MassillonTigers3
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If those three grow a bit this winter look out. Lenix probably doesn’t “need” to grow for RB but wouldn’t hurt.
2021 Massillon Football
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Tiger #33
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I can add that Ricardo Wells, Tate Crable, Deangelo Zimmerman, Vito McConnell, LoQuan Young, Cam Lynch, and Nolan Davenport will all make their way onto the field this coming season. Starting, I’m not sure but you will see them in 2022. This group isn’t short of talent. Some will develop faster than others but these kids right here are to be watched for as well. Weight room will be very important this off-season.
MassillonMike
Well-known member
Does the McConnell play any other position besides QB?
MassillonTigers3
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He played middle linebacker for the freshmen
MassillonMike
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Gotcha. Thank you.
MassillonTigers3
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He looked good playing QB, especially considering his lack of previous experience, so I hope we utilize the QB run more the next few years considering we have some depth.
MassillonMike
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I’m hoping for a lot of things offensively but expecting the same that we’ve seen lol
Slaughter has looked very good on the basketball court so far. He’s a great athlete but I’d rather keep him in the pocket like they did with Longwell. No need for him to take extra hits.
Sounds like we’re going to have an excess of play makers. I hope this keeps Hartson and Lennix Jr fresh for the long haul.
Sounds like we’re going to have an excess of play makers. I hope this keeps Hartson and Lennix Jr fresh for the long haul.
MassillonTigers3
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Idk, seems like this mentally has kept us in a rut offensively. Watching all of the championship games it seemed like every single team utilized the QB in the run game. Winton Woods tore Hoban apart with the zone read game and their QB wasn’t big at all. We definitely don’t have an excess of receivers.
I’m not advocating running the QB 15 times per game but the whole “don’t take hits” directive for our qb makes us very predictable and creates a soft mentality.
Massillon#82
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Agree 100%, against Hoban the WW qb had 87 yds rushing and in the 3 title games against us the QB’s have rushed for 228 yds on 39 att.
In the other title games this year these are the rushing stats for the winning QB
D1 - 14 att 60 yds
D3 - 19 att 54 yds
D4 - 7 att 85 yds
D5 - 27 att 86 yds
D6 - 21 att 81 yds
D7 - 13 att 65 yds
So it sure doesn’t seem like these teams are overly concerned with their QB taking some hits. Now we did have a good mix of that with McElroy this season but they didn’t even figure that out until the mck game.
The QB has to be able to at least show he can run, if needed, otherwise the D keys on the RB and we saw what that has done to us in those 3 games.
MassillonTigers3
Well-known member
Thanks for looking up the stats to backup my assertion. Yep, looks like we’re the only program in the state that fancies itself a title contender yet treats its QB’s like a piece of fine china.
If you’re going to have a QB that is deliberately not a running threat and only throws them he better have supreme arm talent and amazing receivers to throw to. Oh wait, we had Longwell who had a D1 baseball arm and D1 receivers all over the field and we still didn’t win. Now we have a kid with a less talented arm and a fraction of the receiver talent.
So in other words we need a QB who can run and pass with great receivers and rb's who run for power inside and speed outside and OL & DL lines who can control the los with 220# lb's and a good pass rushing de plus a strong secondary who can man cover. And a good kicker.
Did I forget anything?
Did I forget anything?
GoTigers12
Member
Yes.
Sarcasm aside, Hoban in '20 had all of that and more, and you could argue that, the last few years in DII too.
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True. While on the subject of qb's, this year they sorely needed a QB who could throw better. WW otoh did not. Sometimes a very good strength is enough to offset a weakness elsewhere and their D was excellent.
MassillonTigers3
Well-known member
Yeah, the combined running ability of the QB and RBs coupled with their great defense was enough to win it for WW.
This was also a “down” year for D2 as far as the top parochials being absolutely loaded.
This year for Massillon was a textbook “if you have two QBs you have none”. Neither was good enough to take over the job solely and their strengths made our play calling even more predictable depending on who was in the game.
Maxie
🏈 2023 State Champions——16-0
Updated after the 2021 season:
1. Massillon Washington———920-297-36
2. Canton McKinley—————859-366-42
3. Steubenville———————-836-328-36
25 pts shoulda been enough. The missed fg hurt. The fumble hurt more. The PI hurt most. Not to mention the other 19 penalties. Green was better than most willing to admit. I do agree I think we missed a golden opportunity though. Even with all the injuries.
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What has been our experience, in three straight state finals appearances, as far as, what it will take to be competitive against the all-star teams we've faced?!
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Massillon#82
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What hurt the most was the lack of adjustments to get our WR’s open which has been an issue for years now. I can’t wait until the OC’s get to the slant, curl and out pages of the playbook.
The way the WW defense defended the run says our season would have ended that game.
Massillon#82
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Defense !
MassillonTigers3
Well-known member
It takes complementary football. It’s not all on the defense and not all on the offense. You need to play well on both sides of the ball and on special teams as well. We could’ve held Hoban to 7 points last year and still would’ve lost. The year before that we played solid in the first half and it was 21-17 at half and then we got shutout in the second half.
Moral of the story: you have to play well on both sides for 4 quarters.
Massillon#82
Well-known member
Nobody is saying it’s ALL D or O but if you want to win the title in D2 the focus clearly needs to be shutting the opponent down not out scoring them.
In the 3 title games the score has been a combined 79-30 in the first half (26-10) that won’t win you a title.
By now we should have a playbook that would allow the coach to adapt to whatever we see from Hoban, LaSalle and WW. It's not just that we don't have the talent to be competitive (we clearly did with Longwell, Ballard, etc.) We need a coaching staff that can adjust to the game plans that have made us predictable and an easy team to blowout!
MassillonTigers3
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Yeah but we have also gotten shutout in the second half of the last 2 title games. You can’t win games when you go entire halves without scoring.
MassillonTigers3
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But, but, didn’t you hear? Every team we play comes out in an entirely new defense that they’ve never played before and that we’ve never seen so we need to use the first 6 drives to feel them out and see what works….???
Unfortunately that’s only slightly sarcastic
Massillon#82
Well-known member
Why do you think we have gotten shutout in those 2nd halves ? Because Hoban and Lasalle had great D’s.
I think we will all agree that halftime is when teams make adjustments to what they have been seeing in the first half. In our last 3 playoff losses we have been outscored 20-0 in the 3rd qtr.
MassillonTigers3
Well-known member
I mean I would hardly say we had a bad defense the last few years. Last years defense was very good all year. They held Lasalle to 10 points and then just got completely hung out to dry by our offense against Hoban. Remember when our defense actually got us a turnover on the Hoban side of the field and then we promptly gave it right back on the next play? Lol
I also recall fumbling multiple times on our own end against Lasalle that set up easy TD drives for them. That’s 14 of their 34 points.
Basically I just don’t think you can look at point totals and blame the defense without looking at the circumstances where they were put in bad spots because of turnovers or the offense going 3 and out multiple times in a row causing the defense to be out there for extended periods of time. The first half last year was brutal for the defense being out there for basically the whole half because the offense couldn’t get a drive going and they still were able to hold them to only 14 points. Ran out of gas in the second half.
MassillonTigers3
Well-known member
That says more about our offense. You’re saying that our defense even after the other team makes there adjustments has given up on average less than 7 points in the third quarter. The prevailing theme in our losses seems to be our offense laying a goose egg in the second half or staging a too little too late comeback.
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