Southington players, for whatever reason, rarely end up at UConn. The last Knights player actively recruited by the Huskies was qb Matt Kelleher, who was Ct. Gatorade Player of the Year, who was recruited by FHCRE. UConn never had a chance as Randy offered a scholly for him as a tight end (he wanted to stay at qb), & he was a Yale legacy ( family members are Eli alums).
Rose is not the only one UCONN is looking at. They also are looking at receiver Julian Dunn of Newtown, defensive end Mark Evanchick of Darien, and running back/linebacker Bobby Drysdale of Brookfield. Dunn is a senior, and Evanchick and Drysdale are juniors. All three are 1st team all-state. Drysdale is quite an athlete, broke Scott Lutrus's single season rushing record last season as a sophomore, he's 6'1" 215 and still growing. Doubt they would keep him as a halfback, but who knows. UCONN was at the Brookfield/Newtown game scouting him and Dunn. Evanchick is the most explosive defensive player in the state in several years, not quite as big (6-1 230 and still growing) as Zach Allen but is faster and likely stronger. Only a junior he is right now the #4 all time career sack leader in state history (the great Dwight Freeney is #1), recently broke the FCIAC career sack record which had stood since 1976. Has 21 sacks so far this season with one more game to go. He is within striking distance and could possibly break Freeney's record next year. Doing what he has done in a tough, tough league like the FCIAC is one heck of feat. My guess is UCONN is recruiting him as a linebacker though. Darien vs Southington would be a great game, too bad it won't happen.
You sure. 23-30 332 4 TDs with a qtr and a half of football left to play in the Class LL - Large State Championship game.
Until he receives an offer, yes. Best player on the field? Maybe best player on the field without an offer. Kid does have some good talent. State record in receiving TD's, but who is throwing him the football? That's right the kid this thread was formed for. After all Jemele is a CT football player. What competition level are they playing? 49-0 with a quarter to go in the state championship game? Really? NFA clearly had no chance. Not sure how up to date stats are, but 49-0 through 3 quarters. 0 yards passing and only 47 rushing.
The picture on the front page of today's Meriden Record-Journal shows Coach Drury partially avoiding the Gatorade bath along with "Asst. Coach Brian Stranieri". In his other incarnation, Coach Stranieri is one of the Vice Principals at S.H.S. That team BETTER be disciplined.
Of course they look impressive when they play cupcakes. I'm cautiously optimistic on Rose. He'll play at the D1 level but I wonder if it will be at QB? Maybe TE if he bulks up. Southington has played a weak schedule against relatively weak teams, and what I'm saying is that Rose has never been tested nor has Southington. Southington plays in the CCC, which had three undefeated teams this year. Three in the same league, and a weak league at that. How on earth is that possible? It's possible because the CCC league does not want their best teams playing each other, beating each other up during the season, fall in the NH Reg poll with a loss or two, so they schedule accordingly. What I'm saying is I wonder how Rose's numbers would be and how he would look to scouts with Mark Evanchick, George Reed, and Zach Allen chasing him all over the field. The CalPreps CT poll is at odds with the New Haven Reg poll because it includes SOS and league strength (based on OOC play) in it's calculations. The FCIAC and SCC are much stronger leagues top to bottom than the CCC or ECC. FWIW Calpreps ranks New Canaan and Darien ahead of Southington, even though Southington is undefeated. St Joes, another FCIAC club has TWO losses and blew out undefeated EEC champ Ledyard 37-7 for the M class championship. St Joe's is ranked #4 ahead of undefeated CCC team Windsor in Calpreps poll.
The year prior Southington beat Fairfield Prep (9-2) 52-34. They only lost to Daniel Hand and St. Joes by a combined 10 points. Not really seeing your argument with the strength of conferences. Sure, FCIAC and SCC are stronger as a whole, but at the top there is no doubt in my mind Southington is the best team in the state . Rose's numbers would be similar if he played in those conferences as well, he's that good.
I don't know how you can say that when he's had all the time in the world to throw against weak teams with easy defensive lines and easier secondaries. Southington has not played anyone in the NH register poll all season long THIS YEAR, but as long as you're bringing up last year, I'll bite. Prep had injuries for that final game against Southington, it's the nature of their very tough schedule (played two OOC games against FCIAC teams and their grueling SCC schedule), and Southington came in smelling like a rose (no pun intended). Earlier that season Prep put 33 points on the board against Glastonbury, a team that Southington almost lost to. Prep also shut out Cheshire 26-0, and Southington beat Cheshire 33-6, similar scores. Tim Boyle looked great too in high school, but he had a great, great offensive line to protect him and had all the time in the world to protect him. How many times this year has Rose been sacked? My guess is zero.
You clearly are not familiar when you insinuate that " the CCC league does not want their best teams playing each other". Let me give you two instances: When the CCC expanded to 4 divisions, the divisions set up so that neighboring towns were in the same divisions. The CCC South consisted of both Bristol & Meriden schools along with Southington & New Britain. Maloney in Meriden & Bristol Eastern complained to the league that having to play annually against LL behemoths Southington & New Britain (this was the Jack Cochran era) diminished their chances of winning & they wanted to play against same sized institutions. Southington & New Britain were then placed into the same division as Manchester, Simsbury, Glastonbury & East Hartford. They also are scheduled against other larger sized schools to fill out their season.
This is true. If a school's athletic department is powerful enough they can change schedules. It happened throughout my baseball career at Southington all the time. Football was more notorious for this under the Kelly era. Mella tried to play big games, but he was nothing more than a charismatic coach who won because of his players.
