kid's success? You're severely downplaying the role of leaders and mentors in that equation over a 4 year period. Again, both have skin in the game. Kids stick around for that, even if they're not playing.

Basically, do it on your kids - otherwise, take a hike.
 
Mad Dogg said:
Why do half the kids quit after a year?
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I've seen alot of people on here throw out the stat that Elder typically loses half of their roster from freshman to JV year.

And that's not a huge red flag to people? It surprises me how nonchalant people are about this, especially also reading from several posters they are the smallest D1 school in football. The two don't jive. It's odd.
 
ElderHSfan02 said:
I would expect LW to dominate the scrimmage, but I think that's fine. Elder has a lot of talent, but they are breaking in a new QB and it will take time for the offense to develop and new players to step up. I'm hoping the Elder defense looks solid since that the defense has more Varsity experience than the offense.

The freshman and JV also scrimmage Saturday. I'm hearing good things about the freshman class even though 66 players is a little on the low side for a Elder freshman team.
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They didn’t dominate the scrimmage last year. West should be on par with last year’s team, but Elder will be improved.
 
OnTheLine85 said:
I've seen alot of people on here throw out the stat that Elder typically loses half of their roster from freshman to JV year.

And that's not a huge red flag to people? It surprises me how nonchalant people are about this, especially also reading from several posters they are the smallest D1 school in football. The two don't jive. It's odd.
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That hasn’t happened the last few year. I think the attrition in last year’s class from Frosh to JV made them change their philosophy a bit.
 
OnTheLine85 said:
But you don't think a culture of encouragement, opportunity and development plays a role in that same kid's success? You're severely downplaying the role of leaders and mentors in that equation over a 4 year period. Again, both have skin in the game. Kids stick around for that, even if they're not playing.

Basically, do it on your kids - otherwise, take a hike.
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Never said that. All good schools have this culture.
 
OnTheLine85 said:
Development of football players doesn't apply to Elder football? Well, according to some on here (Omar, Mad Dogg) it apparently doesn't nor is it important. Might be a solution to the depth issue everyone here talks about.

It's funny that people think developing kids is telling them what to do and hoping they get to work. That's a very lazy approach to coaching, mentoring and developing. Both coach and athlete should have considerable skin in the game.
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You’re deliberately taking what I said I out of context. Development matters for everyone, but you’re incredibly naive to think that it’s a common occurrence for a benchwarmer to become a star.
 
Mad Dogg said:
Never said that. All good schools have this culture.
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Then what's your point? What are you arguing?

So you basically agree that a culture of development is very important to player retention? But then ask why half the kids quit - well....

At least Omar makes logical arguments - you just talk in circles.
 
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Omar said:
You’re deliberately taking what I said I out of context. Development matters for everyone, but you’re incredibly naive to think that it’s a common occurrence for a benchwarmer to become a star.
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Why do you always go from one extreme to the other? I never said benchwarmer.

There are 22 starters - most of the kids on the sideline can become good enough to push most of those starters with proper development.

Of course there are a handful of kids that are gifted where no one will catch them - but that's 5%. For everyone else, it's a pretty slim margin from starter to getting pulled.

Your argument hinges on these 22 kids being absolute studs, and that just simply isn't true, unless you're IMG.
 
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Omar said:
They didn’t dominate the scrimmage last year. West should be on par with last year’s team, but Elder will be improved.
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We will see. Elder had a lot returning last year so they were way ahead offensively in the preseason and for a first scrimmage. Bolden was only in his 2nd year there. Now, he is in his 3rd year there with his system in place and his son a 3rd year starter I think. West will be really advanced for this early in the season. Elder just won't be there yet. It's not a knock on Elder at all, it's just the way it is when one team is more experienced vs. another. Elder will be fine. If they hang with West in the scrimmage, everyone should be excited. Again, I'm looking for Elder's defense to have a really good showing since they are more experienced on the defensive side of the ball heading into preseason/1st scrimmage.
 
Ramsey seems encouraged by his team so far based on comments from the Dyer interview. He did mention the QB spot is down to the 2 seniors, and he mentioned Schachleiter showing a lot but being a little behind them right now.

At this point, I think it looks like this.
QB1a Reuter QB1b Schoster
QB2a Schachleiter QB2b Brass

Looking ahead to next to season already, I hope whoever loses the QB1 job between Schachleiter/Brass has a significant role at another position. They are both too good of athletes to not have on the field somewhere.
 
ElderHSfan02 said:
We will see. Elder had a lot returning last year so they were way ahead offensively in the preseason and for a first scrimmage. Bolden was only in his 2nd year there. Now, he is in his 3rd year there with his system in place and his son a 3rd year starter I think.
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Mitch Bolden has been the starter at LW since week 4 of his freshman season. (He was their QB in the 2019 playoff game in The Pit.)
 
All of this talk of how programs do things differently I am of the opinion Specht, Ramsey, Mclaughlin, and Bolden are cut from the same cloth. I am sure some people can point out significant differences but I think if you pull back a couple layers you are most likely to find it is the Coach having to make adjustments to his specific school. And you might even be able to throw Mark Elder in there with them. He is kind of the new kid on the block and he inherited a dumpster fire. He has made nice adjustments and has Moeller headed in the right direction. My biggest hesitation with him is if he will stick around long term.
 
FourthAndOne said:
All of this talk of how programs do things differently I am of the opinion Specht, Ramsey, Mclaughlin, and Bolden are cut from the same cloth. I am sure some people can point out significant differences but I think if you pull back a couple layers you are most likely to find it is the Coach having to make adjustments to his specific school. And you might even be able to throw Mark Elder in there with them. He is kind of the new kid on the block and he inherited a dumpster fire. He has made nice adjustments and has Moeller headed in the right direction. My biggest hesitation with him is if he will stick around long term.
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He probably won’t, which is something I’m sure the AD at the time was aware of. There’s a reason the GCL schools like to hire alumni or loyal Assts, it’s for that longevity. When you can’t offer the same level of pay as most public schools, loyalty is a huge factor in keeping them at your school.

That said, you should always hire the best Coach, regardless if he’s deemed a flight risk.
 
ElderHSfan02 said:
We will see. Elder had a lot returning last year so they were way ahead offensively in the preseason and for a first scrimmage. Bolden was only in his 2nd year there. Now, he is in his 3rd year there with his system in place and his son a 3rd year starter I think. West will be really advanced for this early in the season. Elder just won't be there yet. It's not a knock on Elder at all, it's just the way it is when one team is more experienced vs. another. Elder will be fine. If they hang with West in the scrimmage, everyone should be excited. Again, I'm looking for Elder's defense to have a really good showing since they are more experienced on the defensive side of the ball heading into preseason/1st scrimmage.
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Elder didn’t have much returning outside of Hambleton and Ramsey. Ramsey was the best player on the field in last year’s scrimmage.

Elder should be very strong on the DL. I expect them to more than hold their own. OL is a mystery. I feel confident in saying they will be better than last yr, but they need to be demonstrably better, not just a little better.
 
The 100th Elder Football Team this season? Almost 2 pages of 2 morons talking about the kids on the team who don’t even play! What an absolute shame!!! Someone please talk some real Elder Football!!
 
Omar said:
Elder didn’t have much returning outside of Hambleton and Ramsey. Ramsey was the best player on the field in last year’s scrimmage.

Elder should be very strong on the DL. I expect them to more than hold their own. OL is a mystery. I feel confident in saying they will be better than last yr, but they need to be demonstrably better, not just a little better.
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Yeah, ONLY Hambleton and Ramsey. Re-read that with a straight face. They also had Harp, Kirch, but I'll give you they didn't get the ball much behind Nieman and Ramsey in 2020.

The point is the offense last year at this point in the season is light years ahead of this year's just based on above. Like I said, they will be fine and develop into a very good offense I think with an improved offensive line and like Ramsey said on the Dyer interview they will get back to running the ball more and controlling the game like they want to.
 
ElderHSfan02 said:
Yeah, ONLY Hambleton and Ramsey. Re-read that with a straight face. They also had Harp, Kirch, but I'll give you they didn't get the ball much behind Nieman and Ramsey in 2020.

The point is the offense last year at this point in the season is light years ahead of this year's just based on above. Like I said, they will be fine and develop into a very good offense I think with an improved offensive line and like Ramsey said on the Dyer interview they will get back to running the ball more and controlling the game like they want to.
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Where the Offense is relative to last year all depends on the OL. I also don’t know how they can control the game with Meier and Summers. They’re good east-west runners, but not really big enough to run bw Tackle.

TBH, I’m not sold on the Defense until I see the Corners. They had 2 solid Corners last yr but when they get hurt, Elder’s Secondary was shredded. I do think Elder’s Safeties are really, really good.
 
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Elder had plenty of weapons on the field last year on the offensive end. Harp, Kirsh, Flowers, Re - they just didn't utilize them nearly enough.
 
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