CJ is coming off a very disappointing lost vs. Massie in Region 16 final, but 2012 looks to be another exciting year for the Eagles.
Notable All-GCL North Players coming back:
Darrien Howard-FB/LB (1st team All-Ohio)
Brandon Payne-RB/DL
Ja'mel Sanders-FB/SS
Chris Darden-FB/DE
Kris Lampkin-DL
Zach Poelking-OL
The Eagles will be graduating a strong senior class. 4 starting Offensive Linemen, the starting QB, 3 receivers, 3 linebackers (CJ runs a 3-4), and a 1st team All-Ohio safety.
I think that this year's defense will be very strong and experienced (returning 7 starters). On offense, I think they will be very inexperienced, but tough. They will ground and pound with Payne, Howard, and Isaac (watch out for this kid).
offensive key developements
Most important:Offensive Line. If you went to as many games as I did the difference factor this year was the line. They were very quick very physical and opened holes for payne and gave spees time. They are replacing 4 guys there
Biggest Worry: Passing Game With the exception of two juniors lumpkin and persons, most of the receivers did not see pt and also a junior qb who has not played much varsity at all. The passing game is needed to open up the run
Breakout player: Niles Isaac- The kid has moves. If he gets bigger and faster, backfields with him and payne will be terrifying
Defense Most important: CJ's strength has always been run stopping. Can they do that this year with three new line backers.
Biggest Worry: Linebacker once again depth is questionable
Biggest Upside: Secondary corners are intact and Sanders switch to safety shows he is the perfect fit for the position
Breakout Players: Great things should come out of the consistent corner tandem of Lumpkin and Persons as both stepped up to fill in secondary spots that needed solid replacements. They are both very quick and blanket receivers
MVP/Most Needed Player: Darrien Howard of course. In my eyes he is very underrated with only one offer from UC. He does anything he has to do for his team to win. He runs the ball he catches the ball and most importantly he plays smash mouth defense
Biggest overall worry:Has to be passing game. The defense no matter what always seems to be ready, but with a new qb and new inexperienced receivers the pass game will need to get up to speed. The passing threat is what made CJ so hard to stop this year. Teams had to respect their pass and CJ killed teams with lead draw.
Needs to step up: Seth Kosak new qb who needs to be the type of leader spees was for the team
Payne and Howard are beasts. As a GCL Central Dad I'm not looking forward to seeing those two again.
CJ better make hay now, their incoming Sophomore class doesn't look like it has much talent at all but maybe they will add a few pieces in the next couple of years.
offensive key developements
Most important:Offensive Line. If you went to as many games as I did the difference factor this year was the line. They were very quick very physical and opened holes for payne and gave spees time. They are replacing 4 guys there
Biggest Worry: Passing Game With the exception of two juniors lumpkin and persons, most of the receivers did not see pt and also a junior qb who has not played much varsity at all. The passing game is needed to open up the run
Breakout player: Niles Isaac- The kid has moves. If he gets bigger and faster, backfields with him and payne will be terrifying
Defense Most important: CJ's strength has always been run stopping. Can they do that this year with three new line backers.
Biggest Worry: Linebacker once again depth is questionable
Biggest Upside: Secondary corners are intact and Sanders switch to safety shows he is the perfect fit for the position
Breakout Players: Great things should come out of the consistent corner tandem of Lumpkin and Persons as both stepped up to fill in secondary spots that needed solid replacements. They are both very quick and blanket receivers
MVP/Most Needed Player: Darrien Howard of course. In my eyes he is very underrated with only one offer from UC. He does anything he has to do for his team to win. He runs the ball he catches the ball and most importantly he plays smash mouth defense
Biggest overall worry:Has to be passing game. The defense no matter what always seems to be ready, but with a new qb and new inexperienced receivers the pass game will need to get up to speed. The passing threat is what made CJ so hard to stop this year. Teams had to respect their pass and CJ killed teams with lead draw. Needs to step up: Seth Kosak new qb who needs to be the type of leader spees was for the team
To my understanding, the QB spot is up in the air. Seth was injured and missed 7 games this year.
Payne and Howard are beasts. As a GCL Central Dad I'm not looking forward to seeing those two again.
CJ better make hay now, their incoming Sophomore class doesn't look like it has much talent at all but maybe they will add a few pieces in the next couple of years.
The incoming sophomore class had a rough and odd season this year. They had many off the field issues with coaching, practice times, etc. Some of the skilled players were pretty talented. Problem was that their line play wasn't very strong.
The incoming sophomore class had a rough and odd season this year. They had many off the field issues with coaching, practice times, etc. Some of the skilled players were pretty talented. Problem was that their line play wasn't very strong.
That's what stood out to me. The line was not able to get any push on either side of the ball. Appeared most of the bigger kids didn't play much. Subsequently made it hard to judge the skill level of the backs, receivers etc. QB looked like he had some talent.
That's what stood out to me. The line was not able to get any push on either side of the ball. Appeared most of the bigger kids didn't play much. Subsequently made it hard to judge the skill level of the backs, receivers etc. QB looked like he had some talent.
offensive key developements
Most important:Offensive Line. If you went to as many games as I did the difference factor this year was the line. They were very quick very physical and opened holes for payne and gave spees time. They are replacing 4 guys there
Biggest Worry: Passing Game With the exception of two juniors lumpkin and persons, most of the receivers did not see pt and also a junior qb who has not played much varsity at all. The passing game is needed to open up the run
Breakout player: Niles Isaac- The kid has moves. If he gets bigger and faster, backfields with him and payne will be terrifying
Defense Most important: CJ's strength has always been run stopping. Can they do that this year with three new line backers.
Biggest Worry: Linebacker once again depth is questionable
Biggest Upside: Secondary corners are intact and Sanders switch to safety shows he is the perfect fit for the position
Breakout Players: Great things should come out of the consistent corner tandem of Lumpkin and Persons as both stepped up to fill in secondary spots that needed solid replacements. They are both very quick and blanket receivers
MVP/Most Needed Player: Darrien Howard of course. In my eyes he is very underrated with only one offer from UC. He does anything he has to do for his team to win. He runs the ball he catches the ball and most importantly he plays smash mouth defense
Biggest overall worry:Has to be passing game. The defense no matter what always seems to be ready, but with a new qb and new inexperienced receivers the pass game will need to get up to speed. The passing threat is what made CJ so hard to stop this year. Teams had to respect their pass and CJ killed teams with lead draw.
Needs to step up: Seth Kosak new qb who needs to be the type of leader spees was for the team
Maybe Howard isn't as good yet as you think he is. The level of competition, poor lateral movement, and slow feet may be the reason he's not being heavily recruited add to the fact he's not being pushed either. From what I saw, he's allowed to do what he wants. His upside is good with his size.
Maybe Howard isn't as good yet as you think he is. The level of competition, poor lateral movement, and slow feet may be the reason he's not being heavily recruited add to the fact he's not being pushed either. From what I saw, he's allowed to do what he wants. His upside is good with his size.
You gotta be kidding me.
Troy, Thurgood, and the GCL isn't good competition?
I would believe that CJ will again have a solid defense. It really comes down to whether their passing game is competitive. Even with their fine backfield (good size, good speed), the passing game has to be a threat against teams with competent secondaries or they become one dimensional and easy to stop. I saw the Massie game and ignoring the one long TD pass, I did not think the passing game did enough to keep Massie honest.
That was actually one of their best games. 14-6 to the GCL N/C Runner-up(right?)
Dont know what happened in that game other than Mcnick didnt have a high scoring O this year. But what I saw of CJ's freshman team was not very encouraging for that class. Things always change though so you never know.
I look forward to seeing how this team will turn out next year. They retained some decent talent from this season, but also have some holes to fill on the offensive side of the ball. I don't think the 2012 team will be quite as good as the 2011 team. But hey, many thought the 2010 was far more athletic than this year's team, and look what they accomplished. 2012 brings a very tough schedule for the Eagles, with opponents like Troy and Alter, but hopefully this year's loss in the regional finals will motivate the underclassmen to work hard in the off season. Hopefully the future O-line will mesh as well as this year's did, because that was a large part of CJ's success this year.
Very impressed with CJ last year,and was pulling hard fot them in post season,should be another big year with the talent returning! Looking forward to our matchup!
Howard looked pretty darn good to me......D1 kid 4sure!!!!! They got good push on Massie WHEN the coach ran the ISO,,,,,problem is he kept going back to alot of out of character offense for some reason.....They pound CM running the power off tackle and the toss sweep......Was shocked why he wasnt!!!
That was actually one of their best games. 14-6 to the GCL N/C Runner-up(right?)
Yes the score was close but I never felt CJ had a chance to win. If I remember the bus from McNick got lost trying to find the field and the team got there about 30 minutes late. Not sure their head was in the game after that.
Howard looked pretty darn good to me......D1 kid 4sure!!!!! They got good push on Massie WHEN the coach ran the ISO,,,,,problem is he kept going back to alot of out of character offense for some reason.....They pound CM running the power off tackle and the toss sweep......Was shocked why he wasnt!!!
Thats what it seemed like to me as well. Jones and Flannery seemed to control the edges as Payne made the d pay on multiple outside running occasions. Cj was quicker off the ball and had the speed to make big plays on the edge, but they abandoned the run game at key moments.
Thats what it seemed like to me as well. Jones and Flannery seemed to control the edges as Payne made the d pay on multiple outside running occasions. Cj was quicker off the ball and had the speed to make big plays on the edge, but they abandoned the run game at key moments.
After that, not sure how CJ would of faired vs Kenton, Cj's speed would of defended the quick game better, and Howard spying Mock on the threat of running from the pocket would of handled that as well. I think it would of been a good game. My edge would of gone to Kenton though, they were pretty efficient running there O and no huddle from that.
After that, not sure how CJ would of faired vs Kenton, Cj's speed would of defended the quick game better, and Howard spying Mock on the threat of running from the pocket would of handled that as well. I think it would of been a good game. My edge would of gone to Kenton though, they were pretty efficient running there O and no huddle from that.
I think CJ would have matched up better against Kenton and some of those closing penalties were questionable, but the last second of the Massie game is all these kids are thinking about when they lift this off season and hopefully get the Eagles back to the Regional Championship if not further.
The Qb position is not the only problem its the fact that they dont have enough talent there. Lumpkin a cover corner please!!!! He is moody and a head case, thats what kills him on defense. When he gets burn he gives up and he doesnt tackle well. Darrin Howard interesting that someone state that the only reason he has only one D1 offer is because he is slow and has poor lateral movement and they are absolutly right. Darrin hasnt gotten better since he was a freshmen. He should be a beast the most dominate linebacker in the state and yet he is a little above average. I like the kid I believe he could be a nasty sob, but he not getting pushed hard enough to get better and is just riding on rep. The kid Brandon Payne they have to decide how they are really going to use him. I dont think he is an tailback he would be better suited as a fullback and put Darrin on the line as a pulling guard. then they should also put brandon as a Dtackle because he is quick off the ball which makes him hard to block. This would help CJ because they are going to get their doors blown off next year if they dont make ajustments.
and the reason i say they're a joke is because year in and year out they talk about how good they'll be... or say "man we're just loaded" then not even make the playoffs. Its just funny to see them think they're astounding but dont make the playoffs
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