THE IUP Football Thread

[Matt Burglund]

Irvin Charles did not make the Jets. Got cut Monday. But I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up on someone's practice squad.

Also, Damon Lloyd (injured) got waived by the Chargers last week.

[Fightingscot82]

Yeah I think the 53-man deadline is 4:30pm today. Teams usually don't announce before then.

[EyeoftheHawk]

IUP actually Tweeted out he made the roster. Sounds like that wasn't yet accurate.

[IUPNation]

[Fightingscot82]

I went to a game Friday night between two well-known, bigger schools. The roster sizes were incredibly small compared to even 5 years ago.

One glaring thing you see in the WPIAL (even the larger schools) is freshman ball is all but gone. The 9th graders just get put on to the varsity roster and they don't have enough to play a schedule of 9th grade team vs 9th grade team any longer. Freshmen even playing JV was largely unheard of even 20 years ago.

I counted the program ... if the one team I saw Friday didn't include its 11 freshmen, they'd have only dressed about 30 players. That same team rostered in the low 80s not that long ago.

I guess on one hand it would be a great time to be a player. There isn't a whole lot of competition to get on the field. There are several schools in the WPIAL this year ... I doubt they even finish the season. Once the injuries start -- and, they will -- they'll cancel games due to safety concerns. If you have 23-25 kids on the roster in Week 0 ... you'll probably be down a handful in a couple weeks. They then have to start tossing in those freshmen who have no business being on a varsity field. They just aren't physically ready.

At the bigger schools, JV is a 9th grade only team run completely separate from the varsity team. They play Saturdays. I've been told by some parents that they won't consider sub-FBS because their games conflict with younger sibling's JV game. The bigger WPIAL schools have a 7-8 middle school team, a 9th grade team, and the 10-12 varsity team. The University of North Allegheny has 3 middle schools so 3 football teams.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

In the WPIAL and D10, there really are only 2 or 3 private schools that do well. The only one I can think of that deserves a look is Kennedy Catholic with what they're doing with international students. Cathedral Prep in Erie is one of just 2 private schools with athletics in NWPA so they have a huge advantage in attracting kids for reasons other than wanting a Catholic education. You routinely see kids transfer to ECP from the corners of the region, but its mostly for football and wresting, their marquis sports. NWPA also doesn't have many schools in the upper classifications so ECP beats up who they can get to play them but they've had surprising luck in the playoffs. In the WPIAL, Central Catholic gets a lot of press for being an FBS recruit factory but they don't dominate any more than the publics.

What you do see in the WPIAL are the smaller privates dominating the older suburb and rural schools in the lowest classifications. OLSH is the latest small private on a run.

I went to a game Friday night between two well-known, bigger schools. The roster sizes were incredibly small compared to even 5 years ago.

One glaring thing you see in the WPIAL (even the larger schools) is freshman ball is all but gone. The 9th graders just get put on to the varsity roster and they don't have enough to play a schedule of 9th grade team vs 9th grade team any longer. Freshmen even playing JV was largely unheard of even 20 years ago.

I counted the program ... if the one team I saw Friday didn't include its 11 freshmen, they'd have only dressed about 30 players. That same team rostered in the low 80s not that long ago.

I guess on one hand it would be a great time to be a player. There isn't a whole lot of competition to get on the field. There are several schools in the WPIAL this year ... I doubt they even finish the season. Once the injuries start -- and, they will -- they'll cancel games due to safety concerns. If you have 23-25 kids on the roster in Week 0 ... you'll probably be down a handful in a couple weeks. They then have to start tossing in those freshmen who have no business being on a varsity field. They just aren't physically ready.

[Fightingscot82]

The classifications aren't the issue; small privates would still have an advantage in the lower levels of a four-class system. The issue is the PIAA not doing enough to address the inherent advantages that the privates have.

In the WPIAL and D10, there really are only 2 or 3 private schools that do well. The only one I can think of that deserves a look is Kennedy Catholic with what they're doing with international students. Cathedral Prep in Erie is one of just 2 private schools with athletics in NWPA so they have a huge advantage in attracting kids for reasons other than wanting a Catholic education. You routinely see kids transfer to ECP from the corners of the region, but its mostly for football and wresting, their marquis sports. NWPA also doesn't have many schools in the upper classifications so ECP beats up who they can get to play them but they've had surprising luck in the playoffs. In the WPIAL, Central Catholic gets a lot of press for being an FBS recruit factory but they don't dominate any more than the publics.

What you do see in the WPIAL are the smaller privates dominating the older suburb and rural schools in the lowest classifications. OLSH is the latest small private on a run.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The Jets roster linked on Tort's tweet had 80 players on it. Maybe some folks know the final cuts ahead of time?

IUP actually Tweeted out he made the roster. Sounds like that wasn't yet accurate.

[EastStroud13]

The move to six classifications hurt the WPIAL and has devastated rural schools. Many small publics are going up against the small SEPA privates and its not going well. In the WPIAL, enrollment is only stable/growing in the "outer ring" suburbs that are on the Allegheny County perimeter and adjacent to interstate. I live in Avonworth, which was single A in the old system, but has doubled in recent years and is 3A in the new system benefitting from undeveloped land between I-79 and I-279.

The classifications aren't the issue; small privates would still have an advantage in the lower levels of a four-class system. The issue is the PIAA not doing enough to address the inherent advantages that the privates have.

[iupgroundhog]

I saw that on Twitter, too. But Tuesday is the day to announce final rosters, and from what I have seen on various media sites, the Jets haven't announced theirs yet. In fact, there are a couple sites that posted projected rosters and they don't have Irvin projected to make the team.

The Jets roster linked on Tort's tweet had 80 players on it. Maybe some folks know the final cuts ahead of time?

[Fightingscot82]

I don't know offhand if it's true for the three schools you mentioned, but enrollments are dropping at many Pa.. schools, and the WPIAL and Pennsylvania football as a whole ain't what they used to be. State championships are probably increasingly going to to schools such as the large Philadelphia Catholic schools who and some of the smaller private schools who recruit from a larger base than most publics, and Pa. under its current playoff system is happy to let them trounce overmatched opponents.

The move to six classifications hurt the WPIAL and has devastated rural schools. Many small publics are going up against the small SEPA privates and its not going well. In the WPIAL, enrollment is only stable/growing in the "outer ring" suburbs that are on the Allegheny County perimeter and adjacent to interstate. I live in Avonworth, which was single A in the old system, but has doubled in recent years and is 3A in the new system benefitting from undeveloped land between I-79 and I-279.

[Fightingscot82]

Off-topic but it wasn't a pretty week for the traditional powers in the WPIAL.

Pine-Richland lost at home, 42-0. Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Thomas Jefferson also both got blown out. All three played powerful programs from other states.

My last count the WPIAL went 1-7 this weekend against out of league teams.

Avonworth (WPIAL 3A) beat Grove City (District 10) 27-7. Was that your lone win?

[Matt Burglund]

Irvin Charles made the Jets roster. Awesome.

I saw that on Twitter, too. But Tuesday is the day to announce final rosters, and from what I have seen on various media sites, the Jets haven't announced theirs yet. In fact, there are a couple sites that posted projected rosters and they don't have Irvin projected to make the team.

[Ship69]

Off-topic but it wasn't a pretty week for the traditional powers in the WPIAL.

Pine-Richland lost at home, 42-0. Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Thomas Jefferson also both got blown out. All three played powerful programs from other states.

My last count the WPIAL went 1-7 this weekend against out of league teams.

I don't know offhand if it's true for the three schools you mentioned, but enrollments are dropping at many Pa.. schools, and the WPIAL and Pennsylvania football as a whole ain't what they used to be. State championships are probably increasingly going to to schools such as the large Philadelphia Catholic schools who and some of the smaller private schools who recruit from a larger base than most publics, and Pa. under its current playoff system is happy to let them trounce overmatched opponents.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Off-topic but it wasn't a pretty week for the traditional powers in the WPIAL.

Pine-Richland lost at home, 42-0. Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Thomas Jefferson also both got blown out. All three played powerful programs from other states.

My last count the WPIAL went 1-7 this weekend against out of league teams.