Division I vs. NFL ---- Division III vs. High School

[Ralph Turner]

Ehh...Coach Spurrier was just engaged in ol' fashioned "coach-speak".

[Ron Boerger]

I think Pat said it best somewhere when he said "what would Spurrier know about beating NFL teams?"  His NFL coaching career was less than a wild success ...

[Pat Coleman]

I think Pat said it best somewhere when he said "what would Spurrier know about beating NFL teams?"  His NFL coaching career was less than a wild success ...

That was my personal Twitter account. Thanks for picking up on it.

[jknezek]

I think Pat said it best somewhere when he said "what would Spurrier know about beating NFL teams?"  His NFL coaching career was less than a wild success ...

That was my personal Twitter account. Thanks for picking up on it.

I said the same thing about Saban to an Alabama fan. Luckily I had a head start and he was drunk...

[DGPugh]

i know yall are joking about both Spurrier and Saban, as we all know both  know pro and college pretty well. I had the impression Spurrier was speaking (as someone already said) tongue in cheek.

Living in the Upper Corner of Lower Alabama, but still as football crazy as B'ham, where jknezek lives, we do hear the uneducated comparison of HS and NAIA or D-3.

2 of the real bama HS powers are Hoover (who had a TV series about their team) and Prattville. Both teams have had folk that played at Huntingdon, after stellar HS careers. When at Huntingdon they went fro 17-18yr old boys to 21-22yrs men, got a lot bigger (in a good way), a bunch stronger, and refined their position tech.

It is an interesting discussion, though. I played HS ball.... uh... i think like 40 yrs ago (so i am unsure if this has any application). 5 of us of my HS team went on toplay college ball (Ga Tech, So Car, U of Ga, Gardner Webb, U of Tenn, and a particularly slow, fat, guy that sat on the bench at APSU). the difference then between HS and college was as it is now STRIKING.  Our HS team would have gotten slaughtered by a JV team from any college.

My son and i spoke of this comaprison a lot his first yr at Huntigndon, (A LOT...did i mention we talked about this a bunch)

Bama might be the best college team i have ever ever seen (and i am a bama hater), but beat a pro team ? ... no

can HS teams beat good to average D-3 teams ? not gonna happen

but...neat discussion
keep the faith
Go Hawks

[continental]

All postgrad teams like Bridgton Academy routinely lose to college jv teams...and almost all of those players go on to play college ball.

[Bombers798891]

The thing that, IMO, people do when making these sorts of proclamations is look at the starting 22 only. What about those 3rd and 4th corners and WR's? What about those second-string DL/LB's you may have to bring in in certain situations? You look at most of those guys, and that's where you see the major differences. Not to mention ANY position where you'd have a weakness, those guys who won't go onto the next level, you can bet the higher level team would exploit it

That's going to manifest itself on special teams big time. You look at all the stars in college teams who find themselves on coverage/return units in the pros. All those guys are going up against college bench players. I think of a guy like Greg Jones from Michigan State. A two-time consensus AA in college, and he was on special teams in the pros. He dominated college starters when he was in college. You think he wouldn't destroy college backups after being in the pros? Who are we kidding? I think, besides the lines, you would see the biggest swings on special teams

[K-Mack]

The thing that, IMO, people do when making these sorts of proclamations is look at the starting 22 only. What about those 3rd and 4th corners and WR's? What about those second-string DL/LB's you may have to bring in in certain situations? You look at most of those guys, and that's where you see the major differences. Not to mention ANY position where you'd have a weakness, those guys who won't go onto the next level, you can bet the higher level team would exploit it

Good point, depth and special teams (and line play) make big differences just on the college level alone. Makes sense it would translate to the teams where you might have 16-year-olds on kick coverage against 22-year-olds.

[bushman]

What division is the apprentice school in?

[bushman]

What division is the apprentice school in?

[smedindy]

They're in the USCAA for athletics.

[K-Mack]

What division is the apprentice school in?

They hang around D-III a lot, though not an official member. Kind of like the guy who comes to all your college parties but doesn't actually go there.

Very interesting school though. Not sure if everyone knows it's the shipbuilding Apprentice School.

[rscl70]

A couple of random thoughts.

A guy I worked with always told me that a local high school team (the one he played for) could beat Mount Union.  I offered to take him to a Mount game, but he never took me up on it.  I think he did not want to be confused by fact.

In 1981 my next door neighbor started on the OL for Canton McKinley.  That year McK. defeated Cincinnati Moeller in the Ohio State Championship game.  The following year my neighbor enrolled at Mount Union.  About half way through the season I asked him what the biggest difference was from high school.  His reply: "I get hit harder in practice than I ever did in a high school game."

This past fall my wife and I attended a high school game for the first time in many years.  At half time my wife turned to me and asked "Does this game seem slow to you?"

As has been stated DIII vs. HS is men against boys.  The hitting is harder, the game is much faster, and the skill level higher in the college game.

[K-Mack]

A couple of random thoughts.

A guy I worked with always told me that a local high school team (the one he played for) could beat Mount Union.  I offered to take him to a Mount game, but he never took me up on it.  I think he did not want to be confused by fact.

In 1981 my next door neighbor started on the OL for Canton McKinley.  That year McK. defeated Cincinnati Moeller in the Ohio State Championship game.  The following year my neighbor enrolled at Mount Union.  About half way through the season I asked him what the biggest difference was from high school.  His reply: "I get hit harder in practice than I ever did in a high school game."

This past fall my wife and I attended a high school game for the first time in many years.  At half time my wife turned to me and asked "Does this game seem slow to you?"

As has been stated DIII vs. HS is men against boys.  The hitting is harder, the game is much faster, and the skill level higher in the college game.

All interesting thoughts. Thanks for sharing. +1 K

[hazzben]

And keep in mind, this whole thing started with Spurrier's comments that 'Bama could probably beat some NFL teams.

That same 'Bama team, good as they are, just got beat by aTm. I remember growing up as a Huskers fan and being convinced that the 1995 Nebraska team (the one voted best ever back in 2005 by ESPN 'experts' in their pseudo tournament) could beat an NFL team. My dad, also a die hard Nebraska fan, former college All-American and former college coach, looked at me like I had trees growing out of my head. I was convinced Big Red would win, how could we not, we were freaking amazing  A little life experience and perspective later, I realize just how crazy I was.