August 29, 2025
DSHS FOOTBALL IS ON THE AIR
DEBUTING TONIGHT!… Denham Springs HS Football faces Walker HS in the Denham Springs Jamboree. This also marks the start of our 29th season producing Yellow Jackets Football broadcasts… which doesn’t add up as Jon claims he is 25 years old!?!… You can catch all of the action on YouTube @dsjacketvision Please Subscribe… on Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge… and on the net at Jon Fine Productions.com. Sport-n-Center Yellow Jackets Warmup gets things underway at 6 pm
For more information, please scroll down for a Press Release.
TONIGHT’S GUEST INTERVIEWS
We will be interviewing LHSAA attorney Mark Boyer and Livingston Parish News Sports Editor Chris Kincaid tonight in Sport-n-Center Yellow Jackets Warmup.
DSHS ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME
Julie Jacobsen tells us… DSAA would like to invite you to the DSHS Athletic Hall of Fame banquet that will be held Thursday September 18 at Forrest Grove Plantation. Tickets are just $50 and can be purchased at i2tickets.com.
Every year this night never fails to be one of my most favorite events of the year. If you have a passion for the purple and gold of Denham Springs High School as an alumni, parent, student or community member, I have no doubt you will walk away from this event with a deeper sense of pride and appreciation for our great community and the outstanding individuals that are a product of Denham Springs High School. I am a strong believer in everyone who has any association with DSHS athletics should attend at least one Hall of Fame banquet and you can make this year the year!
Check our DSAA Facebook page for more information on each of the inductees for the 2024-2025 class.
If you would like to see a list of all of the DSHS Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, check out the link below.
https://www.denhamspringshs.org/hall-of-fame
KINDLY SUBSCRIBE
If you have not done so already, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @dsjacketvision. The sole purpose of this is to notify you of our next broadcast with a timely text to your phone. There will be no collateral repercussions—no junk mail or phone calls or additional texts will ensue.
THIS WEEK’S COLUMN
Scott Osborne takes a look at the New Orleans Saints and LSU Football. Please scroll down below for The Wizardry of Os.
SPORTS PUBLICATIONS GALORE
ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides offers media guides. programs and baseball cards. Please visit JonFineProductions.com and click on icon to get to our eBay store. Check out a full array of New Orleans Saints media guides and LSU media guides and programs and publications from much of the entire sports world. Over 7,000 publications in the store
Be sure to check out Tommy Krysan on Sports Shorts Daily, Monday - Wednesday - Friday at 9:00am on YouTube, Facebook and X. TK and Ronnie Rantz mix it up on Hot Sports Topics! Be sure to listen to Sports Shorts Radio, Saturday's from 10:00am - 12:00noon on: 104.5 ESPN Radio in Baton Rouge, 103.7 ESPN Lafayette, 104.1 ESPN Lake Charles. For more information please email Tommy Krysan: tommykrysan@gmail.com
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Now that I have seen three preseason games for the Saints, I think the problems with the roster are apparent.
First, there is a noticeable lack of depth. Where I am different from others is that I think the starters are not as bad as people think. I refer to my last article and still believe the problems with the first team would be covered up by a top tier QB. The bad news is that the season is 17 games long and there will be injuries, so regardless of the quarterback you need better depth than this roster appears to provide.
Second, there is no power running back to get the tough yards and move the pile. I am confident that Kamara is going to have a good year and Kendre Miller is likely to play well enough to remove the “bust” label. Neither is going to move the pile on 3rd and fourth and a yard, and Taysom Hill will be missed. Hopefully, he can play at 100% at some point.
If the Saints had not traded for Devaughn Vele and his 6’5” frame, I would be saying the same thing about the lack of a red zone/possession target in the receiving room. There is no telling how he will perform, but at least he has the size to give the Saints a chance.
Of course, this is the NFL in 2025 and the QB has to make plays and keep the team out of bad situations. Can Rattler get that done with their lack of NFL experience? Probably not. But if the offensive line stays healthy, there is a chance to win 4-6 games.
It’s nice to have a sample size from preseason games to at least have a clue. The sample size for the coaching staff is actually bigger as the Saints practiced against the Rams in addition to the preseason games. All the major team sports and professional leagues have that opportunity.
High school football has scrimmages and jamborees. High school, college, and professional basketball have preseason games to prepare for the regular season. College baseball teams now have fall games, and high school and professional baseball have scrimmages/jamborees and spring training respectively.
College football is the ONLY major team sport that does not allow teams to play against an opponent until the games start to count. In a sport like football, that guarantees the quality of football early on will suffer. Due to this fact, starting on the road against a top team is extremely challenging and anyone who isn’t blinded by loyalty to LSU is going to expect Clemson to beat LSU Saturday night.
How could you not? The starting offensive line for LSU is completely new. On the road at Clemson at night with a group that requires cohesion, but that has never played against an opponent is not a great predictor of success.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the LSU offense is going to be great. The receivers and tight ends have great play making ability. At running back, I think Harlem Berry is going to make a huge impact… this season. I am not going to make any predictions about his performance in the opener, though. Just look at recent history. Brian Kelly’s coaching staff does not trust freshmen in season openers and I don’t blame them. If they had a preseason game, scrimmage, or week 0 game to get game reps, then it might be a different story.
Think back to the glorious 2019 season. LSU did not open at Texas. I am a firm believer that LSU would not have won at Texas had they not opened with a 55-3 win over Georgia Southern to work out the kinks.
Word out of fall camp is that the defense has the talent to look like what we have come to expect from LSU defenses in the 21st century. The positive news is that there is so much depth that there are still some positions up for grabs. The better news is that we should expect to see a steady rotation in the front of the defense that can sustain injuries and the number of snaps a college defense has to face over the course of the season.
The bad news is that there are transfers all over the defense, and LSU is opening on the road against a veteran QB. Last year, Ohio State had a 20 million roster filled with transfers and they had three layups before they faced a decent team. LSU’s 18 million dollar roster could be great, but most of the money was spent on transfer portal defenders who have to play together.
Communication on defense, the trust to stay in your lane and avoid giving up big plays doesn’t develop on the practice field. The other aspect of the game that typically isn’t up to speed in an opener is the tackling.
On a positive note, LSU will make a great statement toward their playoff chances just by putting up a quality performance at Clemson. This game is not a must win. It is a must, “look better than we have in the last 3 openers” under Coach Kelly.
Fortunately, Saturday night is the opener for Clemson as well. So they should make plenty of mistakes tool. I would like to say LSU just needs to get to halftime giving themselves a chance, but in the last three years the second half is when the wheels have fallen off.
Looking back, I believe that is because the talent and depth hasn’t been where it needed to be throughout the roster for LSU. Over the course of the season, that is what we have seen and the second halves of the season openers have been the foreshadowing.
Having said all that, let me be very clear on a few items:
1. LSU should be well equipped (if Nuss stays healthy) to be a playoff team this year.
2. Starting at Clemson is not a must win and one I expect Clemson to win the game.
In other words, if LSU plays like a really good team and loses to another really good team, we should all move on and not pile on because Clemson has EVERYTHING in their favor.
WE THANK YOU FOR DOING YOUR UTMOST TO PATRONIZE SPONSORS OF OUR PROGRAMMING.
DENHAM SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL IS BACK ON THE AIR!
The 2025 school year marks the 29th season that Jon Fine (Sports) Productions will have the privilege of producing and calling play-by-play for Denham Springs HS Football broadcasts. In 2025, the broadcast slate will include the Jamboree, all 10 regular season Denham games, and every playoff game. Broadcasts can be seen on YouTube, @dsjacketvision (please subscribe) and can be heard on Family Radio-91.9 FM Baton Rouge and on the Internet at JonFineProductions.com (click Listen Live on the Denham Springs Football PBP page). “Sport-n-Center Yellow Jackets Warm-Up” gets the broadcasts underway at 6:00 pm. The first broadcast is Friday, August 29 when the Jackets play host to Walker HS in the Denham Springs Jamboree.
Josh Ward returns as the play-by-play announcer of the Jackets. Ward will, once again, be joined by Mitch Covington as the color commentator. Jon Fine will contribute to the pre-game and half-time programming. Darren Ferrante is back as the Producer, with Chris Ledoux joining the team in the capacity of @dsjacketvision Camera Operator.
“Sport N Center Yellow Jackets Warm-Up” will feature an interview with Jackets Football Coach Brett Beard conducted by Josh Ward. Jon Fine will speak with a prominent Denham Springs community and/or sports figure. Ward and Covington will also offer a preview of that night’s game and other pertinent information.
“The Whistle Stop Half-Time Report” will include Fine interviewing another Denham Springs personality. In addition, Ward and Covington will provide a recap of the first half and a look ahead at the second half of action.
During the “Ralph Sellers Chevrolet Post-Game Show”, there will be an extensive game recap, final stats and a look ahead.
“The James Drug Store Starting Lineup” appears in “Sport N Center Yellow Jackets Warmup”. When Denham Springs picks up a first down, they’ll achieve a “Big Mike’s Sports Bar & Grill First Down”. When the Jackets score, the scoring drive will be recapped on the “Brandy Robertson State Farm Insurance Scoring Drive”. When the Jackets have secured a victory, Ward will indicate such and it will be brought to you by Bank Plus.
Jackets play-by-play announcer Josh Ward, a Denham Springs HS graduate, was a Yellow Jackets assistant basketball coach. He is an executive at Guaranty Broadcasting.
Mitch Covington, a 3-sport star at Denham Springs HS, would later serve as a Jackets assistant football coach. He is presently the head football coach at Denham Springs Junior High School. He is a graduate of McNeese State, where he played baseball.
Jon Fine co-hosted and produced daily 2-hour drive-time radio sports-talk programs in the Greater Baton Rouge area for close to 20 years. His programs (first SportsTalk, which changed its name to SportsGumbo), aired, at times, in New Orleans, Lake Charles, Monroe and Alexandria, in addition to the Baton Rouge market. His company, Jon Fine Productions, has produced numerous Denham Springs HS and area HS sports programming on television, radio and internet. Fine owns an EBay store—ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides, which sells sports publications. He is a native of Valley Stream, New York and a graduate of Penn, where he majored in Marketing.
Ferrante is a graduate of Brother Martin HS and UNO. Ledoux is a graduate of Opelousas HS and USL. He presently serves Doyle Middle School as their offensive line coach.
For more information on Denham Springs HS Sports programming and Jon Fine Productions, please visit JonFineProductions.com.
DENHAM SPRINGS HS BROADCASTS ARE A JON FINE PRODUCTION ON FAMILY RADIO, 91.9 FM, BATON ROUGE, on the net at JonFineProductions.com and on YouTube—please subscribe @dsjacketvision.
JON IS THE OWNER OF AN EBAY STORE. ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides SELLS SPORTS PUBLICATIONS. YOU CAN LINK TO IT BY VISITING JonFineProductions.com