In the coming weeks...

     Things have been really going well with this blog over the last few weeks. New opportunities continue to come my way and it is all very exciting to me. I have nobody to thank more than the players and coaches. From the players responding on Twitter to the coaches that are always very open with me about their team. In all honesty, this is just a blog and no player or coach really has a reason to respond to me. This is all very cool because in the end, I am still a fan.

     In this blog post I will layout a few things I have planned for the coming month before the first games of the season. I have a few ideas I want to toss out there with hopes of a few players and/or coaches joining in.

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Passing Leagues:

     In the next month or so a few teams around the state will begin hosting 7-on-7 type passing leagues. This information is hard for me to find as I basically rely on you guys to inform me. Some teams will have it on their website within a calender and if I have the time, I will sometimes go searching. Frankly, I don't have time to be doing a lot of that and need some help. I contacted coach Dave Miller of Lakes High School and he was very helpful with information of the Lakes Passing League at the end of this month. I hope to attend as many games as possible, but I can't guarantee I will be able to attend any.

     If you or your sons school is playing in a passing league, I want to know about it. You can contact me through email at Ringerland@gmail.com or on Twitter @HSFootballWA. Either way, I need to know. If you can just tell me who the school hosting the league is, I can typically do the rest. I just need to know which coach I need to get in tough with.

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Fall Camps:

     When fall camps open on August 15th, I want to be there. I would like to attend as many practices as possible and preview your school. If you are a coach, please contact me with your schedule and we can set something up. I would like to talk to the head coach for just a few minutes in person before or after the practice to get a few quotes to use here for the blog. I would obviously like to talk to any players the coach feels deserves recognition before the upcoming season. It is all up to the coach how I go about writing my preview of their team. I know what can and can't be said in terms of a preview. It is one thing to say "They will be using a 4-3 defense", it is another to go into schemes and philosophies. When we talk for a few minutes you can tell anything you want, just make sure to tell me if you don't want something posted here. I have coached football and understand how coaches heads work and would never do anything to potentially break the trust of a coach.

     If you are a player and you read/like my blog, it is simple. Pass it along to your coach. Let him know that you would like to get me out to see your team before the season starts. Do that and let me know, I will put you in the preview of your school.

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Trinity Trojans @ Bellevue Wolverines:

     August 30th can't get here soon enough, but before it does, I would like to do a big preview of the game. The Bellevue side is not that tough for me as I am very familiar with the team and have the ability to get more info if needed. The Trinity Trojans are a bit of an unknown to me though. I have noticed recently that I have gained a few followers on Twitter that are from Texas. You are the people I am going to rely on here. If there is a writer from a newspaper that does a great job covering the Trojans, I want to know. If there is a sports radio station that would be able to help me, I want to know. Who are the players I need to ask about? Who are the coaches I should contact? What are any tidbits about the team I should know? Other than the dance they do. The game is less than two months away and I plan on beginning to put the bulk of my post together in the next few weeks.

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Season Prediction Game:

     I will admit right now, prediction games is not my specialty. Sure it is easy to pick the Bellevue game each week. I can even tell you I would've correctly picked Skyline every game last year, except for Eastlake. When I did make game predictions last year, I WAS HORRIBLE! Almost a jinx for teams.I picked Juanita, Inglemoor ripped them apart. I picked Kennedy Catholic, Archbishop Murphy dominated them, even had the QB's mom record me on her video camera at the game admitting I was wrong.

     My plan for a prediction game is fairly simple. I would like to get 5-6 players willing to play along. Each week I will send an email with the 4 games of the week from leagues we all know, SPSL, KingCo, Metro, ect. I will also send out one random game each week from a league almost none of us know, 1B Northeast (8man football), 1A Caribou Trail, 2A Great Northern. One game each week will most likely be a guess, even for me. I will keep weekly standings and hopefully even allow the readers to get involved by sending in their picks.

     As far as players I am looking for. I would like to get 1 from each of these general areas. 1 from each of these areas, KingCo, Metro, Wesco, Narrows and 2 from the SPSL. Now for instance, when I say Wesco, that doesn't mean the kid needs to play in Wesco. I want him to be from that area. I would be more than happy to say get Billy Green from King's High School in north Seattle to join this game. I use the big conferences as a guide more than anything. I would like for the players to be 2013 graduates, aka. Seniors, but it is not completely necessary. This is only because I would like to use new players each season. Would I like high profile names? Of course. That doesn't mean I will only pick the high profile players though.

     If you would like to join, send me an email or talk to me via Twitter. This is a way to get your name out there as I will profile the players helping me with the game.

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College Recruiting:

     In the last few weeks I have been contacting a few college coaches attempting to secure an interview for my blog. It is a much tougher process than you may think. More often than not, I have to talk to about 10 different people before finally getting to hear anything from the coach himself. I have secured one interview and will be doing that in the next week or so. The general idea is to give these coaches a platform to speak to the players in our area about their school. I have 8-10 questions about the school, program and coach himself that I feel are good questions to help a player gauge his interest in that particular school. If you have a school you think should be part of that, let me know. I am always willing to at least consider any school, at any level and anywhere.

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Player Interviews:

     Last week I spoke with Kahlil Dawson from Graham-Kapowsin and received some great feedback from the readers. I would like to do more of these, but obviously have very limited resources. Some players can be very tough to get in contact with. I get very luck when it comes to finding players on Twitter. Sometimes I will go through one players followers in search of names I might recognize as football players. Other times I get lucky and they find me. I think one player a week is a very realistic goal. Now it is just a matter of finding the players I want.

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     Thank you for reading my blog. If you know a player that you think deserves more recognition, send me an email about them. Links to articles, highlight videos, stats are all very good starts for me. From there I will do the research I need to give that player the recognition he deserves. The best email I ever received to help promote a player had links, stories and even a coaches quote. It was very well presented and after a seeing that player, it led to me wanting to interview him, which I will be doing soon. There is no such thing as too much information on a player.

     The best way for me to grow this blog is by word of mouth. Please to pass the link along and retweet the links on Twitter as much as possible. A retweet takes about 3 seconds to do. I could name about 30 useless things I do a day that are longer than that.

Northwest Stars Camp at UW

     I would like to start by thanking Taylor Barton and his crew for inviting me to this event. I am really a nobody that is trying to make it big in the world of athletics. To have someone say such great things about the work I have done is truly amazing. This camp was split into three categories RB/TE/LB, OL/DL, WE/DB. I will do a small piece about each category and will highlight players that really stood out. 

     If I do not mention you or your son, it may mean one of two things. 1) I did not notice him: This isn't exactly a bad thing. I am one man, with a list of 50+ names and it can be VERY hard to see everyone and have an opinion. 2) I have bigger plans for your son and don't want to use my thoughts here. I might be attempting to get in contact with your sons coach looking for a way to contact you.

     That being said, here are a few thoughts from the day.

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     RB/TE/LB:

     So much to talk about here. Before I got my list I had picked out three numbers that impressed me above all others #211, #214 and #265. When I finally got a hold of a list of names I was surprised to see that I knew all three names.

     #211 would turn out to be RB, Ari Morales from Bellevue High School. No surprise here. Ari is rightfully gaining interest on a daily basis. He has unbelievable speed which makes him very easy to stand out. The thing that surprised me today with Ari was his all around ability to catch the ball. Not just his hands. His route running is crisp and his footwork is so good it allows him to create space to make the reception easier.

     #214 was RB, Ralph Kinne from Shelton High School. I was very happy to see him there as I had just placed him on my "Unknown Offense" a week earlier. I even mentioned it to him and he looked at me like I was stupid. Ralph is very underrated because he doesn't play for a big name team. The kid can play. The thing I love about Ralph is he hits the hole at full speed. There isn't a lot of dancing in his game. He sees the hole and he hits it. My kind of running back!

     #265 is TE, Matt Malcuit from Rogers High School in Puyallup. Matt is an interesting prospect. He is converting from QB and I must say, it is the right move. Click Here for a video from an NEI/BFA combine earlier the year at Peninsula High School. Matt has great hands and does a very good job at getting off the line and creating separation from the defender. No reason he shouldn't rise as the year goes and start getting offers from all over.

Other Thoughts:

     A few linebackers that really stood out, Micah Breland from Foster in Tukwila, Mikey Tupou from Inglemoor in Kenmore and Trayon McNairy from Juanita in Kirkland. All three players showed good ability to change direction and get back to speed quickly. Breland especially was very good in pass defense. That kid just continues to get better.

     The catch of the session has got to go to Chico McClatcher from from Federal Way. With a defender hanging all over him, McClatched throws one hand up aboce his head and snags an absolute rocket from his QB. Chico is going to be a sophomore this coming season for the Eagles and is already turning a lot of heads.

     I got to speak with Danny Wilson from Bothell for a few minutes and came away very impressed. Wilson is ready for a breakout year. Between Wilson, Darrin Laufasa and Kizhan Proctor, the Cougars have a three headed monster to run behind one of the best offensive lines in the state.

     I like just about everything about Skyline TE, Isaiah Richmond. At 6'6" he is a HUGE target. He doesn't have great acceleration or top end speed, but uses his hands very well to get rid of the defender. He is a kid that will get a more and more looks as the season goes by.

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OL/DL:

     This was the smallest session of the three with about 50 kids, most of them being from Oregon. The three numbers that stood out to me were #409, #412 and #433. If I had to venture a guess, I would say the defense got the best of the offense during the day in the individual competition.

     #409 was worn by Bothell DE, Jeremy Ruef. He is a high motor guy that has a great initial burst off the line that challenges his opponent to get deep into his drop in a very short amount of time. He uses his hands to shed his blocker as well as any lineman I have seen so far. Jeremy is a kid I will be keeping an eye on this season. Could double digit sacks be in his future?

     #412 was Mariner (Everett) OL, Hector Ruiz. Listed at 6'4" and 270 lbs, Ruiz very much looks the part. He is still very raw, but shows a ton of potential. He moves his feet very well and keeps good balance. The sky is the limit for this kid.

     #433 is Wenatchee DL, Jakob Stoll. No offense at all in my next comment, but Jakob is the exact definition when someone calls a lineman a "big ugly". The kid has a head full of blonde hair, don't think it is his real color, that really flops around as he moves. He never stops working and was always the first guy to jump in when a spot opened up. He clearly plays with a chip on his shoulder.

Other Thoughts:

     A kid that very easily could've been one top three is Oak Harbor OL, Dayne Herron. While Stoll was the first on defense, Herron was the first on the offensive side to step in when a spot opened up. He got most of his work done at the LT position. One thing I love about Dayne is he is very aware of what he needs to do better. I spoke with him briefly and he was almost finishing my sentences for me when I was giving him advice. At the rate he is imrpoving, it is only a matter of time.

     I don't know who the coach of Aloha High School in Oregon is, but he might have the most talent in the trenches in the northwest. Five Aloha kids were on my list and all five were top level players.

     I spoke with McCartney McQuery from Bellarmine Prep for a few minutes and was very surprised at how soft spoken he is. When you watch McCartney play he is usually throwing a defender to the ground or flat out running him over. I approached him prior to the lineman taking the field and told him we would catch up later. I was pleasantly surprised when he sought me out after the lineman were done roughing each other up. He is a road grader with a ton of talent, good work ethic and no offers. I have no explanation for the no offers part. They will come eventually, but I am surprised someone hasn't jumped on his bandwagon yet.

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QB/WR/DB:

     This was the largest group of the day and probably the most impressive. Footballs were flying all over the field with one great throw, catch or pass defended after another for over an hour. The three numbers that caught my eye the most were #12, #40 and #450.

     #6 on the day was Interlake (Bellevue) WE, Kamana Adriano. Nobody runs a better route than Kamana. His acceleration creates the space needed to make the catch. Struggled just a little with press coverage, but once got loose he was unstoppable. Made 2-3 highlight reel type catches along the sideline while managing to keep both feet in bounds on the play. He is the perfect slot receiver.

     #40 was Graham-Kapowsin DB, Kahlil Dawson and he was absolutely amazing! Rarely did a WR catch a ball on Dawson and when they did, they worked for it. Kahlil was all over the field making play after play. He is also a very accomplished WR, but I see his future on the defensive side of the ball. The kid is a playmaker that could become one of those guys that makes a QB completely forget about his side of the field. 

     #450 is Kennedy Catholic (Burien) QB, Conner Richardson. I will admit, I am always drawn to left-handed QB's. Conner is making the switch to QB after spending last season at WR. He has great feet, an even better arm and just that little bit of swagger needed to play the position. He has great arm strength while still being able to put great touch on the ball. Conner is rising quickly and rightfully so.

Other Thoughts:

     2015 could be a great year for QB's in the state of Washington. Ross Bowers from Bothell, Casey Brink from Bainbridge and Nolan Henry from Union (Camas) are all three very capable of being in the top 10 nationally. 

     DB, D'Londo Tucker from Federal Way High School had himself a very nice day. Tucker can run with anyone and has good great natural instincts to close on the ball and make plays.

     Mount Si (Snoqualmie) had a pretty nice showing today. QB Nick Mitchell, WR Tyler Button and DB Hunter Malbert were all impressive. The Wildcats were ranked #5 by Doug Pacey a few weeks ago and have a very underrated coach in Charlie Kinnune. This could be a very big year at one of the most scenic stadiums in the state.

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     That is all from the Northwest Stars Camp at UW. I hope you enjoyed my recap. Look for a few players interviews in the coming weeks. I want to put out 2-3 per week. Hopefully I will have to time to get them done.

On tap for this week, Oct. 3rd, 2011...

Last week was one of the better weeks for high school football. There were a lot of close games between some very good teams. This week doesn't look to be much different. For me the big game of the week will take place Friday night at French Field when the first place Kentlake Falcons meet up with the second place Kentwood Conquerors. Also, Bothell and Woodinville meet in a game that could decide the KingCo 4A Crest division. In KingCo 3A, Mount Si travels to Mercer Island.

Thursday night I might be heading to Burien to see Hazen @ Highline. I am not entirely sure if I will be going, but would like to go.

Friday night I will not be attending a game.

Saturday during the day I plan on attending Lummi @ Evergreen Lutheran in an 8-man football game. The game is a 1pm start at Auburn Mountainview High School. Later that night I will be at the Thunderbirds game so this is a no-brainer to go see.

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Rankings:

Mason Kelley of the Seattle Times has his weekly 3A and 4A rankings for the week can be found right here.

Doug Pacey of the Tacoma News Tribune has his state rankings up as well, find them right here.

The Bellevue Wolverines continue to move up the national rankings. I came across the Powerade Fab 50, which has the Wolverines ranked 17th in the nation. To view the article, click right here.

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HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM OF THE WEEK:

Castle Rock High School, home of the Rockets. To see more pictures of this stadium and other stadiums I have visited, please visit my Facebook page, Washington State High School Football Stadiums

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I will be getting my weekly updates on leagues from around the sound in the next few days. Be sure to check back here or follow me on twitter @HSFootballWA to know as soon as I post them.

On tap for this week, Sept. 27th, 2011...

I am glad to get back to High School Football. Last week was a rough one for me and my group of friends, but we will survive. I ended up attending a high school game (Bothell @ Roosevelt), a college game (Cal @ UW) and a pro game (Arizona @ Seattle) all in one weekend. It was a lot of fun! If you have never taken a boat to a Husky game, you are missing out. It is really an experience like no other.

I have decided to stay close to home this Thursday and attend the Ballard @ Woodinville. The Falcons are really playing good football and I feel like I need to see them play. The game is at Pop Keeney which is also one of my favorite places to watch a game. It is really a no brainer.

Friday night will most likely see me head right back to Pop Keeney when the Bothell Cougars and Inglemoor Vikings clash in the annual "Spaghetti Bowl". Both teams got wins in Memorial Stadium last friday night, Bothell over Roosevelt 24-0 and Inglemoor over Ballard 35-14. Last season's game was a 27-3 win for the Cougars, who haven't lost to the Vikings since 2000.

As for Saturday, right now I have no plans to attend a game. I may end up going to Portland to see the Thunderbirds play the Winterhawks, hockey for those wondering. I may end up going to see Orcas Island vs Bellevue Christian @ Lake Washington High School in a non-league 2B game. I might even just go find some junior football to watch most of the day.

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Doug Pacey of the Tacoma News Tribuns has his state football rankings for the week, find them right here.

Mason Kelley of the Seattle Times has his own rankings, they can be found right here.

The Bellevue Wolverines continue to climb in the national rankings. Mason Kelley took the time to pull all of them together and a you can read about that right here.

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I hope to be able to get the "This week" stuff done tomorrow for SPSL 4A and 3A. If I have time I will do KingCo 3A and 4A as well. The Wesco appears to have some very good teams, I would like to get a look at what they have to offer, I hope to be able to do that before the game Thursday night.

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Either this week or next I will be sending a few emails to the east side of the state to talk to coaches from the best teams on the other side of the state. I would like to put something together with Chiawana, Kamiakin, Kennewick, West Valley of Spokane, Prosser, Cashmere, Colfax and Almira/Coulee-Hartline. If I can get three of those schools to respond I will put a piece together.

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HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM PIC OF THE WEEK:

This is a look at the home stadium for the W.F. West Bearcats. They have no seating on the other side of the field, so this is what you get. Behind the stadium is a beautiful baseball stadium. To see more pictues of this stadium and pictures of many other stadiums I have visited visit Washington State High School Football Stadiums.

If you looks closely at the pic you will notice a group of red seats. These seats are for what I guess you would call "Season Ticket Holders". The seats have the name of the owner on them. I have attached a picture below with a closer look at the seats... Do they look familiar to anyone? This isn't the first stadium they have been in.

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I have recieved a few emails with support and encouragement during a tough moment in my life. I would like to thank all of those who read and commented to me about my piece. It really means a lot.

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I can be found on twitter by following @HSFootballWA.

To this point, KingCo 3A/2A, Week 2...

So far KingCo 3A/2A looks to be a battle of "who is gonna finish behind Bellevue?". The Wolverines(2-0) have two impressive wins by beating Oaks Christian(CA) 31-21 in week one and #1 ranked 4A Skyline 31-17 in week two. Bellevue moved up one spot in the top 25 national poll to #21. This week Bellevue is home for the first time and playing the first league game of the season against Interlake.

After the Wolverines the only other undefeated in the league is the Lake Washington(2-0). The Kangaroos are coming off a 39-17 win over Redmond and a 14-0 win over a Garfield team that left the game when their coach pulled the team off the field. The Kangaroos have two very tough games in the next two weeks when they travel to both Mount Si and Bellevue.

Right now three teams are tied for third place. Juanita, Mount Si and Mercer Island all have records of 1-1 and have yet to play a league game.

The Juanita Rebels started the season with a convincing 48-16 victory over Redmond. They moved into most top ten rankings before being shutout by rival Inglemoor last weekend 19-0. The Rebels high powered running game was shut down by the 4A Vikings as they wouldn't gain a first down until 1:11 was left in the third quarter. This week the Rebels travel to face Mercer Island in a game that could actually have big implications at the end of the season.

The Islanders started the season with an overtime loss to the Seattle Prep Panthers at CenturyLink Field during the Emerald City Kickoff Classic, here is a link to the review I did of the game, Seattle Prep vs Mercer Island. The Islanders would get into the win column when they went to Newport and beat the Knights 36-21. The Islanders get Juanita, Bellevue and Mount Si at home this season, but do travel to Liberty.

The final of the third place trio is Mount Si. The Wildcats have the most impressive win of the three when they beat the Bothell Cougars 26-14 at Pop Kenney Stadium in Bothell on Saturday night. In week one they lost to the Woodinville Falcons at home 31-10. The Wildcats are home for two straight against Lake Washington before the Liberty Patroits come to town. After that the Wildcats play three straight on the road at Interlake, Mercer Island and Juanita. That three game stretch could easily make or break the playoff chances for Mount Si.

Three teams round out the bottom of the standings the Liberty Patroits, Interlake Saints and Sammamish Totems are all 0-2.

Liberty is the best of these three teams and should turn their season around and contend for the playoffs. In week one the Patroits had a 27-14 lead over the #1 ranked Skyline Spartans before giving up 48 unaswered ponts and losing 62-27. Week two they would travel to take on the Issaquah Eagles and again leave in defeat, this time losing 42-7. The Patroits should get into the win column this week when they host Sammamish. After that they could lose the next two, @ Mount Si and home vs Juanita. Should they lose both games they will still have an outside shot at making the playoffs as they still have to play at home vs Mercer Island and at Bellevue.

The Interlake Saints have a tough road ahead of them. They lost in week one to the Newport Knights(1-1) 43-34 at home and in week two to the Roosevelt Roughriders(2-0) 21-7. The next three weeks might be the toughest for any team in the league with games @ Bellevue, vs Mercer Island and vs Mount Si. The Saints could quickly be 0-5 if they can't pull off an upset.

The Sammamish Totems have had a tough time winning games the last few years. This season has started with much of the same after losing 34-27 to the Ballard Beavers and 27-22 to the Garfield Bulldogs. The next three weeks are not easy as they travel to Liberty, Juanita and Lake Washington.