2021 Too Early Rankings

[Westfan]

If West has the same kind of effort in the offseason that they did this year I think they make the jump to SOC and Regional Contenders. At the end of the year they were playing excellent ball.
They loose 2 linemen and a Tight End on offense and return 8 who started games on defense at the end of the season.

[ohbuckeye2]

The Fighting Tigers of Ironton will be in the mix again next year, returning all but one Lineman (Center) and having Carpenter and Carter back. We have several that’s been biding their time and next year will be their turn.

[MrFirstTake]

The Fighting Tigers of Ironton will be in the mix again next year, returning all but one Lineman (Center) and having Carpenter and Carter back. We have several that’s been biding their time and next year will be their turn.

Yeah their offensive line will be a big strength next year even both TEs return so they will be stacked on the line i believe 10th-12th has 20 lineman excluding TEs and 6 graduate this year so 14 lineman coming back is a lot really

[smurray]

I still think it is Waverly and Burg on top of SOC II next year. Waverly will find and develop a QB, whoever that may be. I just don't think other teams have the athletes to stay with a more experienced Futhey and Morrison. Harris will be a year older and I can see him becoming one of the best backs in the area.

Shoemaker will probably be main back won't he. I think Hurd will be a good one also.

I think all 3 will get playing time or compete for most carries.

Waverly will be ROCK solid. Yes, they lose the all time passing leader in career yardage and TD’s at Waverly in Shanks (Offensive POY in the SOC) along with Brown (Defensive POY SOC2), Wolf & Poe (1st teamers SOC2) and two first team SOC2 linemen in Welch and Pollard. They also lose a great addition to the Tiger family Keith Doughman who did a great job at corner.
1st Team all SOC2 returning next year are Will Futhey, & Penn Morrison as well as 2nd teamers Wyatt Crabtree, Mark Stulley, & Brock Adams (a 6’2” 300 lb sophomore).
Waverly will also return guys such as J.T. Barnett who was limited with injury, Dawson Shoemaker who will be an absolute beast at RB and LB after missing the entire season this year, Peyton Harris, Wade Futhey, Jase Hurd, and some very nice lineman to join Adams.
Waverly will have 3 very good backs, 3-4 very good WR, a more than capable offensive line, arguably 2 of the best defensive ends In the area, and a mean groups of LB’s.
We could very well see a more 50/50 ratio between run/pass, depends on the QB situation. Wade Futhey did a nice job when he came in - he will have a year to get bigger, stronger & faster. He doesnt have the arm strength Shanks had (who did around here?) but he is capable of making some nice throws.
And as always, we’ll see who in the younger ranks step up.....

[greygoose]

Based off of what I saw and what I think they have returning I'm gonna start with
Jackson
Ironton
Wheelersburg
West
Waverly

Fairland went far in D6. But don't know how much of that was team and how much of that was region. Same with Valley. What does Wellston return?

Not seeing Waverly and I don't think I am seeing Jackson on that list.

Waverly will be just fine, the lose out on the QB but they return so much of the skilled players that they don't need a big armed QB to come in and take over. Jackson I believe was young last year and has a lot of their skilled guys back, I think most in the know on Jackson was looking to next year to really be where they take off with the underclassmen they have. Think I seen in another thread where Fairland only loses 2-3 key seniors so they should be stout. Piketon is another team that doesn't lose much if they decide to play defense they could crack the top teams with all the talent they have offensively.

Jackson
Burg
Ironton
Waverly
West

Would be my pick from the larger division groups. I think you can flip Jackson and Burg and it wouldn't matter it's more of a 1A and 1B scenario.

Smaller is obviously Trimble and Fort Frye and I think Valley was on the younger side as well look for them to make a jump as well.

[SWHITE2002]

Wheelersburg IMO is gonna have to make a change in style offensively. They don't have a proven quarterback and their best returning players are backs (Lattimore, Swords, Williams).

Waverly will be good, but teams will have a much easier time covering 2 receivers than 4, and has been said there is no replacing Shanks. They will still be good, but they will take a significant step back and then another larger step back after this junior class graduates. League wise this year they travel to Wheelersburg and to West.

Ironton looses Carrico, Hacker, Howell, Deere, etc. Very good players. They have alot of players but however they try to spin it, you don't replace guys like Carrico. If the last two games have shown anything, the talent advantage isn't what it was made out to be. If Tindall played Saturday, Ironton would be rolling out the round balls this week.

West was young and competitive. The core of their team is Freshmen and Sophomores. The quarterback seemed to improve as the season went on. Bishop and Sissel may be two of the best players in the area.

Jackson has a potential D1 quarterback in Winters. I see them trending upward

[countywide35]

The Fighting Tigers of Ironton will be in the mix again next year, returning all but one Lineman (Center) and having Carpenter and Carter back. We have several that’s been biding their time and next year will be their turn.

Yeah their offensive line will be a big strength next year even both TEs return so they will be stacked on the line i believe 10th-12th has 20 lineman excluding TEs and 6 graduate this year so 14 lineman coming back is a lot really

Wow what a stable of lineman. Send a few up 93N towards Jackson’s way will ya ?????

[countywide35]

Wheelersburg IMO is gonna have to make a change in style offensively. They don't have a proven quarterback and their best returning players are backs (Lattimore, Swords, Williams).

Waverly will be good, but teams will have a much easier time covering 2 receivers than 4, and has been said there is no replacing Shanks. They will still be good, but they will take a significant step back and then another larger step back after this junior class graduates. League wise this year they travel to Wheelersburg and to West.

Ironton looses Carrico, Hacker, Howell, Deere, etc. Very good players. They have alot of players but however they try to spin it, you don't replace guys like Carrico. If the last two games have shown anything, the talent advantage isn't what it was made out to be. If Tindall played Saturday, Ironton would be rolling out the round balls this week.

West was young and competitive. The core of their team is Freshmen and Sophomores. The quarterback seemed to improve as the season went on. Bishop and Sissel may be two of the best players in the area.

Jackson has a potential D1 quarterback in Winters. I see them trending upward

Not sure Winters will be at QB next year. Young man has Tommy Jon Surgery coming up and what I hear is done for anything sports wise until Week 1 of the 2021 Football season. Speedy recovery for that young man and wish him the best. Great kid.

[SWHITE2002]

Not sure Winters will be at QB next year. Young man has Tommy Jon Surgery coming up and what I hear is done for anything sports wise until Week 1 of the 2021 Football season. Speedy recovery for that young man and wish him the best. Great kid.

That's terrible. Prayers for the young man

[MrFirstTake]

The Fighting Tigers of Ironton will be in the mix again next year, returning all but one Lineman (Center) and having Carpenter and Carter back. We have several that’s been biding their time and next year will be their turn.

Yeah their offensive line will be a big strength next year even both TEs return so they will be stacked on the line i believe 10th-12th has 20 lineman excluding TEs and 6 graduate this year so 14 lineman coming back is a lot really

Wow what a stable of lineman. Send a few up 93N towards Jackson’s way will ya ?????

Lol yeah 10th and 11th grade have 14 lineman and the freshman class probably adds about 7-8 so they should have a lot to work with in that department

[RIVERRAT304]

Wheelersburg IMO is gonna have to make a change in style offensively. They don't have a proven quarterback and their best returning players are backs (Lattimore, Swords, Williams).

Waverly will be good, but teams will have a much easier time covering 2 receivers than 4, and has been said there is no replacing Shanks. They will still be good, but they will take a significant step back and then another larger step back after this junior class graduates. League wise this year they travel to Wheelersburg and to West.

Ironton looses Carrico, Hacker, Howell, Deere, etc. Very good players. They have alot of players but however they try to spin it, you don't replace guys like Carrico. If the last two games have shown anything, the talent advantage isn't what it was made out to be. If Tindall played Saturday, Ironton would be rolling out the round balls this week.

West was young and competitive. The core of their team is Freshmen and Sophomores. The quarterback seemed to improve as the season went on. Bishop and Sissel may be two of the best players in the area.

Jackson has a potential D1 quarterback in Winters. I see them trending upward

Not sure Winters will be at QB next year. Young man has Tommy Jon Surgery coming up and what I hear is done for anything sports wise until Week 1 of the 2021 Football season. Speedy recovery for that young man and wish him the best. Great kid.

He had the surgery 11 days ago.

[OSU22]

NY

losses
Snyder - MLB (Most career tackles in NY History)
Wiseman - OG & DT (3 year starter)
Gail - TE (Team leading receiver in yards, catches and TD's)
Alec Taylor - K (3 year starter xp, fg and KO)
Zach Taylor - Saftey (2 year starter)
Christopher McDonald - WR/CB (2 year starter at both positions, also Punt and Kick returner)
Brandon Phillips - WR/CB (3 year starter at both positions, hurt week 2 senior year and didn't play rest of year unfortunately)
Matthew Odenthal - Center (2 year starter)
Ethan Douglass - MLB (3 year starter)

Returning
QB - Drew Carter. 1,500+ passing yards, 15 Passing TD's , 268 rushing yards 7 TD's.
RB/OLB - Jared Justice ( Transferred in from Logan, big, fast, strong, smart kid)
RB - Hudson Stalder (Split time last season, 6.6 y/c, 3 TD's)
WR - Makhi Williams (Played as Freshman, 11 Rec. 255 yards 3 TD's)
OT - Dominic Robinson (2 year, will be a 3 year starter at Tackle. 6'4 260)
OG/DT - Tucker Levering (2 year, will be a 3 year starter. 6'1 240)
OG/DE - Nathan Martin (2 year, will be a 3 year starter. Pound for Pound one of the strongest guys on the team)
CB- Dakota Inman (Starter as a sophomore, will be junior)
DE- Maleek Williams (Starter as sophomore, playing time as a freshman.)
DE- Pearson Wilt (Transfer from Olentangy, hurt most of the year).
OLB - Leighton Loge (Started as a sophomore, led the team in Solo Tackles)

NY loses some key pieces but also returns a bunch. Some really talented kids will step up. Can see NY being very competitive and ready to win another TVC Title next year!

[SEOfootballFAN1]

Trimble loses 2 seniors who started both ways, so technically returning 18 of 22 starters

Only 1 started both ways, the other only started O Line. They started 3 freshman on defense vs NC, and will be returning 19/22 starting positions- will be very senior heavy next year in all positions except O Line.

[MasterOfNone]

Based off of what I saw and what I think they have returning I'm gonna start with
Jackson
Ironton
Wheelersburg
West
Waverly

Fairland went far in D6. But don't know how much of that was team and how much of that was region. Same with Valley. What does Wellston return?

Not seeing Waverly and I don't think I am seeing Jackson on that list.

Jackson has Winters at quarterback who is good. I think they will be solid

Futhey may stay at receiver for his development but he may be the best option at quarterback for Waverly. I still think they'll be solid

Will Futhey definitely stays at WR. He’s too big of a threat out there and way to talented to move him at this point. If the coaching staff didn’t choose to play him at QB his sophomore year when Shanks was hurt, no way he plays there his senior year. I would say bother Wade Futhey will be the starting QB next year. He’ll be a senior who has backed up Shanks for two years now. You can’t expect him to fill Shanks shoes, just not fair, but I think he will do just fine with the weapons he has around him. He has varsity experience and will put in the work. After this junior class graduates is when things will get interesting for the Tigers, especially at QB. My uneducated guess is that after next season is that the Tigers will have a Sophomore starting QB, which would give them a 3 year starter. Just like Shanks and Howell both started their sophomore year.

For Waverly, their biggest positions to fill will be on the O-line. Only returning 1 starter will be challenging for them. They definitely have some guys to play there, they will just be very inexperienced at the varsity level. Lots of learning to do.

[FANOSPORTS]

The Fighting Tigers of Ironton will be in the mix again next year, returning all but one Lineman (Center) and having Carpenter and Carter back. We have several that’s been biding their time and next year will be their turn.

Yeah their offensive line will be a big strength next year even both TEs return so they will be stacked on the line i believe 10th-12th has 20 lineman excluding TEs and 6 graduate this year so 14 lineman coming back is a lot really

Wow what a stable of lineman. Send a few up 93N towards Jackson’s way will ya ?????

Jackson is a geographically huge school area. They need to find a way to get rid of the boundaries to the North and East with Ross and Vinton counties and have Wellston take a few more miles of kids so Jackson can get down to D4. It's "Jackson City" School district but might as well be considered a "Local" district as many others down that way are. The difference is like night and day between D3 & D4 in football come playoff time.

[wobycat]

Burg needs to find an offensive line. It will be an interesting year for the Pirates in that category. Look for some sophomores to possibly play. Skilled they are fine and defense but that o line will be a wonder.

[countywide35]

Yeah their offensive line will be a big strength next year even both TEs return so they will be stacked on the line i believe 10th-12th has 20 lineman excluding TEs and 6 graduate this year so 14 lineman coming back is a lot really

Wow what a stable of lineman. Send a few up 93N towards Jackson’s way will ya ?????

Jackson is a geographically huge school area. They need to find a way to get rid of the boundaries to the North and East with Ross and Vinton counties and have Wellston take a few more miles of kids so Jackson can get down to D4. It's "Jackson City" School district but might as well be considered a "Local" district as many others down that way are. The difference is like night and day between D3 & D4 in football come playoff time.

Great statement.....add the fact it’s in region 11 for that DIII classification too.....brutal

[SWHITE2002]

Burg needs to find an offensive line. It will be an interesting year for the Pirates in that category. Look for some sophomores to possibly play. Skilled they are fine and defense but that o line will be a wonder.

How many linemen were seniors?

72 will be tough to replace

[yabbadabbadoo]

Wheelersburg IMO is gonna have to make a change in style offensively. They don't have a proven quarterback and their best returning players are backs (Lattimore, Swords, Williams).

Waverly will be good, but teams will have a much easier time covering 2 receivers than 4, and has been said there is no replacing Shanks. They will still be good, but they will take a significant step back and then another larger step back after this junior class graduates. League wise this year they travel to Wheelersburg and to West.

Ironton looses Carrico, Hacker, Howell, Deere, etc. Very good players. They have alot of players but however they try to spin it, you don't replace guys like Carrico. If the last two games have shown anything, the talent advantage isn't what it was made out to be. If Tindall played Saturday, Ironton would be rolling out the round balls this week.

West was young and competitive. The core of their team is Freshmen and Sophomores. The quarterback seemed to improve as the season went on. Bishop and Sissel may be two of the best players in the area.

Jackson has a potential D1 quarterback in Winters. I see them trending upward

You are correct about Burg needing to change. They will have one of the better backs in Derrick Lattimore back so they need to feature him and give him the darn ball down on the goal line. Kid is a hard nosed runner that just runs over or drags people down the field. Going to be interesting to see what the Burg does. Need to replace most of the line so will need some youngsters to step up. Sophomore class had some nice size this year so maybe they can develop some of them.

[GoBigI]

Ironton will be just fine. Losing Carrico, Deere, Crawford, Crabtree, Howell, and Hacker will certainly sting. Having Cochran, Washington, McCall, and Duncan back to anchor the D line will give opposing offenses nightmares. They have a LOAD of a line coming back on O as well. Carpenter and Carter behind that line will be very dangerous as juniors. Add to that Masters, Wilson, Duncan, Washington, Barnes, and Keyes and it’s gonna be another bright year in I Town. They will have speed to burn. Playing Burg and Jackson weeks 1 and 2 will present great challenges and only prepare them for another long playoff run as Burg and Jackson are loaded every year.