The Lakota West Firebirds 2023-2024 Thread

PardonMyBench said:
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.
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That is all of football though. At all levels, coaches fill gaps and nowadays they do it with transfers. Every HC is willing to bring in a talented player if they have an interest in joining their program.
 
NastyNati12 said:
That is all of football though. At all levels, coaches fill gaps and nowadays they do it with transfers. Every HC is willing to bring in a talented player if they have an interest in joining their program.
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Not true. Many coaches still are all about developing their talent from within, not going out into free-agency essentially and getting guys to fill voids.
 
NastyNati12 said:
I’m sure they would all prefer to develop the homegrown talent but reality is that no one is turning a down a Power 5 athlete.
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The issue is going out and getting these Power 5 guys. Many Ohio schools, LW included, have more D1 football players than should be mathematically possible just from random people deciding to move into the area. That's where the rub is now is the blatant recruiting seen throughout the state, and it's all good. Why pretend to have rules about transfers and eligibility? Just get rid of them all and let the pieces fall where they may.
 
That's kind of the point I'm trying to make. You can't tell me there's not recruiting going on when the schools with the most transfers, and magically D-1 transfers have either never won a state championship, or haven't been really relevant in 40 years. These coaches are actively seeking out guys, promising playing time. People will say it's not happening, but you saw it first hand last year with the QB situation at West..... There's no way that kid wasn't promised a starting job, that's why he was given the reigns when he wasn't even remotely ready.

These coaches love to promote how everyone needs to do what's best for the team in one breath, yet will actively make decisions that put individuals above the team. Yet, it's not winning any of them regional titles, let alone state titles, but they'll keep doing it.
 
cincifbfan said:
That's kind of the point I'm trying to make. You can't tell me there's not recruiting going on when the schools with the most transfers, and magically D-1 transfers have either never won a state championship, or haven't been really relevant in 40 years. These coaches are actively seeking out guys, promising playing time. People will say it's not happening, but you saw it first hand last year with the QB situation at West..... There's no way that kid wasn't promised a starting job, that's why he was given the reigns when he wasn't even remotely ready.

These coaches love to promote how everyone needs to do what's best for the team in one breath, yet will actively make decisions that put individuals above the team. Yet, it's not winning any of them regional titles, let alone state titles, but they'll keep doing it.
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When he got benched, the rumor mill started to churn that he was going to transfer back to his home district. I have no idea how true it is, but I've got to think all the hype the kid was getting from colleges would diminish if he went back to a subpar DVI program
 
BigK72 said:
When he got benched, the rumor mill started to churn that he was going to transfer back to his home district. I have no idea how true it is, but I've got to think all the hype the kid was getting from colleges would diminish if he went back to a subpar DVI program
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Highly doubt it. Especially considering he has a high chance of being the team's starter this season. He saw what happened immediately after he transferred (in terms of recruiting), it would be ludicrous to transfer back to his former team, Arcanum.
 
Olympiums said:
Highly doubt it. Especially considering he has a high chance of being the team's starter this season. He saw what happened immediately after he transferred (in terms of recruiting), it would be ludicrous to transfer back to his former team, Arcanum.
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What happened to his recruiting? He was a freshman this past season. There's not too much to recruit for a skinny 8th grade qb. Give me a break.
 
Olympiums said:
Highly doubt it. Especially considering he has a high chance of being the team's starter this season. He saw what happened immediately after he transferred (in terms of recruiting), it would be ludicrous to transfer back to his former team, Arcanum.
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That's been my argument, when I've heard it been talked about in the area.
 
John Doe said:
He's not skinny anymore. lol
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I know. My point was 8th graders aren't recruited in football. Did LW increase his recruitability..... maybe slightly; but too many people refuse to believe and accept that if you are good enough, you will play at the next level.
 
cincifbfan said:
I know. My point was 8th graders aren't recruited in football. Did LW increase his recruitability..... maybe slightly; but too many people refuse to believe and accept that if you are good enough, you will play at the next level.
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Believe it or not where you play and who you know, matters. I'm from the south and have been involved in high school football for quite some time and politics plays a big part in your recruitment. The "If you are good, they will find you" narrative is out the window with the college transfer portal.
 
John Doe said:
Believe it or not where you play and who you know, matters. I'm from the south and have been involved in high school football for quite some time and politics plays a big part in your recruitment. The "If you are good, they will find you" narrative is out the window with the college transfer portal.
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It's not, but believe what you want.
 
cincifbfan said:
I know. My point was 8th graders aren't recruited in football. Did LW increase his recruitability..... maybe slightly; but too many people refuse to believe and accept that if you are good enough, you will play at the next level.
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The top 8th graders certainly are. He received a Power 5 offer shortly after transferring to Lakota West. Do you think he gets that at Arcanum?
 
John Doe said:
Believe it or not where you play and who you know, matters. I'm from the south and have been involved in high school football for quite some time and politics plays a big part in your recruitment. The "If you are good, they will find you" narrative is out the window with the college transfer portal.
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Exactly. Well said.
 
Olympiums said:
The top 8th graders certainly are. He received a Power 5 offer shortly after transferring to Lakota West. Do you think he gets that at Arcanum
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This statement sounds like the offer would have been likely made based on camps and measurables, not because he transferred to West. I can agree the competition while playing for West will be better for him than playing at Arcanum.
 
cincifbfan said:
I know. My point was 8th graders aren't recruited in football. Did LW increase his recruitability..... maybe slightly; but too many people refuse to believe and accept that if you are good enough, you will play at the next level.
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I do agree with most of your points, but attending West definitely benefited his recruiting heavily. Marshall offered Jackson Smith (also offered Mitch Bolden), Kentucky offered Smith, (offered 7 West players in the past 4 years). There’s definitely a connection there.
 
John Doe said:
He's not skinny anymore. lol
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Because he’s Bolden’s priority. TB really believes he has his state championship quarterback in Smith and he’s going to disregard Wiles even though he saved the season last year. I think Smith can still be a good player, but I think they should let Sam work on fine tuning his game and building chemistry instead of making him compete for the job he proved he can hold.
 
PardonMyBench said:
TB really believes he has his state championship quarterback in Smith
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He just might. Smith has all the upside in the world. You’re pushing this narrative that Smith will win the starter job because Bolden favors him, instead of admitting no that he may just be the better player. He’s already beat out Wiles once.
 
Olympiums said:
He just might. Smith has all the upside in the world. You’re pushing this narrative that Smith will win the starter job because Bolden favors him, instead of admitting no that he may just be the better player. He’s already beat out Wiles once.
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Smith beat out Wiles last year and wasn't handed the job??

Could've fooled everyone that saw how he performed.
 
Olympiums said:
He just might. Smith has all the upside in the world. You’re pushing this narrative that Smith will win the starter job because Bolden favors him, instead of admitting no that he may just be the better player. He’s already beat out Wiles once.
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Maybe you’re right about the upside. But that should be Sam’s team. And this so-called “narrative” I’m pushing is reality. We literally saw it happen a season before.
He beat out Wiles’ once, but he got beat out when it mattered.
 
cincifbfan said:
Smith beat out Wiles last year and wasn't handed the job??

Could've fooled everyone that saw how he performed.
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Like I said. An examination of the pre-season shows the entire story. Wiles made the jump from QB3 to QB1 in Week 3. Five days before Week 1, he was QB4. (Shaefe transfer).
The offense was anemic, but in the Princeton game Wiles showed he could move the ball with his legs, they thought they could build on that in Week 3.

Sam is more of an athlete than a quarterback. There’s a lot of things he’s limited on, but his athleticism makes up for it. In this sense, think of Wiles with a higher floor, lower ceiling. But Smith with a lower floor, and significantly higher ceiling.
 
Olympiums said:
Like I said. An examination of the pre-season shows the entire story. Wiles made the jump from QB3 to QB1 in Week 3. Five days before Week 1, he was QB4. (Shaefe transfer).
The offense was anemic, but in the Princeton game Wiles showed he could move the ball with his legs, they thought they could build on that in Week 3.

Sam is more of an athlete than a quarterback. There’s a lot of things he’s limited on, but his athleticism makes up for it. In this sense, think of Wiles with a higher floor, lower ceiling. But Smith with a lower floor, and significantly higher ceiling.
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Like I’ve said before, and I will say again. This is a grave misevaluation from Bolden and staff. Dlo Birch was at Lakota West before Princeton, and after a week he notices that the coaching staff has already chosen their QB1 in late May, so he leaves.

The staff was so blinded by Smith’s presence and “pretty” fade ball that they completely wrote off Wiles based on 2-hand-touch football.
 
The kids I have talked to on the team seem to believe Sam will be the starter but there’s still 4 months until week 1.
 
yall dont een know half the stuff happening behind closed doors it’s pretty sad. the info i have on the jackson smith situation will blow ya mind
 
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