Week 2: IMG (FL) vs Desoto

[Eagle2]

Is open enrollment an option that all schools can provide or are there certain requirements a school must have to offer the open enrollment option?

Yes there are certain requirements a school must have/provide. Yes it is an option that schools can provide if voted and approved by the school/isd board of trustees. Once these two are met then each school has their own application/enrollment criteria or process of accepting potential students.

[svhorns]

Also do you know of any list that provides which high schools in Texas provide the open enrollment option?

[svhorns]

Wow!!! Way off base if I must say. Fact is open enrollment is for academic purposes allowing parents to choose their school of choice without regard to local residency. For some this could help improve a students success in education. Most schools with an open enrollment specialize with academies that help prepares today's students for the 21st century global society. If a student chooses to participant in an extra-curricular activity whether it be band, cheer, debate, fencing, are any of the sports and are exceptionally good then so be it. Parents have always had this choice it has just become more prevalent and out in the forefront recently. So to say that it is used as a recruiting tool is not its intent. Although in some views it may appear that way.

Is open enrollment an option that all schools can provide or are there certain requirements a school must have to offer the open enrollment option?

[Eagle2]

The idea of open enrollment and the application in the practice of open enrollment IS a recruiting tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

Wow!!! Way off base if I must say. Fact is open enrollment is for academic purposes allowing parents to choose their school of choice without regard to local residency. For some this could help improve a students success in education. Most schools with an open enrollment specialize with academies that help prepares today's students for the 21st century global society. If a student chooses to participant in an extra-curricular activity whether it be band, cheer, debate, fencing, are any of the sports and are exceptionally good then so be it. Parents have always had this choice it has just become more prevalent and out in the forefront recently. So to say that it is used as a recruiting tool is not its intent. Although in some views it may appear that way.

[svhorns]

The idea of open enrollment and the application in the practice of open enrollment IS a recruiting tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

Wait, so open enrollment is a recruiting tool? I thought open enrollment was specifically geared towards academics and if you "happen" to be a good football player then that's a plus.

[mojotrain]

The idea of open enrollment and the application in the practice of open enrollment IS a recruiting tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Farmer]

There is a difference Farmer. One school actively recruits and the other/other's recruit by being a destination for transfers by winning. I don't believe(not 100% for sure) that Texas public schools recruit. The actual recruit/transfer may have motives to move to said winning school, but I don't believe our public schools search for them out. The other difference is transfers to various schools may make up 2 to 3% of a given roster, but IMG roster is not home grown talent.

I know there are some fishy things/transfers going on, but I don't believe the playing field with IMG is level with Texas public schools in that regard. By and large they play with mostly their own talent.

And NO I don't believe anyone thinks it's ok, but the UIL needs to do something about it. Coaches/schools are going to play what they have, home grown or transfers if approved by the UIL/DEC.

Last year allens 2 leading rushers, leading passer and 2 leading receiver all started HS at another school. I remember years when Trinity won state with their leading rushers starting HS at Arl Bowie... You make it seem like it's okay though because they were passed by a governing body who has proven to want to profit off of kids by commercializing a game and that its ok to play those kids because they passed some sort of committee but you have an issue with the IMGs... People in Texas are not allowed to be overly critical of schools in other states before they first openly criticize the problem we have here which is the exact same as what IMG is. B

[Farmer]

Everyone with a clear and open mind, go back to #25 and read slow and carefully. It will state its purpose and how IMG is so different than all other schools. The referred ongoing issues that some have previously mentioned are of a different nature.

Eagle, with all do respect how are the different? We have schools with open enrollment and kids being kicked off of teams and enrolling in other programs to play football or we have kids at one school playing for a team who misses the playoffs so they move to a school across the interstate to play for another program making the playoffs. Our public schools are all about the promotion of their football programs as much as IMG is and they will do so at any cost. There really isn't much difference between the two

[Farmer]

There is a difference Farmer. One school actively recruits and the other/other's recruit by being a destination for transfers by winning. I don't believe(not 100% for sure) that Texas public schools recruit. The actual recruit/transfer may have motives to move to said winning school, but I don't believe our public schools search for them out. The other difference is transfers to various schools may make up 2 to 3% of a given roster, but IMG roster is not home grown talent.

I know there are some fishy things/transfers going on, but I don't believe the playing field with IMG is level with Texas public schools in that regard. By and large they play with mostly their own talent.

And NO I don't believe anyone thinks it's ok, but the UIL needs to do something about it. Coaches/schools are going to play what they have, home grown or transfers if approved by the UIL/DEC.

You refuse to believe it because you don't want it happen in Texas. IMG is what Texas schools or fans of schools have loathed for so long but yet they turn a blind eye to the shenanigans that go on in their own backyard. If you don't believe coaches or programs in Texas are doing what is going on at IMG then I have a mountain side snow ski resort in Miami to sell you

[Farmer]

First of all I haven't really seen any overly negative comments about IMG. Just sharing facts. Ironically the closest to negative came from 1AllenFan. That was more a concern for where we are heading. Simply stating facts is no indication of our opinion.

Allen is much different than IMG. The size of Allen is a separate issue.

Also I am pretty sure everyone here knows how corrupt the UIL is. We have been talking about this for years.

Allen isn't different. Allen has hidden behind a public school image but built a world class facility in its stadium and other facilities IMG would be jealous of to draw in talent. Allen HS aligned itself with private coaches who may or may not actively pursue kids to attend it's campus rather that be for one semester or 3 to help better themselves in their football careers. Just because IMG is a private school who happens to draw kids in from across the country doesn't make them any different than an Allen or even a DeSoto who has also benefitted from the same type of kids that IMG had. The fact that one isn't in Texas seems to draw the ire of folks in this state who refuse to see that what we have here isn't any different than IMG

[Eagle2]

Everyone with a clear and open mind, go back to #25 and read slow and carefully. It will state its purpose and how IMG is so different than all other schools. The referred ongoing issues that some have previously mentioned are of a different nature.

[BevoBo]

What does cost have to do with it?

So you're saying there is a number that makes it okay to do what Texas does but not other states? That's laughable. What IMG is doing isn't anything different than what Trinity dis or what you're seeing at Allen and in south Dallas area now

There is a difference Farmer. One school actively recruits and the other/other's recruit by being a destination for transfers by winning. I don't believe(not 100% for sure) that Texas public schools recruit. The actual recruit/transfer may have motives to move to said winning school, but I don't believe our public schools search for them out. The other difference is transfers to various schools may make up 2 to 3% of a given roster, but IMG roster is not home grown talent.

I know there are some fishy things/transfers going on, but I don't believe the playing field with IMG is level with Texas public schools in that regard. By and large they play with mostly their own talent.

And NO I don't believe anyone thinks it's ok, but the UIL needs to do something about it. Coaches/schools are going to play what they have, home grown or transfers if approved by the UIL/DEC.

[Super B]

First of all I haven't really seen any overly negative comments about IMG. Just sharing facts. Ironically the closest to negative came from 1AllenFan. That was more a concern for where we are heading. Simply stating facts is no indication of our opinion.

Allen is much different than IMG. The size of Allen is a separate issue.

Also I am pretty sure everyone here knows how corrupt the UIL is. We have been talking about this for years.

[Farmer]

Are you serious?? Isn't much difference?? How much does it cost to go to a Public school?? of course you see transfers showing up probably now more than ever but you say Allen has kids from Multiple states what's the numbers?

What does cost have to do with it?

So you're saying there is a number that makes it okay to do what Texas does but not other states? That's laughable. What IMG is doing isn't anything different than what Trinity dis or what you're seeing at Allen and in south Dallas area now

[Comanche]

Allen,1 school town, more money than Davy. Crockett, the largest, most expensive high school stadium in the country solely for 1 HS team and kids from multiple states within the U.S. On its roster. Yet here in Texas we want to stick our nose up at another program because they happen to be from another state who plays football every bit as good as we do in Texas. There isn't much of a difference between IMG and Allen or the south Dallas schools. The only difference is here and in this state we refuse to believe that our programs are as corrupt as the ones in different states that we love to tear down

Are you serious?? Isn't much difference?? How much does it cost to go to a Public school?? of course you see transfers showing up probably now more than ever but you say Allen has kids from Multiple states what's the numbers?

[Farmer]

Allen,1 school town, more money than Davy. Crockett, the largest, most expensive high school stadium in the country solely for 1 HS team and kids from multiple states within the U.S. On its roster. Yet here in Texas we want to stick our nose up at another program because they happen to be from another state who plays football every bit as good as we do in Texas. There isn't much of a difference between IMG and Allen or the south Dallas schools. The only difference is here and in this state we refuse to believe that our programs are as corrupt as the ones in different states that we love to tear down

[sTp]

Yes sir. Gonna be real interesting when this group visits Texas. Pound for pound & speed for speed.

Pulling for your boys..

[Eagle2]

Yep. This is a whole other animal. The obvious to not so obvious, major impact to minor impact player movement that goes on here, is nothing compared to IMG.

Yes sir. Gonna be real interesting when this group visits Texas. Pound for pound & speed for speed.

[Super B]

Yep. This is a whole other animal. The obvious to not so obvious, major impact to minor impact player movement that goes on here, is nothing compared to IMG.

[Eagle2]

If you build it...


By Donnie Wilkie , Herald-Tribune / Wednesday, September 4, 2013

BRADENTON — Casey Gunderson knew it the moment he walked in the door.
“You come to IMG, it’s not your typical high school,” Gunderson said. “At a typical school, you have kids playing football just for the fun of it.

“Everyone here has a goal to play Division I football. It’s a little more serious.”

That “goal” is really more of a focus, says Dr. Roger Dearing, executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association and a former Manatee County Schools superintendent. Dearing calls it “a sports-improvement focus.”


Bryant Architects, Samantha Cummins, Stuart Henderson, Rick Fawley, Mike Bryant, Steve Padgett and Sarah Colandro all stand on the first phase of a multi-sport complex now open at IMG Academy in Bradenton.

IMG Academy’s posh 5,000-seat stadium has a giant LED videoboard. The head coach won a Heisman Trophy. The offensive line is bigger than all but one in a BCS conference (American Athletic). And the 235-pound star running back is making a one-year flyby on his way to Alabama.

Do they recruit? The Ascenders’ roster includes boarding students from 15 states, plus Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Japan, Hong Kong and Puerto Rico. Actively seeking athletes, the FHSAA’s boss acknowledges, is what allows IMG “to keep their business open.” So recruiting — outside the state — is allowed, and the team is one of 77 playing as an “independent.”

Nope. Not your typical high school.

SCHEDULING DILEMMA
When IMG unveiled plans to field its first football team, it wasn’t a shock that no school in Manatee, Sarasota, Hillsborough, Charlotte or Lee counties offered to play.

Instead, the Ascenders’ first official home game Friday (7:30 p.m.) is against North Miami Beach, and a cosmopolitan schedule includes trips to Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ocala and Naples.

Waiting for that ESPN showdown between Manatee and IMG? It’ll probably never happen, says Joe Kinnan, the Hurricanes coach and athletic director.

Manatee County ADs have chosen not to schedule IMG in any sport. Other area schools seem to be waiting from a perceived safe distance, wary of “The Corporation” picking off their best talent.

“That’s not what we do,” said IMG coach Chris Weinke, who quarterbacked Florida State to the 1999 national title and, a year later, became the oldest player (28) to win a Heisman.

“We don’t seek out local players. That’s not what we do. We will never do that. If there are ever any kids from Florida (on the roster), they are seeking us out. We never will steal any local players. It’s not how we operate.”

A SHIFT IN PHILOSOPHY
A seat in an IMG classroom is a costly one, $20,000-$80,000 annually, depending on boarding and travel needs.

Financial aid is provided for some athletes, but how much and how many is not something the academy — founded in 1977 when Nick Bollettieri opened his fabled tennis school — typically discusses.

“I understand IMG to be a training academy and a marketing company, so I don’t know what they’re trying to do,” said Palmetto coach Dave Marino. “In terms of football, we’re in Florida. Our kids get all the marketing they could ever dream of.”

When IMG rebranded last year (part of a $197 million, 15-year plan), its emphasis shifted to a more “university-like” philosophy. That includes a school spirit drive called “Rise Up!”

“We have a Homecoming now, a prom, pep rallies,” said Kim Berard, the academy’s head of public relations. “Kids are painting their chests at games. That’s never happened before.”

It’s still a tough sell for veteran coaches like Kinnan and Southeast’s Paul Maechtle — even if Gunderson, a senior wide receiver who attended Cardinal Mooney last year, is IMG’s only local player.

“I can’t devote the same number of hours to training our kids to be football players,” Maechtle said. “That’s not part of the deal. I would say there’s a disconnect. Most of the people involved (at IMG) are not your mom-and-pop group of people from Manatee County. They’re from some other place.”

Added Kinnan: “Our kids live with their parents in the (school) district. The vast majority of them went to our school as ninth-graders. Many of their dads played here.”
Riverview athletic director Jim Ward: “It’s a business for (IMG), it’s a lifestyle for us.

“Our goal is to change lives. We don’t really know what we’re getting, whether the kids have a lot of talent or no talent. But we invite them in, because they live in our district.
“We’ve got a great scholarship at Riverview. Public school is free.”

REACHING OUT
The area’s collective silence surprised Weinke, who reached out to every local coach when he arrived at IMG three years ago.

He is the academy’s director of football, working in the offseason with pros like Cam Newton and a myriad draft hopefuls. This is his first head-coaching assignment.

“Quite frankly, I would love to start to build some rivalries with some local teams,” Weinke said. “The common theme (this year) is that we’re playing good football teams, historically good programs that have had success and gone to the playoffs. My hope, as we move forward, is that these local teams will be encouraged to reach out to us.”

The Ascenders will use their new stadium for football, soccer, lacrosse and track, as well as their 7v7 national championship, which attracted more than 100 BCS recruits in June. There also is talk of hosting the Florida-Georgia all-star game.

“IMG is one of the biggest sports event management companies,” Berard boasts. “If we put on a football game, we’re going to treat it like a world-class event.”

Yet with only 750 students, IMG Academy would land in a Class 4A district with Avon Park, Clewiston, LaBelle and Lake Placid — a combined 6-23 in games not against each other in 2012. No area schools play in 4A.

Weinke opted instead to search out teams “that would be competitive with us.
“We didn’t want to be in any situation where we truly overmatched someone or where we were totally overmatched,” he said.

NO MANDATE
The FHSAA’s Denarvise Thornton, who deals with eligibility and compliance issues, foresees trouble if any school ever is “mandated” to play IMG: “Their business model, basically, is that they recruit. Even if they’re recruiting outside Florida, it is still recruiting.”

Instead, the Ascenders are perfectly positioned as an independent, ineligible for a state title but as much an FHSAA member as Bayshore High across the street.

“The agreement we have is they cannot recruit students inside the state of Florida, because we have to protect our other members’ rights,” Dearing said. “They get all the rights every other member school gets, but no one is forced to play them.”

Greg Phillips, IMG’s athletic director and former AD at the University of Oklahoma, has met with Dearing in Gainesville. “We know clearly where we stand (on recruiting),” Berard said.

Dearing attended the groundbreaking for IMG’s stadium in April.

But Kinnan said his county’s ADs “collectively felt it’s just not in our best interests” to play the Ascenders.

So IMG paid for two charter buses to bring Palm Beach Lakes in for its Kickoff Classic (IMG won 38-0), and will return the trip next season. North Miami Beach is being paid a $4,000 stipend, leaving the Chargers with a $1,000-$1,500 loss, according to first-year athletic director Renee McCleod.

Lakes’ Willie Snead, who coached Glades Central to a 3A state title in 2006, called it “a great opportunity” — even after a long rain delay kept his team from returning home until 5 a.m.

“Where else could you play a team that has players from all those different states or compete against so many guys who are considered among the best?”

He doesn’t think the local coaches should worry.

“For me, if your career rests on whether a 16- or 17-year-old stays, then you’re in it for the wrong reason,” Snead said. “You’ve got to coach the kids that are there, the kids that believe in you. If IMG was next to Glades Central, we wouldn’t have had one kid leave. Those coaches may have their reasons for feeling threatened, but we certainly wouldn’t have.”

IMG running back Bo Scarbrough, who burned Lakes for 233 yards and three touchdowns, arrived in early August from Tuscaloosa County (Ala.). Quarterback Michael O’Connor, a Penn State pledge, is from Canada but played last fall at Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor.
Protected by an offensive line that averages 305 pounds, they won’t feel threatened by anyone.

Meanwhile, Weinke has noticed a change of attitude at IMG.

“I think the mentality across the board has changed here,” he said. “We will not sacrifice the development of players, but we’ll continue to grow and expand as an academy, and we’ll become more like a typical high school.”

He says his goal “is to teach kids how to win and go 1-0 every week.

“We’re not looking ahead, and once we play a game, we’re not looking back.”

Many interesting facts and comments: A training academy and marketing company,Not your typical high school,focus is on sports improvement, and the big one, recruiting(business model) outside the state of Florida is allowed, cost is expensive $20k-80k with available financial aid.

[Super B]

If you build it...


By Donnie Wilkie , Herald-Tribune / Wednesday, September 4, 2013

BRADENTON — Casey Gunderson knew it the moment he walked in the door.
“You come to IMG, it’s not your typical high school,” Gunderson said. “At a typical school, you have kids playing football just for the fun of it.

“Everyone here has a goal to play Division I football. It’s a little more serious.”

That “goal” is really more of a focus, says Dr. Roger Dearing, executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association and a former Manatee County Schools superintendent. Dearing calls it “a sports-improvement focus.”


Bryant Architects, Samantha Cummins, Stuart Henderson, Rick Fawley, Mike Bryant, Steve Padgett and Sarah Colandro all stand on the first phase of a multi-sport complex now open at IMG Academy in Bradenton.

IMG Academy’s posh 5,000-seat stadium has a giant LED videoboard. The head coach won a Heisman Trophy. The offensive line is bigger than all but one in a BCS conference (American Athletic). And the 235-pound star running back is making a one-year flyby on his way to Alabama.

Do they recruit? The Ascenders’ roster includes boarding students from 15 states, plus Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Japan, Hong Kong and Puerto Rico. Actively seeking athletes, the FHSAA’s boss acknowledges, is what allows IMG “to keep their business open.” So recruiting — outside the state — is allowed, and the team is one of 77 playing as an “independent.”

Nope. Not your typical high school.

SCHEDULING DILEMMA
When IMG unveiled plans to field its first football team, it wasn’t a shock that no school in Manatee, Sarasota, Hillsborough, Charlotte or Lee counties offered to play.

Instead, the Ascenders’ first official home game Friday (7:30 p.m.) is against North Miami Beach, and a cosmopolitan schedule includes trips to Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ocala and Naples.

Waiting for that ESPN showdown between Manatee and IMG? It’ll probably never happen, says Joe Kinnan, the Hurricanes coach and athletic director.

Manatee County ADs have chosen not to schedule IMG in any sport. Other area schools seem to be waiting from a perceived safe distance, wary of “The Corporation” picking off their best talent.

“That’s not what we do,” said IMG coach Chris Weinke, who quarterbacked Florida State to the 1999 national title and, a year later, became the oldest player (28) to win a Heisman.

“We don’t seek out local players. That’s not what we do. We will never do that. If there are ever any kids from Florida (on the roster), they are seeking us out. We never will steal any local players. It’s not how we operate.”

A SHIFT IN PHILOSOPHY
A seat in an IMG classroom is a costly one, $20,000-$80,000 annually, depending on boarding and travel needs.

Financial aid is provided for some athletes, but how much and how many is not something the academy — founded in 1977 when Nick Bollettieri opened his fabled tennis school — typically discusses.

“I understand IMG to be a training academy and a marketing company, so I don’t know what they’re trying to do,” said Palmetto coach Dave Marino. “In terms of football, we’re in Florida. Our kids get all the marketing they could ever dream of.”

When IMG rebranded last year (part of a $197 million, 15-year plan), its emphasis shifted to a more “university-like” philosophy. That includes a school spirit drive called “Rise Up!”

“We have a Homecoming now, a prom, pep rallies,” said Kim Berard, the academy’s head of public relations. “Kids are painting their chests at games. That’s never happened before.”

It’s still a tough sell for veteran coaches like Kinnan and Southeast’s Paul Maechtle — even if Gunderson, a senior wide receiver who attended Cardinal Mooney last year, is IMG’s only local player.

“I can’t devote the same number of hours to training our kids to be football players,” Maechtle said. “That’s not part of the deal. I would say there’s a disconnect. Most of the people involved (at IMG) are not your mom-and-pop group of people from Manatee County. They’re from some other place.”

Added Kinnan: “Our kids live with their parents in the (school) district. The vast majority of them went to our school as ninth-graders. Many of their dads played here.”
Riverview athletic director Jim Ward: “It’s a business for (IMG), it’s a lifestyle for us.

“Our goal is to change lives. We don’t really know what we’re getting, whether the kids have a lot of talent or no talent. But we invite them in, because they live in our district.
“We’ve got a great scholarship at Riverview. Public school is free.”

REACHING OUT
The area’s collective silence surprised Weinke, who reached out to every local coach when he arrived at IMG three years ago.

He is the academy’s director of football, working in the offseason with pros like Cam Newton and a myriad draft hopefuls. This is his first head-coaching assignment.

“Quite frankly, I would love to start to build some rivalries with some local teams,” Weinke said. “The common theme (this year) is that we’re playing good football teams, historically good programs that have had success and gone to the playoffs. My hope, as we move forward, is that these local teams will be encouraged to reach out to us.”

The Ascenders will use their new stadium for football, soccer, lacrosse and track, as well as their 7v7 national championship, which attracted more than 100 BCS recruits in June. There also is talk of hosting the Florida-Georgia all-star game.

“IMG is one of the biggest sports event management companies,” Berard boasts. “If we put on a football game, we’re going to treat it like a world-class event.”

Yet with only 750 students, IMG Academy would land in a Class 4A district with Avon Park, Clewiston, LaBelle and Lake Placid — a combined 6-23 in games not against each other in 2012. No area schools play in 4A.

Weinke opted instead to search out teams “that would be competitive with us.
“We didn’t want to be in any situation where we truly overmatched someone or where we were totally overmatched,” he said.

NO MANDATE
The FHSAA’s Denarvise Thornton, who deals with eligibility and compliance issues, foresees trouble if any school ever is “mandated” to play IMG: “Their business model, basically, is that they recruit. Even if they’re recruiting outside Florida, it is still recruiting.”

Instead, the Ascenders are perfectly positioned as an independent, ineligible for a state title but as much an FHSAA member as Bayshore High across the street.

“The agreement we have is they cannot recruit students inside the state of Florida, because we have to protect our other members’ rights,” Dearing said. “They get all the rights every other member school gets, but no one is forced to play them.”

Greg Phillips, IMG’s athletic director and former AD at the University of Oklahoma, has met with Dearing in Gainesville. “We know clearly where we stand (on recruiting),” Berard said.

Dearing attended the groundbreaking for IMG’s stadium in April.

But Kinnan said his county’s ADs “collectively felt it’s just not in our best interests” to play the Ascenders.

So IMG paid for two charter buses to bring Palm Beach Lakes in for its Kickoff Classic (IMG won 38-0), and will return the trip next season. North Miami Beach is being paid a $4,000 stipend, leaving the Chargers with a $1,000-$1,500 loss, according to first-year athletic director Renee McCleod.

Lakes’ Willie Snead, who coached Glades Central to a 3A state title in 2006, called it “a great opportunity” — even after a long rain delay kept his team from returning home until 5 a.m.

“Where else could you play a team that has players from all those different states or compete against so many guys who are considered among the best?”

He doesn’t think the local coaches should worry.

“For me, if your career rests on whether a 16- or 17-year-old stays, then you’re in it for the wrong reason,” Snead said. “You’ve got to coach the kids that are there, the kids that believe in you. If IMG was next to Glades Central, we wouldn’t have had one kid leave. Those coaches may have their reasons for feeling threatened, but we certainly wouldn’t have.”

IMG running back Bo Scarbrough, who burned Lakes for 233 yards and three touchdowns, arrived in early August from Tuscaloosa County (Ala.). Quarterback Michael O’Connor, a Penn State pledge, is from Canada but played last fall at Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor.
Protected by an offensive line that averages 305 pounds, they won’t feel threatened by anyone.

Meanwhile, Weinke has noticed a change of attitude at IMG.

“I think the mentality across the board has changed here,” he said. “We will not sacrifice the development of players, but we’ll continue to grow and expand as an academy, and we’ll become more like a typical high school.”

He says his goal “is to teach kids how to win and go 1-0 every week.

“We’re not looking ahead, and once we play a game, we’re not looking back.”

[Super B]

So is IMG and so is the IMG line.

Yep. IMG is definitely not ECA.

[Super B]

Good point. I see your perspective now and makes sense. Do you plan on going to Desoto/IMG game?

No. I am only home on the weekends, so my time with the family is already limited. Also, I will be gone the Saturday before, so I might go early if it is one ticket to see DeSoto play Martin.

[MGoBlue]

DeSoto will win this game, this team is stack and the OL is all 300lbs plus and QB Wallace is the real deal. Do not miss the game and pray that DeSoto doesn't end up D1! This team in MOP is the best team in R1 going into the season.

So is IMG and so is the IMG line.

[BevoBo]

I was actually thinking from the angle of how the two sets of teams match up.

DeSoto and IMG both have TONS of talents, can run and pass and IMG is a legit threat to beat DeSoto because they are one of the few teams in the country that can matchup with them.

Trinity and DLS are both heavy run teams with hard nose defenses. Neither are overly blessed with gobs of D1 kids on their rosters, though there are a few. DLS is a legit threat to beat Trinity.

Good point. I see your perspective now and makes sense. Do you plan on going to Desoto/IMG game?

[Eagle2]

I was actually thinking from the angle of how the two sets of teams match up.

DeSoto and IMG both have TONS of talents, can run and pass and IMG is a legit threat to beat DeSoto because they are one of the few teams in the country that can matchup with them.

Trinity and DLS are both heavy run teams with hard nose defenses. Neither are overly blessed with gobs of D1 kids on their rosters, though there are a few. DLS is a legit threat to beat Trinity.

?? Just one of many intriguing aspects to this game.

[Super B]

To some degree, yes....Private(recruiting schools) vs. Public school, but IMG is on whole other level in my opinion with much better athletes across the board. DLS will probably be the better team(team play) and better coached though and higher nationally ranked.

There probably won't be a better game to see talent and D1 athletes on the field than the Desoto/IMG game this year. I plan on being there to see this game and with my Texas pride in hand, hope to see Desoto squash the factory boys.

I was actually thinking from the angle of how the two sets of teams match up.

DeSoto and IMG both have TONS of talents, can run and pass and IMG is a legit threat to beat DeSoto because they are one of the few teams in the country that can matchup with them.

Trinity and DLS are both heavy run teams with hard nose defenses. Neither are overly blessed with gobs of D1 kids on their rosters, though there are a few. DLS is a legit threat to beat Trinity.

[BevoBo]

IMG is to DeSoto what DLS is to Trinity I guess.

To some degree, yes....Private(recruiting schools) vs. Public school, but IMG is on whole other level in my opinion with much better athletes across the board. DLS will probably be the better team(team play) and better coached though and higher nationally ranked.

There probably won't be a better game to see talent and D1 athletes on the field than the Desoto/IMG game this year. I plan on being there to see this game and with my Texas pride in hand, hope to see Desoto squash the factory boys.

[Eagle2]

DeSoto will win this game, this team is stack and the OL is all 300lbs plus and QB Wallace is the real deal. Do not miss the game and pray that DeSoto doesn't end up D1! This team in MOP is the best team in R1 going into the season.

Work in progress that has to come together. Can only control your own. All other parts would need to fall in place.

[CHill]

Seems to be the consensus from the majority. However tough for the Eagles.

DeSoto will win this game, this team is stack and the OL is all 300lbs plus and QB Wallace is the real deal. Do not miss the game and pray that DeSoto doesn't end up D1! This team in MOP is the best team in R1 going into the season.