Starting players both ways...

[The Atomic Dawg]

How many players will be playing both ways this coming season?

It has always bothered me that we run so many players both ways when we have all that unutilized personnel standing on the sidelines. Sure you want to get the best out of your best talent, and if you bring in these kids on the sidelines you may be sacrificing some talent for fresh bodies, but won't those "fresh bodies" gain talent with experience?

One way that Colerain was able to beat us up last season was that they ran very few (if any) kids both ways and kept fresh bodies on the field, while we ran several both ways, (sorry, the exact numbers have since eluded me). We were very realistically outnumbered in that game. This is not to suggest that we would have beaten Colerain had we limited each player to one position, but if we started the season with each player on the team focusing on just one position, who knows...

Not only would these "fresh bodies" gain experience throughout the season, but since most of them would be underclassmen, they'd gain a world of experience for the next season as well. We have enough players suited up at game time that no one needs to play two positions.

This is no knock on Coach Cross, I love what He's done for the program, but I think it's something to be considered. The last coach that I can recall who best utilized all of his student bodies was coach Terry Forbes, and he won state in his second season.

[T McK Bulldog G]

I am not against playing players both ways. You want your best people on the field, just get somebody else in their every now and then to keep players fresh.

Look for Mark Jackson to go both ways. Kirksey could possibly start both ways. Look for Vaughn too play both ways, not sure if he will start at tight end. Anthony Robinson will start ad guard and defensive end. Zack Slagle will start at offensive tackle and most likely see time at DT. Morgan Williams should pull double duty at TB and FS.

[nutch11]

Coach Cross said that he would like to get away from playing very many players both ways. He thinks McK had far to many. However, this means developing players and not relying totally on their athletic ability. He has hopes that McK will move away from playing more than a couple both ways and that seems to be his goal. I concur with this as when you play a good team playing players one way and you have similar ability and you are going both ways the team going one way wins more often than not.