September 17, 2021
PRAYERS AND THANKS
Our thoughts and well wishes go out to all of those enduring the damage, destruction and devastation of Hurricane Ida
A special shout out to all of the first responders who are working so selflessly to restoring some sense of sanity to South Louisiana.
YOUR BREAKING MY HEART, YOU’RE SHAKING MY CONFIDENCE LATELY
The Denham Springs HS Football team travels to Cecilia HS tonight (September 17). Kickoff is 7pm
You can catch all the action on Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge and on the Internet at JonFineProductions.com
Sport N Center Yellow Jackets Warmup airs at 6pm
Mario Jerez provides play-by-play, Mitch Covington is the color commentator, and yours truly, Jon Fine, assists with Sport N Center Yellow Jackets Warmup, North Oaks Health Systems Half-Time Report and Ralph Sellers Chevrolet Post-Game Show.
Guests on Broadcast
Jon Fine will interview Denham Springs Trainer David Bourque on Sport-N-Center Yellow Jackets Warmup and Yellow Jackets Baseball Coach Trav Hopkins (Coach Hop) on North Oaks Health Systems Half-Time Report.
DSHS ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
Due to Ida and Covid, the DSHS Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet and game presentation are being postponed until Thursday, October 14 (Banquet, 6:30 pm, Forrest Grove Plantation), and Friday, October 15, 2021. Tickets to the banquet remain on sale at the Denham Springs HS office.
DSAA MEETING
The Denham Springs Athletics Association meets this Monday night, September 20, 6:30 pm, at Big Mike’s Sports Bar & Grill in Denham Springs
LSU, Saints and Much More!
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TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Scott discusses LSU and Saints Football
Dennis hopefully won’t slip—as he is on his soap-box!
Please scroll down below.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
The goal is growth. Jameis Winston has grown as a man and a quarterback. We will have to wait and see when the Saints get into close games to know how much he has grown, and how far he can lead this team.
As a fan, I often get impatient with the time it takes high draft picks in the Saints organization to develop. I did not want to wait on Marcus Davenport to develop considering the high price the Saints paid in order to trade up and draft him. But, Ryan Nielson has done his thing and Davenport, when healthy, is a difference maker.
Certainly, there was a vast difference in the level of execution when watching the Tigers on Saturday night against McNeese State and then the Saints on Sunday against Green Bay. The Saints were brilliant and at some point we all need to recognize the coaching ability of Ryan Nielson. Sean Payton put his foot down, drew a line in the sand, and refused to allow Coach Orgeron to hire him. That could be the move of the off season by Payton.
In a league where I usually give credit to the talent of the player over the coach, Nielsen continues to stand out. Onyemata played college in Canada and is one of the best in the league now. Trey Hendrickson was a forgotten third round pick who had 15 sacks last year and signed a big contract. I had hardly heard of Tanoh Kpassagnon when he signed with the Saints and he was dominant against the Packers. Stallworth, Tuttle, Roach, and Granderson were all undrafted and have been solid players on the Saints defensive line.
The Saints defensive line plays as a unit. They know their job and they execute, which is the definition of a well coached unit. And to repeat, this roster of defensive linemen is not highly paid or highly touted individually.
The Saints have developed players all along their roster. Gardner-Johnson, Baun, Harris, Jones, Throckmorton, Ruiz, Johnson, and other second or third year players played at a high level against the Packers.
The secondary under Kris Richard was especially good. Saints fans have watched the secondary give up explosive plays repeatedly in the first few games in recent years and there was none of that against Green Bay.
It will be a challenge for the Saints to grow from that performance. The reality is that this team will grow through the inherent challenge of a 17 game season and the unique challenges that come from week to week. This week, the challenge for the defense will be Christian McCaffery. The challenge for the offense will be to find ways for receivers to make plays.
As frustrating as it was to watch LSU´s poor execution on offense, I have to remind myself that college football teams have the potential to grow tremendously over the course of the year. We often look to 2019 and we forget that the defense could not stop Texas in the second half of the second game of the year. In week four, LSU gave up 38 points to Vanderbilt. It was not until after the Texas A&M game that LSU finally showed a championship defense. The Tigers were just fortunate that the offense could carry them until the defense figured it out.
Before you think I am crazy, I do not see that level of growth in the team. Besides, the unit that will have to carry this team is the defense. The offense may take a while.
I always think it is fun, though, to look to see potential areas for growth before they happen. On defense, I see individual players that need to learn to play as a unit. The Saints are a great model. Team defense is a term used in basketball that applies to football as well, especially in stopping the run. If this defense can ever figure out gap integrity and setting the edge, they will stop the run.
Along those lines, a linebacker that has played at Clemson and coached by their staff has to get a long hard look in games. Mike Jones got some playing time against McNeese and needs more time against Central Michigan. Safety has been the other position of concern and Cameron Lewis flashed on the field Saturday night. He is a veteran and it would be great to see him elevate his game. Hopefully, Jay Ward can get back on the field soon.
After what I saw against UCLA, I will not believe in this defense until I see it a few weeks in a row. But, I am stubbornly optimistic in their ability.
Offensively, I am really disappointed. I thought the receivers were disappointing against UCLA, but the McNeese game was less inspiring. At this point, I would be in favor of playing Boutte, Bech, and Palmer until they can't go anymore. I will give Jaray Jenkins credit for his run blocking. Bluntly, Peetz should do what Kiffin did when Amari Cooper was by far their best receiver and Blake Sims and Jake Coker were quarterback. Get Boutte the ball every way possible. Hand it to him, throw screens to him, line him up in the slot to get safeties and linebackers on him.
The best news on offense is that the freshmen running backs are just what this offense needs. Unfortunately, Ty Davis-Price is a downhill runner that is most effective with a hole and a head of steam. Too often, he lacks the burst to get through space that closes fast because the offensive line cannot hold a block. Goodwin and Kiner are the type of runner that fits this style of offense. The faster they develop, the better the offense will look.
I don't quite understand why, but LSU fans have been brutal on everyone but Max Johsnon. I do not want Tiger fans to be brutal to Max, but I think back to last year and there was no patience with Myles Brennan even as he put up good numbers.
Max has been inaccurate and has not shown a good pocket presence. In his defense, the growth of players around him would help. I don´t think the offensive staff has quite settled on what Max does best. Getting him outside the pocket more often may help.
What is clear to me is that Myles Brennan that played last year would have won the job this fall. Nussmeier has the most talent by far. He is more athletic than Max and can spin it better than Myles. But, he is a true freshman so I get it. The reality is that for now, the Tigers best chance to win is Max Johnson. Should Myles Brennan get healthy though, this offense may show the most growth with him at quarterback.
HEY REF
For more years that I want to admit I have felt that the National Federation of High Schools has sometime talked out of both sides of its collective mouth when it came to rules written specifically for the safety of the players. Don’t get me wrong because that has always been the mission of everyone involved in high school sports, when writing new rules, changes to existing rules and how we, those individuals charged with enforcement of those said rules. Here’s my own short personal reason why some rules need changing or eliminating.
I can’t even count the many times I’ve been booed by the crowds, the coaches and some principals for tossing my yellow flag and penalizing “cheap” shots. As a player I’ve had my bell rung many times. Back in those days we just waited until our vision cleared and went back on the field. Many of us played both ways and staying on the sidelines because you saw two of everything wasn’t looked upon very kindly in my day.
I remember the night I had my first knee injury and it wasn’t because of “fair” play. We were on defense and as the offense broke the huddle and lining up in a power left formation which meant they were stacked to our right. When this happened I was to move between the guard and tackle, shoot the gap then try and find the ball. Just so happened my guard “pulled” to my right (his left) and I did as instructed in that I stayed in the gap waiting for the runner to come my way.
I saw the handoff and as the runner tried to go around me I felt like a truck had hit me. I remember reaching for the runner but I was going backwards and didn’t understand why I was going away from the ball carrier. Then I felt a sting in my left knee that I’d never felt before and as I tried to get up to pursue the runner I went face down in the mud. Things do slow way, way down as you wait for the trainers to come out and tend to you. And it did for me since I felt as though everybody had gone home and forgot I was not able to stand up.
My knee felt as though it was set on fire and I couldn’t feel anything but that burning pain. I also felt my skin becoming very tight and wondered when it would split open. Then massive pain decided to pay me a visit which started at my toes and ran all the way up to my hip. What had just happened is the pulling guard saw me in my ready to pounce stance so he peeled back then launched himself, helmet first, striking my knee, from the side. You don’t need very much medical knowledge to understand what happens when a planted leg is hit from the side about knee high. We all know knees don’t bend sideways!
Once on the sidelines the trainer tried to straighten out my leg but it wouldn’t budge. He told me when I got hit it sounded like an M-80 went off. In the early 70’s some of our most loved fireworks were big bang things like M-80’s and Cherry Bombs. I was lucky looking back since I’d only dislocated the knee cap. Or at least that’s what I’d hoped for. But upon further review when the knee cap decided to take a walk it cut across a ligament and sliced into it. The rest is history as they say.
It was a very cheap shot and from that day I just couldn’t understand how another player would intentionally do something like that. But the rules we’ve been playing under since the dawn of time has allowed “clipping” in what’s known as the “FREE BLOCKING ZONE”. It’s that part of the field (2 yards either side of the line of scrimmage and 6 yards either side of the ball). The rule stipulated that only those on the line at the time of the snap can be blocked below the waist/clipped.
Well, a few years ago finally the Federation has outlawed all clipping no matter where you line up before or after the snap. I’ve felt from the get-go this type of blocking should never have been part of the game. I’ve got the scars to justify my point of view. Football is rough enough on all the players but to give linemen the green light on possibly ending another player’s season or career has never set too well with me and thousands of others that had to endure surgery and re-hab because of a cheap shot!
I believe this rule change was adopted in 2016 or 17. The reason I’m writing about this change is that each and every year the Federation has just one goal in mind when considering a rule change and I applaud their continued efforts to make the game safer for the players. And once again the Federation has made a small change to that part of the playing field referred before as “The Free Blocking Zone”. It’s more of an editorial change you might say. But once again for the life of me I can’t understand those rule writers that won’t just do away with ALL blocking below the waist and in the back and clipping no matter where or how or why.
So, if you’re like me and you see a rule that needs changing or eliminating then please contact the LHSAA and explain why you think a change should be made. They’ll then give you all the info needed to send your change to the National Federation for consideration. If you do that who knows it could lead to be the one rule change that saves a number of young kids a lifetime of pain. I once sent in my idea for a rule change but I’d sent it in too late for consideration.
The “change” that I submitted was a small change in the amount of time a team has before it must begin the next play aka “The 25 second play clock”. My reason was two-fold because I feel that with so many athletes getting bigger and faster along with more and more duties high school crews have in getting ready for the next snap that the play clock should be changed to only 30 seconds no matter the status of the ball. But instead the Federation installed a 40 second play clock which closely resembles the clock used under NCAA rules. It’s confusing and until I sat in the press box last week and worked the play clock I wasn’t sure “HOW TO” or “WHEN TO”! So, to all my official brothers out there do yourself and the game a favor and work the play clock since you’ll come away with a much better understanding of “WHEN” and “WHY”!
Many coaches in dealing with the “hurry-up” offenses of today’s game have been under pressure to send in the right subs for a specific time, down, yard line and so on. As officials on any given Friday night we’re mostly working varsity games with either a five or seven man crew on the field. We must count both teams, make sure players are on or off the line of scrimmage, all players have legal equipment, the coaches aren’t on the field and on and on. Working with two extra officials as in a seven man crew sure helps in getting ready for the next snap but if you go to a Baton Rouge area game you’ll see only five officials on the field which makes things so much harder to deal with. So, I’m asking all Baton Rouge area schools/coaches make the switch to using seven man crews because your players and programs will benefit from those extra set of eyes. I had one coach tell me that a seven man crew will throw more flags and he is fed up with all the flags being tossed in his games.
Coaches I can tell you with seven man crews those extra eyes are directed where they need to be and will help in cleaning up much of the dirty plays. Because I know kids will try to get away with an eye poke or a punch in the pile and so on but when they see the entire field being covered it leaves them with the stark reality we’ve got them covered. No, we won’t stop all the dirty things that go on during a game but we’ll do our best to keep a lid on anything that’s outside the intent of the rules.
While I’m on my “soap-box” let me get something off my chest; Here’s a problem that nobody seems to want to fix and/or enforce; it’s the one that says the player’s pants must have a pad over the knees and the bottom of the pants are to cover the entire knee. Each year we go out and 75% of the players are dressing like the NFL players and many college teams with what appears to be shorts and not pants by any stretch of the imagination. Coaches there are reasons why the pants need to cover the knees and we are unable to enforce the requirement from week to week. It, wearing pants/pads that cover the knees, really gets a lot of attention when we go work playoff games. If we enforce the pants rule in week 11 or 12 the coaches get very upset with our crew since, as you can guess, we’ll hear the coach inform us that “We’ve been wearing these pants all year and nobody’s told us they’re illegal”. And we’re not going to start telling teams at the start of the playoffs to get some new pants on. Simply said if the LHSAA wants us to enforce the rule of players wearing long pants with pads then it has to be enforced on game number one not 11 or 12. I just wish the Federation would eliminate the rule.
Till next week…
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