Youth Football- HS and Younger (2 Viewers)

[Chadstroma]

Ugghh - got MRI results yesterday. Most likely a torn ACL. Weird thing is he passes all the normal stability/physical checks that our doctor, who is a sports specialist and is an Olympic team doctor, was very shocked by the MRI results. Getting in for a second opinion with a pediatric orthopedic specialist to review it all and figure out the next steps, but it is not looking good.

That is disheartening. Maybe a partial tear if he has stability in the leg?

Holding out some hope but two radiologists have now looked at the imaging and diagnosed as a full thickness ACL tear. So, we move on to the next step.

Any updates?

Met with surgeon yesterday. We know several kids, including my nephews, that have seen him. All were pleased with his work. Some said he was a little blunt/too straight forward, but I appreciated it and my wife, son and I really liked him.

So, in addition to the ACL tear, there is also a lateral meniscus tear. They will repair that when doing the ACL surgery. Surgery is scheduled for November 27th. He'll be using a graft from the hamstring tendon to rebuild the ACL, then, in what is a fairly newer step in the procedure, because he is still young and thus the growth plates are still very open, and especially because my son wants to continue playing football, they also take a piece from the IT band, detach it from where it normally goes, and attach it to the outer screw they put in the knee, and anchor it there, wrapping it around the MCL I believe. This adds an extra layer of stability/protection while the knee is still growing.

Unfortunately as it is a complete tear, probably looking at at least a 9 month recovery period before being cleared for sports, possibly a little longer than that to be cleared for full contact football. Then it's getting past the mental hurdle of trusting the knee. My son is determined to come back bigger, stronger and faster and beat those time frames.

All in all though my son is still in positive spirits, though I'm sure as the reality of not being able to do sports for the better part of a year really sets in, he may have some down days.

It is crazy he has so much damage but was passing the stability tests etc.

Hoping all goes well on the 27th!

 

[ChiefD]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

 

[Chadstroma]

My sons seventh grade postseason team had our first tournament this past weekend. My goodness we were terrible. It’s shocking to me that this group of kids were a very strong team last year in sixth grade. This year it’s like a completely different set of kids. And it’s not like the kids haven’t grown, as we have some really big kids. I honestly think, as I complained earlier in the thread, that the two middle school football programs in seventh grade are horrible. The other coaches I’m working with who helped on last year’s all-star team, as well as some of the parents, have commented that it seems some of the kids have actually regressed. My wife had lunch today with a couple other moms, and they mentioned several of the boys told their parents they learn more in the couple weeks of postseason football than they learned the entire year of the regular middle school season. It really just pisses me off.

My son is really learning a lot of life lessons. All the issues from the regular season, and now he’s really struggling with competing at a completely different position. He’s played linebacker exclusively, but in the postseason we have them at cornerback. I believe he is better suited for linebacker, but 87 pounds in seventh grade is really tough. He’s come to recognize that he’s just too small to play that position now. Unfortunately for him, all three teams we played this weekend had very tall receivers. The last team receivers were legit 6 foot. My son is probably 4 foot 10. He made some good plays, but got scored on a couple of times. Some were his fault, some he was doing his job, but the safety wasn’t providing help over the top like he should. He was really discouraged after the first game. He’s really having to learn sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, sometimes spectacularly, but you have to forget it, and just keep playing. I told him he was learning good coverage skills, and that if he ever got back to his favorite position of linebacker, they would come in handy. He was pretty pumped for practice last night, and seems to be in good spirits. It didn’t help that he also got somewhat banged up. One kid put his helmet into my son’s groin and practice last week. He aggravated this week when he was contesting a jump ball. Also on the kickoff return team, he was diving to cover a ball and a opponent dove and landed funny on the back of his ankle, so it was pretty sore/swollen. Thank goodness for YouTube, so I got to learn how to tape his ankle Sunday morning so he could play.

We have one more tournament down in the Knoxville area. Hopefully we can end the season on a high note.

In youth sports there are a lot of coaches out there that aren't very good or absolute trash even.

It seems to range from someone trying their best but just doesn't have the knowledge or skillset to those that think they know everything and don't work to better themselves to be better coaches or those that don't care because it is 'just' 6th grade football (or insert the level sport).

I am driven by this when I coach basketball. Looking back, I had very poor coaching as a kid in a club team and it absolutely impacted my development. The scariest thought I can have about coaching is being the coach that holds a kid back from reaching his individual fullness in the sport, whatever that may be for that kid.

 

[dgreen]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

If you don't mind me asking which school in Wisconsin? There is some very good D3 football here in Wisconsin. By the way big congratulations to your son.

 

[belljr]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

This varies imo ....... just like there are low level D1s there are "high level D3s" etc...... one softball program around here that is D3 has beaten 2 local D1s pretty handedly.. That being said you have to be better than some people think - but there is also a place for almost everyone that has the desire and some talent (if that makes any sense)

 

[ChiefD]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

If you don't mind me asking which school in Wisconsin? There is some very good D3 football here in Wisconsin. By the way big congratulations to your son.

It's not one of the big dogs. Yeah, that conference is solid up there.

It's at Concordia University in Mequon. About 2500 students. They are a pretty good team in their own right and their coaching staff are fantastic. Campus is gorgeous as well.

 

[ChiefD]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

This varies imo ....... just like there are low level D1s there are "high level D3s" etc...... one softball program around here that is D3 has beaten 2 local D1s pretty handedly.. That being said you have to be better than some people think - but there is also a place for almost everyone that has the desire and some talent (if that makes any sense)

Yeah, agree. There are a lot of programs that will take a lot of kids - especially D3 and NAIA. One of the schools we looked at had 140 kids. So a kid would have a chance to be on a program but may not ever see the field. And for some kids that's ok - and they can work their way up to playing time if they improve.

The college my son is going to has about 100 kids. They also have a varsity AND a junior varsity team so their philosophy is that your son will get to play college football. And every one will have the opportunity to play varsity if they make that team. But at worst your child will get to play college football. And be part of the program.

Our son is a big kid for a kicker: 6'2" and 165 lbs. And he's still growing. So in a college weight program with some good coaching he has a ton of potential. My guess is he ends up 6'3" or so. He could easily add another 30 pounds of muscle on his frame.

It's pretty cool.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

If you don't mind me asking which school in Wisconsin? There is some very good D3 football here in Wisconsin. By the way big congratulations to your son.

It's not one of the big dogs. Yeah, that conference is solid up there.

It's at Concordia University in Mequon. About 2500 students. They are a pretty good team in their own right and their coaching staff are fantastic. Campus is gorgeous as well.

Agreed they are a good team, Concordia is about 45 minutes north of me, north Milwaukee suburbs are a nice area. I hope he enjoys it at Concordia. If he has any desire to practice field goals tell him to head down to Whitefish Bay and kick balls at Craig Counsell's house (sorry the disgruntled Brewer fan in me). Best of luck.

 

[Chadstroma]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

This varies imo ....... just like there are low level D1s there are "high level D3s" etc...... one softball program around here that is D3 has beaten 2 local D1s pretty handedly.. That being said you have to be better than some people think - but there is also a place for almost everyone that has the desire and some talent (if that makes any sense)

I would think that this is really dependent on sport too. It is hard to see a D3 school beat up on a D1 in football or basketball but could see it happen more in sports that don't have the professional funnel that those sports tend to have. This is and educated guess though as I have no data to back it up. Just would make sense to me.

 

[Chadstroma]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

This varies imo ....... just like there are low level D1s there are "high level D3s" etc...... one softball program around here that is D3 has beaten 2 local D1s pretty handedly.. That being said you have to be better than some people think - but there is also a place for almost everyone that has the desire and some talent (if that makes any sense)

Yeah, agree. There are a lot of programs that will take a lot of kids - especially D3 and NAIA. One of the schools we looked at had 140 kids. So a kid would have a chance to be on a program but may not ever see the field. And for some kids that's ok - and they can work their way up to playing time if they improve.

The college my son is going to has about 100 kids. They also have a varsity AND a junior varsity team so their philosophy is that your son will get to play college football. And every one will have the opportunity to play varsity if they make that team. But at worst your child will get to play college football. And be part of the program.

Our son is a big kid for a kicker: 6'2" and 165 lbs. And he's still growing. So in a college weight program with some good coaching he has a ton of potential. My guess is he ends up 6'3" or so. He could easily add another 30 pounds of muscle on his frame.

It's pretty cool.

That is getting to NFL size for kickers. I was surprised... in my mind, always thought of kickers as smaller guys and then I met Pat O'Donnell (P-Bears... or use to be) and I am looking up to the guy. I am 6'1''.... so he had to be 6'4"

 

[ChiefD]

That is getting to NFL size for kickers. I was surprised... in my mind, always thought of kickers as smaller guys and then I met Pat O'Donnell (P-Bears... or use to be) and I am looking up to the guy. I am 6'1''.... so he had to be 6'4"

Yeah, my son met Butker last year - he was up at the high school kicking while my son was working out. At the time my son was 6'1" at the time and took a pic with Butker. Dude was huge. 6'4" and 200 lbs.

 

[Andrew74]

My sons seventh grade postseason team had our first tournament this past weekend. My goodness we were terrible. It’s shocking to me that this group of kids were a very strong team last year in sixth grade. This year it’s like a completely different set of kids. And it’s not like the kids haven’t grown, as we have some really big kids. I honestly think, as I complained earlier in the thread, that the two middle school football programs in seventh grade are horrible. The other coaches I’m working with who helped on last year’s all-star team, as well as some of the parents, have commented that it seems some of the kids have actually regressed. My wife had lunch today with a couple other moms, and they mentioned several of the boys told their parents they learn more in the couple weeks of postseason football than they learned the entire year of the regular middle school season. It really just pisses me off.

My son is really learning a lot of life lessons. All the issues from the regular season, and now he’s really struggling with competing at a completely different position. He’s played linebacker exclusively, but in the postseason we have them at cornerback. I believe he is better suited for linebacker, but 87 pounds in seventh grade is really tough. He’s come to recognize that he’s just too small to play that position now. Unfortunately for him, all three teams we played this weekend had very tall receivers. The last team receivers were legit 6 foot. My son is probably 4 foot 10. He made some good plays, but got scored on a couple of times. Some were his fault, some he was doing his job, but the safety wasn’t providing help over the top like he should. He was really discouraged after the first game. He’s really having to learn sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, sometimes spectacularly, but you have to forget it, and just keep playing. I told him he was learning good coverage skills, and that if he ever got back to his favorite position of linebacker, they would come in handy. He was pretty pumped for practice last night, and seems to be in good spirits. It didn’t help that he also got somewhat banged up. One kid put his helmet into my son’s groin and practice last week. He aggravated this week when he was contesting a jump ball. Also on the kickoff return team, he was diving to cover a ball and a opponent dove and landed funny on the back of his ankle, so it was pretty sore/swollen. Thank goodness for YouTube, so I got to learn how to tape his ankle Sunday morning so he could play.

We have one more tournament down in the Knoxville area. Hopefully we can end the season on a high note.

Is the tournament the Rocky Top tournament next weekend? My son got contacted to play in the Rocky Top by some other 9th graders that are trying to put together a city "all-star" 9th grade team to play in the Rocky Top, we declined. I told my son we are not committing to anything until I know details about the team and tournament, but no one got back to me. Two years ago my son played on an 8th grade team as a 7th grader and his team went to the Rocky Top, again we didn't attend, my sons hockey already started. Good luck in your next tournament

Yeah it’s Rocky Top. My son’s grade has never been, so we will see how it goes. I know several of the other grades have gone for years now and speak highly of it.

 

[belljr]

Serious question.....how do you do a tackle football tournament? Isn't a bunch of games on the weekend excessive for football?

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

My sons seventh grade postseason team had our first tournament this past weekend. My goodness we were terrible. It’s shocking to me that this group of kids were a very strong team last year in sixth grade. This year it’s like a completely different set of kids. And it’s not like the kids haven’t grown, as we have some really big kids. I honestly think, as I complained earlier in the thread, that the two middle school football programs in seventh grade are horrible. The other coaches I’m working with who helped on last year’s all-star team, as well as some of the parents, have commented that it seems some of the kids have actually regressed. My wife had lunch today with a couple other moms, and they mentioned several of the boys told their parents they learn more in the couple weeks of postseason football than they learned the entire year of the regular middle school season. It really just pisses me off.

My son is really learning a lot of life lessons. All the issues from the regular season, and now he’s really struggling with competing at a completely different position. He’s played linebacker exclusively, but in the postseason we have them at cornerback. I believe he is better suited for linebacker, but 87 pounds in seventh grade is really tough. He’s come to recognize that he’s just too small to play that position now. Unfortunately for him, all three teams we played this weekend had very tall receivers. The last team receivers were legit 6 foot. My son is probably 4 foot 10. He made some good plays, but got scored on a couple of times. Some were his fault, some he was doing his job, but the safety wasn’t providing help over the top like he should. He was really discouraged after the first game. He’s really having to learn sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, sometimes spectacularly, but you have to forget it, and just keep playing. I told him he was learning good coverage skills, and that if he ever got back to his favorite position of linebacker, they would come in handy. He was pretty pumped for practice last night, and seems to be in good spirits. It didn’t help that he also got somewhat banged up. One kid put his helmet into my son’s groin and practice last week. He aggravated this week when he was contesting a jump ball. Also on the kickoff return team, he was diving to cover a ball and a opponent dove and landed funny on the back of his ankle, so it was pretty sore/swollen. Thank goodness for YouTube, so I got to learn how to tape his ankle Sunday morning so he could play.

We have one more tournament down in the Knoxville area. Hopefully we can end the season on a high note.

Is the tournament the Rocky Top tournament next weekend? My son got contacted to play in the Rocky Top by some other 9th graders that are trying to put together a city "all-star" 9th grade team to play in the Rocky Top, we declined. I told my son we are not committing to anything until I know details about the team and tournament, but no one got back to me. Two years ago my son played on an 8th grade team as a 7th grader and his team went to the Rocky Top, again we didn't attend, my sons hockey already started. Good luck in your next tournament

Yeah it’s Rocky Top. My son’s grade has never been, so we will see how it goes. I know several of the other grades have gone for years now and speak highly of it.

My sons team played there a couple years ago but he didn't play, for us the drive was 9 hours there and 9 back. The feedback we heard was it was a very good tournament, unfortunately they ran into some questionable refereeing, but this was 8th grade football and mistakes happen. The only problem is sitting in a car driving back 9 hours seething on some of those calls. Best of luck and Rocky Top, definitely interested to hear how it goes.

 

[Jayrod]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

This varies imo ....... just like there are low level D1s there are "high level D3s" etc...... one softball program around here that is D3 has beaten 2 local D1s pretty handedly.. That being said you have to be better than some people think - but there is also a place for almost everyone that has the desire and some talent (if that makes any sense)

I would think that this is really dependent on sport too. It is hard to see a D3 school beat up on a D1 in football or basketball but could see it happen more in sports that don't have the professional funnel that those sports tend to have. This is and educated guess though as I have no data to back it up. Just would make sense to me.

Basketball and Football are scouted so well, that there are truly some significant changes from level to level.

I can really only speak intelligently to the football side of things, but I've officiated some NAIA, Juco, D-2 and FCS D-1 football.

All college players at every level were the stars of the HS team for the most part. The biggest difference as you move up is the size/speed combo. There are big kids at the lower levels of college, but they aren't as athletic and there are really athletic kids at the lower levels, but they aren't as big. As you move up the ladder the fast kids are bigger and the big kids are faster (if that makes sense). Also the team discipline grows the higher up you go. Juco and NAIA ball can be really really sloppy and kids do a lot more stupid things that surprise you. It is much harder to officiate than a good D-2 or FCS level game, where the players more or less move and act like you'd expect. Juco ball is a nightmare to ref.

ETA: Juco skill level is an odd mix between guys that weren't quite good enough to make D1 and guys that are absolutely D1 talent but are complete idiots.

 

[northern exposure]

Serious question.....how do you do a tackle football tournament? Isn't a bunch of games on the weekend excessive for football?

The tournaments my son has participated in have featured shorter times for a quarter or a running clock that only stops for injuries or time outs.
When he was younger he was in
tournaments where they shortened and/or narrowed the field. Other tournaments had entire games that were like OT play in NCAA. So the Offense got the ball at the 35 yard line and the teams alternated possessions.
There was no special teams in these tournaments either.

The players were really tired at the end of the tournament, but they managed to survive them.

ETA- I should add my son started playing tackle football when he was 7 and he's currently a high school Senior. So, I have seen a lot of variations in tournaments.

 

[Andrew74]

Serious question.....how do you do a tackle football tournament? Isn't a bunch of games on the weekend excessive for football?

Usually 2 games a day, with 3-4 games on a weekend. We did have one tournament last year (6 grade) where we played 6 games over 5 days since we made the title game. Usually 3 hours between games. In my three years of coaching all stars, we’ve never had shortened fields. But all of the tournaments I have been in have a running clock. Quarters are 8 to 10 minutes.

Yes it is excessive. The kids are pretty tired at the end. But it seems doable for 10 to 12-year-olds and their energy levels.

 

[Chadstroma]

My high school senior is having his signing ceremony at school today to play football as a kicker in college. It's a small NCAA D3 school in Wisconsin.

Very proud of him and some things he went through this year. I will share more of this story at a later time.

Suffice it to say high school football coaches are a mystery sometimes. But my boy earned this all on his own. From a kid who didn't start kicking until the spring before his junior year to having three offers to kick in college.

All because of his hard work and determination to make it happen. I'm so proud of him I could cry.

And for all you dads out there who's kids want to play post-high school - there are opportunities out there.

That's awesome. Congrats to your son.

I've wondered how good you have to be to play at the lower levels of college football. It seems like only a handful of my kid's school's senior class each year goes on to play somewhere, and they've had a really good program with talented players for a while until this year.

This varies imo ....... just like there are low level D1s there are "high level D3s" etc...... one softball program around here that is D3 has beaten 2 local D1s pretty handedly.. That being said you have to be better than some people think - but there is also a place for almost everyone that has the desire and some talent (if that makes any sense)

I would think that this is really dependent on sport too. It is hard to see a D3 school beat up on a D1 in football or basketball but could see it happen more in sports that don't have the professional funnel that those sports tend to have. This is and educated guess though as I have no data to back it up. Just would make sense to me.

Basketball and Football are scouted so well, that there are truly some significant changes from level to level.

I can really only speak intelligently to the football side of things, but I've officiated some NAIA, Juco, D-2 and FCS D-1 football.

All college players at every level were the stars of the HS team for the most part. The biggest difference as you move up is the size/speed combo. There are big kids at the lower levels of college, but they aren't as athletic and there are really athletic kids at the lower levels, but they aren't as big. As you move up the ladder the fast kids are bigger and the big kids are faster (if that makes sense). Also the team discipline grows the higher up you go. Juco and NAIA ball can be really really sloppy and kids do a lot more stupid things that surprise you. It is much harder to officiate than a good D-2 or FCS level game, where the players more or less move and act like you'd expect. Juco ball is a nightmare to ref.

ETA: Juco skill level is an odd mix between guys that weren't quite good enough to make D1 and guys that are absolutely D1 talent but are complete idiots.

Exactly what I was thinking... the money teams (basketball and football) have to have serious differences level to level but I can see other sports being much closer with a great D3 being better than a D1 not unusual. But again, big guess work on that.

 

[Andrew74]

Football is finally over. Rocky Top tournament was fun. We played in Gatlinburg, which I heard is a different experience than Knoxville. Overall the refs were good, which is unusual to say about youth football.

We went 1-1-1. Should have been 2-1 but a failure in offensive play calling and our QB playing horrible ended the last game in a tie (consolation bracket). We really played one half of terrible football in the first game then pretty solid after that.

It’s been a tumultuous year for my son and I’m not sad to see it end. He played CB in the postseason for the first time in his life. Honestly his skill set is LB not CB. As a former OL/LB I have no idea how to really help him much outside of basics. He has good football fundamentals so he held his own and didn’t have any big breakdowns.

We did end the year on a good note, which after the bad taste he had from the school year, I was very thankful for. In the second game he had probably the best tackle of his “career”. The RB tried the get the edge on him but my son pressed him to the sideline, executed a beautiful form tackle that lifted the kid off the ground. He planted him right in front of his coaches. The RB wasn’t a monster, but with my son being 87lbs, most everyone is bigger. It got his teammates fired up and was a nice way to end the year.

 

[acarey50]

Ugghh - got MRI results yesterday. Most likely a torn ACL. Weird thing is he passes all the normal stability/physical checks that our doctor, who is a sports specialist and is an Olympic team doctor, was very shocked by the MRI results. Getting in for a second opinion with a pediatric orthopedic specialist to review it all and figure out the next steps, but it is not looking good.

That is disheartening. Maybe a partial tear if he has stability in the leg?

Holding out some hope but two radiologists have now looked at the imaging and diagnosed as a full thickness ACL tear. So, we move on to the next step.

Any updates?

Met with surgeon yesterday. We know several kids, including my nephews, that have seen him. All were pleased with his work. Some said he was a little blunt/too straight forward, but I appreciated it and my wife, son and I really liked him.

So, in addition to the ACL tear, there is also a lateral meniscus tear. They will repair that when doing the ACL surgery. Surgery is scheduled for November 27th. He'll be using a graft from the hamstring tendon to rebuild the ACL, then, in what is a fairly newer step in the procedure, because he is still young and thus the growth plates are still very open, and especially because my son wants to continue playing football, they also take a piece from the IT band, detach it from where it normally goes, and attach it to the outer screw they put in the knee, and anchor it there, wrapping it around the MCL I believe. This adds an extra layer of stability/protection while the knee is still growing.

Unfortunately as it is a complete tear, probably looking at at least a 9 month recovery period before being cleared for sports, possibly a little longer than that to be cleared for full contact football. Then it's getting past the mental hurdle of trusting the knee. My son is determined to come back bigger, stronger and faster and beat those time frames.

All in all though my son is still in positive spirits, though I'm sure as the reality of not being able to do sports for the better part of a year really sets in, he may have some down days.

It is crazy he has so much damage but was passing the stability tests etc.

Hoping all goes well on the 27th!

Surgery yesterday went well. Took about 3 hours. All told, doc said everything went as smooth as possible. Now for recovery and rehab. Has the machine to move the knee that he will use for 4-6 hours per day, has the ice machine pumping and all told he's in good spirits. Will be back in physical therapy later this week. So for now, he gets spoiled.