GC's Blue and White game

The one thing i notice at the B & W game was the line was huge. Bigger than last year in just about every area. The backfield and receiver corp are in very good shape. The only question mark that I can see is linebackers. IMHO this years Devil teams seems to be a step or two quicker. The question about the QB ---at this time Tylee Anderson is #1 but their seems to be a rising star in the Hutchins kid. I walked away feeling good at what I saw. The horses are their 1st. & 2nd teams are huge but we will have to wait and see how much horsepower they have.

I don't think "weak" will be a factor. They've definitely been hitting the weights. Inexperience at some positions may cause some problems. After hearing alot of things discouraging, I left Saturday feeling better than I did. I'm not gonna hang myself by sayin we can hang with PV, because it's wayyyyyy too early to make a statement like that. I do think that we're much better in some areas than we were a year ago. I look for Jake Carter to have a big year on the defensive side of the ball. I also look for Matt Bays to have a big year catching the ball. He looked like a totally different player Saturday compared to a year ago. All we can do is line'em up and hope for the best. It doesn't help having your first game against a VERY good Richlands team, but they'll do their best and that's all we can ask.

do you have any idea how we will match up to richlands up front this year??.....last year they controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage.....i think we need to do well in this game to get some of the old attitude back......

We played well between the 30's last year, defensive speaking. They're defense was great last year. Their QB really hurt us last year. I swear though, our defense looked quicker to me Saturday than a year ago. Maybe it's wishful thinkin on my part. We'll just have to wait and see. This Friday should answer some questions.

Hey Quincy,
Richlands brings a balanced Offense with a younger O line. Should be a good game.

The only question I had after watching the B&W was at the linebacker position. They have some good talent but extremely young. Tyler Parks and Hutchins and the O Line were taking them to the wood shed. I was impressed with the Browder boy. He has good size and pretty good speed for an ILB. He also has some experience from last year. He got several game under his belt as a Freshman.

The teams biggest asset this year is experience on the offensive side of the ball. Starting with the line:
Guards - John Pope (SR) and Chase Lane (SR). Both returning starters.

Tackles - Quinton Jones (Soph), Jake Jones (SR). Jake Jones is a returning starter.

Center - Seth Musick (Jr) He is a returning starter.

Ends - Mat Bays (Jr) and Jordan Estepp (Soph). Bays looks real good. Big, tall, and good hands.

Running Backs - Tyler Parks (Jr) Could be the best back in Southwest Virginia. Tyler's running mate could be any one of the following: Peyton Jenkins, Cameron Browder, Eric Hutchins, Jarrod Sanders.

QB - After the B&W I was a little more comfortabe with Anderson. He still has a long way to go and he needs to remember it all starts with the O line and Tyler Parks. If he can play within the game and not try to do too much he will be fine. Eric Hutchins and John Kern both impressed me. I would like to see what they can do with the first unit and not the 2nd and 3rd. That way they would have the same tools as Anderson. Anyone would look poised sitting behing a line with this kind of size.

I don't think we will know anymore about Gate City after the next two scrimmages than we do right now. Scrimmages are a chance for coaches to try new players and look at different sets. Nick does a good job of that so don't expect to learn anything about GC at a scrimmage.

To best Powell Valley in 2006, I think Gate City's skill position play must improve from last season. (The Blue Devil linemen had a size advantage over the Vikings last year and I suspect will again this year.) The Vikes win at Legion last November was due in large part to a noticable difference in athletic ability between the PV flankers and the GC defensive backs. (There were a couple of plays where the Blue Devil cornerbacks had tight coverage but the Viking receivers simply took the ball away and then ran through the defender.) All four wide outs return this year for PV and collectively they will represent one of the team's strengths. Gate City must develop a way to contain them when they play each other - which will likely be a couple of times again this season. I think one of the reasons that J. I. Burton upset Powell Valley at the Park was the ability for the Raiders to match up at the skill spots with the Vikings.

Good post I agree wth you on both points From what I had heard (Non-board stuff) GC looked to have improved overall in there skill positions from last year but looked alittle weaker in some other areas (QB being the main one however the line was questioned as well)
The GC Posters on this board report that the Line should be just fine as they are bigger stronger and more experanced than last season........

If you put both reports together You have a GC team that is both better on the LOS and at the skill positions than last season which should be bad news for everyone on there schedule...

Your QB scares me to death. He took advantage of every opportunity he had last year. I used to do some work for the hospital in Richlands and haven't seen some of those folks in a couple of years. I'm looking forward to them comin down to GC.

In the GC vs PV games last year, although the Devils had a slight size advantage on the line, they let PV's line dictate what they did. Sure PV's wideouts are good atheletes, but if you give the quarterback all day to throw it, someone is eventually going to get open. PV's line basically sat back on their hills and just screened the Devils. Why the GC coaches never told the players to just bull rush them or blitz them to death was beyond me. It seemed to me that this was what Clintwood and JIB did and they took advantage of it. Sometimes when it comes to tough games, although you may get outplayed or outmanned, the coaches also outcoach themselves, which bytheway, drives the fans crazy. If GC will just play GC football when the Vikings come to town, the Devils will be just fine and so will the fans.