5A Storylines

Today we take a look at some of the storylines/questions heading into the 2023 Season.....

Can Knoxville West repeat? Since the TSSAA went to 6 public school classes in 2009, the state champion from the previous season has only successfully defended their title once ( Knox Central in 2019) . Their defense from a season ago is mostly intact and reports are their offense has made strides up to this point. A very challenging non-region schedule will give us a good idea if West is up to the task in 2023

Will Powell make another deep run in the postseason? If it wasnt for Knoxville West, Powell might have very well repeated as 5A champions. Powell made it all the way back to the semifinals before losing to the eventual champion by 7. Week 1 contest against 4A Champion Anderson should be a game to circle for the opening week of the season.

How will Oak Ridge fare in Year 1 under Derek Rang? Following the contraversial ouster of Scott Cummings after just 1 season, Oak Ridge looks to hit the reset button for the Post- Joe Gaddis era with the hire of Derek Rang. Rang has a reputation of winning quickly at his previous stops. Oak Ridge did make strides in its one year under Cummings, advancing to the Quarterfinals, if everything falls into place, Rang could have the Wildcats as a darkhorse contender in 5A. 

How will Centennial do in Year 1 under Jamaal Stewart? Stewart quickly established himself as a coach to know from his time at East Nashviile, going 24-12 with 2 trips to the Class 3A title game. Centennial had a nice bounce back season in 2022 going 8-3, the mosr wins in a season for the Cougars since 2016. Centennial does get to drop down to 5A, but it shares a region with Nolensville and Page, a team that also is no stranger to trips to Chattanooga in December. A challenging non-region slate will further test the Cougars with match-ups against Springfield, Brentwood and Independence.

Will we see a repeat of 2022 when Page and Nolensviile meet up in the playoffs? Facing a football team twice in a season is never easy and rarely predictable, as Page and Nolensville can attest to. Nolensville got the better of Page in the regular season but Page won the game that mattered in the playoffs. Centennial moving down to 6-5A adds an interesting wrinkle and might be the only team that stands in the way of a playoff rematch happening again in 2023

Can Beech make it back to Chattanooga? Beech ended up being the team in the wide open west bracket of 6A to punch their ticket to Chattanooga last season, this year though we'll see the Bucs go for a repeat trip in Class 5A. Beech will have plenty of talent, but alot of it will be really young. Their titles got a shot in the arm with the transfer of Smith Co QB Kaden Powell. The should be the favorite to win Region 7-5A

Can Hendersonville bounce back? Will Henry Co. rebuild or reload? 2022 was a season to forget for the Commandos, going 4-7 and suffering their worst season in over a decade. Part of the reason for their struggles was a daunting non region schedule that featured Oakland, Ravenwood and Baylor. Those teams are gone from a schedule that is a little more manageable and gives Hendersonville a chance for a nice bounce back season.

Few programs in the state have experienced consistent postseason success like Henry Co has. Over the last 20 years the Patriots have made it to at least the Quarterfinals 13 times since 2006. However, Henry Co is facing a reload situation with the loss of a large amount of senior talent, especially multi-year starter Ryan Damron. In typical Henry Co fashion they face a tough non region schedule with games against Brentwood and Riverdale. The going might get tough in region play as well with games against Beech, Hendersonville and Springfield.

Feel free to follow me on twitter @tnprepfootball or subscribe on Linktree


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6A Storylines for this season

Today I'm talking about the storyline in 6A that intrigue me the most. This isn't a preview, more like a glance at most of the teams that will contend in 6A this year.... Can Maryville continue its 2-6A dominance? For the last 25 years Maryville has been not only one of the most dominant programs in the state, but the country as well, winning an incredible 14 state championships over the last quarter century, with 6 of those titles occurring after they jumped up to Class 6A. While Maryville hasn't won a state championship since 2019, they've still been nearly automatic in region play, winning 22 league championships in a row, but that could all change in 2023. Bearden, Bradley Central and Cleveland all could challenge the Rebels for the region crown. Bearden boasts a young but talented team that showed improvement over the course of the 2022 season. Bradley Central has added some key players this off-season, most notably UT commit Boo Carter. Cleveland made a splash by
Read more

Top hires from off-season

The 10 Coaching hires that caught my eye this off-season (in no particular order) Jamaal Stewart ( Centennial ): Not sure alot of people expected Centennial to hit a home run in their search for a Head Coach, but that's exactly what they did in hiring Stewart. He comes by way of East Nashville where he took them to heights they've never gone before finishing runner-up each of the last 2 seasons.  He takes over a Centennial team that had a nice bounce back season, going 8-3 and making the playoffs for the first time in 5 seasons. They will move down to 5A , competing in District 6, which features tough programs like Page and Nolensville Matt Kriesky ( Blackman ): it always seemed inevitable that Kriesky would make his way back to Rutherford County, a place that he spent alot of his years as an assistant.  Kriesky had an up and down tenure at Centennial (which has never been an easy job), but he will bring a toughness and stability that Blackman has sorely lacked in recent year
Read more

Top 10 Week 5

Class 6A 1.) Oakland (3-1) 2.) Bradley Central (4-0) 3.) Brentwood (4-0) 4.) Germantown (4-0) 5.) Mt. Juliet (4-0) 6.) Bartlett (3-1) 7.) Collierville (3-1) 8.) Maryville (2-2) 9.) Riverdale (2-2) 10.) Siegel (4-0) Class 5A 1.) Knoxville West (4-0) 2.) Henry County (3-1) 3.) Oak Ridge (3-0) 4.) Centennial (4-0) 5.) Page (3-1) 6.) Beech (2-2) 7.) Nolensville (4-0) 8.) Powell (2-2) 9.) Southwind (3-1) 10. Hendersonville (3-1) Class 4A 1.) Pearl-Cohn (4-0) 2.) Greeneville (2-0) 3.) Elizabethton (4-0) 4.) Upperman (4-0) 5.) Hardin County (4-0) 6.) Red Bank (2-1) 7.) Haywood (3-1) 8.) Marshall County (3-1) 9.) Stone Memorial (4-0) 10. Crockett County (4-0) Class 3A 1 .) Alcoa (3-0) 2.) East Nashville (4-0) 3.) Dyersburg (4-0) 4.) Gatlinburg-Pittman (3-1) 5.) Giles County (2-2) 6.) Covington (2-2) 7.) Sequatchie (3-1) 8.) Meigs County (3-0) 9.) Westview (2-2) 10.) Watertown (2-2) Class 2A 1.) Riverside (4-0) 2.) East Robertson (4-0) 3.) Mt. Pleasant (4-0) 4.) Milan (4-0) 5.) Huntingdon (2-1)
Read more