Welcome back to The Deep Post, a weekly column/notebook dissecting the rumblings of the week past and ahead. The week’s playsheet features an array of topics including defenses and how they’re feasting on pass-heavy attacks.
Princeton Pressure Cooker
The best defenses have nicknames. The Steel Curtain, The Purple People Eaters, Orange Crush, Doomsday Defense, The New York Sack Exchange, The Monsters of the Midway, The Big Blue Wrecking Crew, The Dome Patrol and best of all, The Legion of Boom.
It may be time to name Princeton’s pass rush.
I like The Princeton Pressure Cooker. Once the pressure arrives, QBs are canned. It’s a group made for an era where passing is king.
Through five games the Tigers have sacked QBs 22 times, led by defensive ends Kalum Kiser and Daniel Jennings who have seven sacks each. Saturday’s 10-sack displayed showed the capabilities of the Princeton defensive front when allowed to pin its ears back and just rush the QB.
Additionally the Tiger defense has forced 13 turnovers halfway through the season with 11 forced fumbles. They’re getting home and they’re punishing teams when they do. They generate enough negative plays earn the opportunity for more. That’s the often forgotten aspect of sacks, they’re earned. You don’t get to rush the passer by losing on early downs. You earn those opportunities by stopping offenses on first and second down, getting them behind the sticks and making them one-dimensional.
The pressure to keep up with Princeton’s offense is so great that opposing offenses feel the need to extend drives at any cost. Tazewell head coach J’me Harris admitted as much after his team’s loss Saturday. The two units play off of each other nicely.
Defenses Shine
Princeton’s defense isn’t the only one shining in an era where passing is more prevalent than ever. The old saying goes that when you drop back to pass, one of three things can happen and two (sacks and incompletions/interceptions) are bad. Defenses have adjusted to increase the odds of those two bad things happening.
Independence, which is quietly compiling an impressive campaign on the defensive side of the ball, has racked up sacks and interceptions at a high rate.
Through four games the Patriots have intercepted six passes and compiled numerous sacks. The banner performance came against Nicholas County where the Patriots finished with six sacks and two interceptions in a 41-14 win.
Other schools are finding similar success against passing attacks.
Shady Spring’s Nathan Easley has six interceptions through four games while Beckley’s A.J. Thomas (4) and Preston Clary (3) have combined to hawk seven passes in four games
Through four weeks this season there have been a total of 62 interceptions thrown by 26 area passers. All of those passers have registered multiples attempts. Through four weeks of the 2023 season, 41 area passers had thrown a combined 34 interceptions, nearly half of what we’ve seen thus far.
Now, there have been 191 more passing attempts through four weeks this year than there were this time a year ago but my Week 4 leaderboard from 2023 was missing a week from Midland Trail and two weeks from Liberty.
Defenses are more willing to play deep and take away the pass as teams add it to their arsenal. Sometimes the allure of a home run ball is too great to pass up. And truthfully, most high school offenses are selective in the areas of the field they’re willing to attack. Very rarely do you see high school QBs target the middle of the field, an area where the most traffic exists. I think I’ve seen QBs throw the dig route maybe three times this year in the seven games I’ve covered.
That largely leaves two areas for defenses to defend – the short areas and flats where you can get your athletes in space and down the field where you can strike big by attacking overmatched and panicked defensive backs. And truth be told, high school playbooks aren’t loaded with endless passing concepts or formations. There’s only so much you can teach 14-18 year olds in a two hour windows across three months. Tendencies exist and they’re magnified when you’re limited in what you can do.
As the colder weather sets in I’ll be watching to see how offenses respond to pass rushes and secondaries that are evening the playing field.
Jersey retirements
When Princeton’s Wyatt Cline caught a touchdown pass Saturday it reminded me of a topic I’ve thought about in passing – jersey retirements. Cline caught that pass wearing No. 5, the number worn by Dom Collins the 2023 Kennedy winner. This isn’t unique.
Take a gander at Independence’s roster. The No. 3 and 10 jerseys are currently in use despite Atticus Goodson (2021) and Judah Price (2022) winning the Kennedy in those numbers. Price added the single-season state scoring record as well as a couple state championship records to his resume.
And then there’s Bluefield, a program that’s had a ton of team success but produced just two Kennedy winners – Will Cole (2008) and Mookie Collier (2017). Cole’s No. 7 and Collier’s No. 3 are in use as well, worn by seniors Kisean Smith and Jeff King. Cole holds all of Bluefield’s major passing records while Collier is the school’s all-time leading scorer.
The practice of retiring jerseys can quickly catch up to you. I’m surprised the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers still have numbers to give out with all those they’ve retired. Then there’s the question of what achievements qualify you? At Princeton I was told an athlete needs to earn first team all-state honors, player of the year honors and be named an All-American. The latter seems almost impossible.
Independence has a Hall of Fame, but hasn’t retired any jerseys to my knowledge. Bluefield has done so with some numbers, but none were performance related.
We shouldn’t complicate it.
Winning a Kennedy should merit an automatic jersey retirement. Now, I don’t mind waiting a few years. Independence typically has a five-year wait before players are eligible to be inducted in the HOF and for good reason. Administration wants the kids to age and come back with an appreciation for what they’ve achieved. But those jerseys can be pseudo retired in the meantime. The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t issued Lesean McCoy’s No. 25 since he was traded 10 years ago and I suspect they’ll eventually retire the number.
First team all-state selections are commendable and important. Stack enough together and you should be in the conversation for a jersey retirement.
For my money, these are the football players who I’ve covered and would retire their numbers: Mookie Collier (Bluefield), Judah Price (Independence), Atticus Goodson (Independence), Dom Collins (Princeton), Eli Campbell (Princeton) and Trey Bowers (Independence). Campbell and Bowers never won any major awards but were both three-time first team all-staters and stars on teams that played in state championship games.
The Kennedy, inspired by the Hesiman, is the highest prep sports honor in the state. The winners should be honored and be the last to wear those jersey numbers.
Award Watch
I’m usually against discussing awards in the regular season. What you do in the playoffs makes your case. You can’t fake it after the fat’s been trimmed. That said, Princeton wide receiver Brad Mossor has a legitimate shot at the Fulton Walker Award, awarded annually to the top special teams player in the state.
Since the award was first distributed in 2014, it’s been won six times by return specialists.
Jameer Hunter (Martinsburg, 2022) and Jarod Bowie (Martinsburg, 2019) won the award with six return scores each. Each year stands on its own, but historically getting to the five or six return touchdown mark puts you near the top of the conversation.
After Saturday’s win over Tazewell Mossor now has three return touchdowns with five games to go.
Bluefield-Independence rainout
Bluefield-Independence is one of those games you circle each year when making the master schedule. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate. Hurricane Helene caused damage throughout both Raleigh and Mercer County. Much of Bluefield is still without power.
Speaking strictly of the football side of things, it might’ve been a better long-term decision for both teams to cancel the game. Yes, cancel, not postpone. Bluefield’s on a bye this week while Independence travels to Oak Hill. There isn’t really another point in the schedule where the game can be made up. What will likely happen is it’s declared a no contest, having no impact on the playoff points for either team.
For Independence it builds in a bye ahead of a huge points game against Class AAA Oak Hill and for Bluefield it adds an additional week off. Considering the health of both teams – injuries were going to force backups to start in the trenches – the decision to call the game off may pay off in the long run. The back end of the schedule is challenging for both teams and they’ll be fighting to earn playoff berths.
Both teams could benefit from the rest even if it robs us of one of the most anticipated matchups of the season.
Mailbag
I had a Deep Post reader send a complimentary email this week and I wanted to acknowledge and thank everybody who takes the time to make The Deep Post part of their weekly routine. This week marks a year since I decided to launch the column. It was partially inspired by a consistent stream of notes that never made it to the more objective-based game stories we produce. Going with a column/notebook format gives me the opportunity to elaborate and share my thoughts.
With that said, I’ll be fielding mailbag questions each week. If you have a question about the local prep sports scene or anything in general, feel free to send it to tylerjackson@looptress.com and I’ll answer it the following week.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
