A lot of people who didn’t watch the summer workouts or 7v7s make this comment. Quite frankly Wiles looked horrible then. It was between Smith and Shaefe. When Shaefe ran out, it was Smith’s job. Obviously Smith wasn’t ready, however, to suggest that Wiles was the best option at the time is dotish.
Wiles can also play corner from his JV days which the team lacks. They’ll use this and ask Sam to help them out and move his position. The real reason is he needs to make Smith happy.
What is dotish is believing that Smith’s surrounding hype had nothing to do with him being the starter the first two weeks.
While I do agree with part of your first post noting Sam’s athleticism and versatility (Potentially playing CB). I also have to tell you once again, Wiles was not the same player in preseason as he was from Weeks 3-12.
Or because he’s a great athlete. I never viewed Wiles as a straight quarterback. His athletic ability has always been his strong suit. There’s nothing wrong with not playing QB and starting at another position.
So he magically becomes a great QB and takes the offense from averaging 2 PPG to 35? I don’t buy it. There was obviously a huge misevaluation by Bolden and co.
The offense was adjusted quite a bit to fit Wiles play-style. I wouldn’t by any means consider Wiles a “great” QB. I think he was really solid last year, but as for “great” Firebird QBs… I think that’s reserved only for Mitch Bolden.
Maybe you’re right. But I still think this should be Sam Wiles’ job to lose. Instead they’ll keep it as an open battle that Smith will probably win, if Wiles looks as bad in the preseason as you say.
I don’t disagree with this take at all.
They are both the coordinators. They serve as Co-Defensive Coordinators.
Wow! You see that rarely at the college level but that’s pretty interesting to see at the high school level.
i’m not quite sure you can call Giordano a standout, from the looks of it he barely played at Fenwick due to injuries and transferring in. Talking to people around their program, he was more of a liability when he was in than the other guys on the DL. Hell be a rotation guy maybe, but the room is crowded at west.
Wow interesting! I heard about the injuries but I assumed with that massive size and the amount of offers he’s receiving he was at least a standout on that Fenwick team.
The room is not crowded at West. All 3 defensive lineman last season were seniors.
Agreed! His size and length could make him a great OL. However, the entire OL is basically returning. You have two first team All-GMC players in Christian O’Neal and Logan Gray.
Judah King. I’m excited for his senior year production. Flores is a great example of what a Junior to Senior year off-season can do. If King can somewhat replicate that level of progress, he’ll be really good this year.
I think it’s good they played him a good bit and got him varsity experience. He’s going to be the head of the room this season. Wish they would’ve did the same at quarterback a year ago.
Well said.
Last season you did see some regression from that core compared to previous years. A lot of that has to do with the fact that LW posed such a dominant run defense, the only way to move the ball was through the air for a lot of teams.
Does every gap on the team have to be filled with transfers? Haha. I’m excited for Finn Mason. Sitting behind Ben Minich and Malik Hartford as an underclassmen is pretty damn big.
That's been the pattern since Bolden got there. And it's what many teams around the state are doing.
Besides Jyaire Brown. What other Lakota West “Superstar” has been a transfer?
Are you trying to say Lakota West hasn't gotten quite a bit of transfers every year since Bolden's arrival?
Didn’t Bennie-Powell come from Lakota East?
Correct. So that'll be two in 5 years.
Not to the point where you can say guys are no longer getting developed. Especially when the team's premier players have been home-grown talent.
The transfer situation is bad. Those kids who came up through the program are getting abandoned by Bolden the second he gets his hands on a better player. But it’s not as bad as some portray it to be. The entire team isn’t made up of transfers.