2024 LUFKIN PANTHER VARSITY FOOTBALL DISCUSSION TOPIC

[PackAttack]

Well, the BH fans are pretty confident in their teams ability to come into ABE and win. They said they had matched up well to beat Forney and McKinney North.  Johnson has the tools, his experience on the fly is the unknown. That pick last Friday brought Coutee back in the game. I know he must play to get better and find the speed of the game.

[mr. b]

LP definitely has the receivers.  It is sad though those receivers talents are mostly unknown because of our QB play the last few years.  

[PackAttack]

I'm real interested in Kaden Hooper coming back. Thought he was suppose to be back at Tyler. 

[LufkinPack]

Pssssh. Pack by 21 👀

[timeout!]

2 hours ago, PackAttack said:

Well, the BH fans are pretty confident in their teams ability to come into ABE and win. They said they had matched up well to beat Forney and McKinney North.  Johnson has the tools, his experience on the fly is the unknown. That pick last Friday brought Coutee back in the game. I know he must play to get better and find the speed of the game.

Can't say how things will play out this year. But they are correct about not having much trouble beating McNorth last year. A team we could never figure out. I still think the talent meter favors Lufkin by good amount. It's the coaching that worries me. Some coaches are just better game planners and getting the most out of their kids. We'll see what Quick and his guys cook up for Friday. I still have us favored to win. Just hope the coaches don't drop the ball with poor play calling.

[PurpleNation]

1 hour ago, PackAttack said:

I'm real interested in Kaden Hooper coming back. Thought he was suppose to be back at Tyler. 

He should be back Friday. From my understanding he was technically cleared to play but they chose to sit him. 

[PurpleNation]

2 hours ago, PackAttack said:

Well, the BH fans are pretty confident in their teams ability to come into ABE and win. They said they had matched up well to beat Forney and McKinney North.  Johnson has the tools, his experience on the fly is the unknown. That pick last Friday brought Coutee back in the game. I know he must play to get better and find the speed of the game.

They're not the team they were the last two years and neither are we. They only have one kid (#2) that you really have to watch. They like to move him around. He mainly lineups at WR/RB but has also lined up at QB. Not very big but he can fly. Now the actual QB is serviceable not going to beat you. Don't think he's as good as the Tyler QB and doesn't have near the experience. Game manager basically. They have a little size on the line but don't expect them to be able to get any kind of push against our guys. They will probably have to abandon the run game like Tyler. Defensively they're ok probably about like Tyler. Secondary is going to be vulnerable against our WRs. Waters is also going to be a handful for them. I like the match-up.

[LPPACK]

2 hours ago, PurpleNation said:

He should be back Friday. From my understanding he was technically cleared to play but they chose to sit him. 

 I understand Purple nation,there sure is a lot of technically going on there at LHS. Lots of stuff with grades,lots of mistakes.

[PurpleNation]

7 hours ago, LPPACK said:

 I understand Purple nation,there sure is a lot of technically going on there at LHS. Lots of stuff with grades,lots of mistakes.

I don't know about all that. I'm just saying he could have played had we really needed him. 

[LufkinPack]

Outside of Preston, did we make it out healthy? Besides the normal bumps and bruises. 

[PackAttack]

This is a big game, and Preston was a big part of the offense, not just catching the ball, but his size for blocking. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to having some nervous fan thoughts about how that will be addressed, thankfully I believe there is plenty of depth and talent there to keep the offense going strong.

Even more so, wanting to see Johnson have a good game and a full game under his belt, showing he can be the guy everyone expects him to be. That's the pressure that comes with being a leader and a starting QB.  Unfortunately he had to miss his first three games this year, and again I wish he had played the remainder of the 2023 season after the Forney game (water under the bridge there).  I've not seen the DI potential to this point that some have talked about. He's had so few opportunities to play.  For example, he may be a fast, but he sure gets stopped short on many of his attempts. The INT in Tyler??, he just raised up and threw the ball, he never saw the Tyler defender. That's inexperience in live games. Think a lot is how Green teaches his QBs and how they run the offense.  I say that because most QBs, even before Johnson all replicate the same tendencies. The names may change, they operate the same. Name me one who may had  a different look at QB since 2003, the only two for me would be Jacovey Smallwood and Kordell Rogers, maybe Bush Smiley. Have no doubt Johnson will get better with more experience, and what better opportunity to get that done playing a must win game.

[PackAttack]

My high marks for last weeks game go to the Panther special teams.  The defensive front 7 gets an A , and the secondary a C- only because they figured it out in the end and won the game.  The play calling was different than previous weeks, mainly because they were playing two QBs with different levels of experience. Believe it or not Coutee has more quarters under his belt in 4 games than Johnson has from 2023 to 2024.  Anyway, the play selections from game to game always make me nervous and the Tyler secondary was really fast and good.  With the talent we have any OC can look good against inferior defenses like Nacogdoches and LRSW.  So far the Panthers haven't defeated a team ranked equal or better than them.  Although I am quite happy with 3-1 and the scoring we have had the past three games, there are tougher defenses ahead to play. So I take a wait and see approach and will not overly compliment.  This week is a whole new set of circumstances with Johnson starting this week, Preston out and Coutee moving back to WR.  Coutee is good, glad to see him back there.  Nichols will get a chance too.  We are a team with RBs by committee, and might be that way now at WR.  Thankful to have all the talent at both positions.

I was a little curious about the Center position too, and what may have been going on with the fumbled snaps for a couple series.  That was straighten that out later, someone in the stands said it looked like the ball was being hit by the DT on the snap.  I couldn't see it that well so I don't know, I do know the coaches were complaining to the official about something going on.  

[PurpleNation]

1 hour ago, PackAttack said:

This is a big game, and Preston was a big part of the offense, not just catching the ball, but his size for blocking. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to having some nervous fan thoughts about how that will be addressed, thankfully I believe there is plenty of depth and talent there to keep the offense going strong.

Even more so, wanting to see Johnson have a good game and a full game under his belt, showing he can be the guy everyone expects him to be. That's the pressure that comes with being a leader and a starting QB.  Unfortunately he had to miss his first three games this year, and again I wish he had played the remainder of the 2023 season after the Forney game (water under the bridge there).  I've not seen the DI potential to this point that some have talked about. He's had so few opportunities to play.  For example, he may be a fast, but he sure gets stopped short on many of his attempts. The INT in Tyler??, he just raised up and threw the ball, he never saw the Tyler defender. That's inexperience in live games. Think a lot is how Green teaches his QBs and how they run the offense.  I say that because most QBs, even before Johnson all replicate the same tendencies. The names may change, they operate the same. Name me one who may had  a different look at QB since 2003, the only two for me would be Jacovey Smallwood and Kordell Rogers, maybe Bush Smiley. Have no doubt Johnson will get better with more experience, and what better opportunity to get that done playing a must win game.

I think he's a D1 athlete not particularly at QB but I expect him to play much better the more reps he gets. I imagine he's going to take most of the snaps Friday night and outside the INT he played decent against Tyler. I think we will see him settle down after a few series against BH and find his groove. He just needs repetitions at this point. I will say I am comfortable if Coutee has to continue to play QB. He's done an out standing job. 

[PurpleNation]

1 minute ago, PackAttack said:

My high marks for last weeks game go to the Panther special teams.  The defensive front 7 gets an A , and the secondary a C- only because they figured it out in the end and won the game.  The play calling was different than previous weeks, mainly because they were playing two QBs with different levels of experience. Believe it or not Coutee has more quarters under his belt in 4 games than Johnson has from 2023 to 2024.  Anyway, the play selections from game to game always make me nervous and the Tyler secondary was really fast and good.  With the talent we have any OC can look good against inferior defenses like Nacogdoches and LRSW.  So far the Panthers haven't defeated a team ranked equal or better than them.  Although I am quite happy with 3-1 and the scoring we have had the past three games, there are tougher defenses ahead to play. So I take a wait and see approach and will not overly compliment.  This week is a whole new set of circumstances with Johnson starting this week, Preston out and Coutee moving back to WR.  Coutee is good, glad to see him back there.  Nichols will get a chance too.  We are a team with RBs by committee, and might be that way now at WR.  Thankful to have all the talent at both positions.

I was a little curious about the Center position too, and what may have been going on with the fumbled snaps for a couple series.  That was straighten that out later, someone in the stands said it looked like the ball was being hit by the DT on the snap.  I couldn't see it that well so I don't know, I do know the coaches were complaining to the official about something going on.  

That first fumble when we were around the Tyler RedZone. The center snapped it off his butt and the fumble on the 1 yard line after that amazing run by Coutee was just a fumbled snap from under center. Neither turnover was forced and were the first of it's kind on the season for us. I can't recall the 3rd fumble at the moment. 

[PackAttack]

29 minutes ago, PurpleNation said:

I think he's a D1 athlete not particularly at QB but I expect him to play much better the more reps he gets. I imagine he's going to take most of the snaps Friday night and outside the INT he played decent against Tyler. I think we will see him settle down after a few series against BH and find his groove. He just needs repetitions at this point. I will say I am comfortable if Coutee has to continue to play QB. He's done an out standing job. 

IF IF Coutee were to play more QB, could Johnson be used at another position? A really good athlete should not be standing on the sidelines.

[LufkinPack]

When Johnson first came in, every time he rolled out we had an open receiver and he was hitting them. I kept thinking dang, PN said he was at his best rolling out like that. I think he just tried to force a few of those throws Friday but I fully expect him to clean that up with more reps. Hopefully anyways. With the way Quick started with Coutee, then went to Johnson and then brought Coutee back in to finish it up, he must’ve thought we were gonna win that game comfortably. Which we really should’ve. So he wasn’t completely wrong. 

[mr. b]

Yes, the first possession he was rolling out and we were moving the ball.  The next 2 possessions we tried running the ball up the middle the first 2 downs leaving him 3rd and long both times.  Made no sense moving away from what was working. 

[LufkinPack]

26 minutes ago, mr. b said:

Yes, the first possession he was rolling out and we were moving the ball.  The next 2 possessions we tried running the ball up the middle the first 2 downs leaving him 3rd and long both times.  Made no sense moving away from what was working. 

That’s my issue with green. We’ll run on 1st down and lose a yard or two, then go right back to it on 2nd down. Best case scenario we end up with 3rd & 8 and a lot of times 3rd & 12. If you run on 1st and lose yardage, pass on 2nd. 

[PackAttack]

16 minutes ago, mr. b said:

Yes, the first possession he was rolling out and we were moving the ball.  The next 2 possessions we tried running the ball up the middle the first 2 downs leaving him 3rd and long both times.  Made no sense moving away from what was working. 

...and therein lies my uneasiness today with the OC. Never played offense, however we did run successful plays R-C-L often until the defense made the adjustments to stop it, then our OC would try other options to counter the opp D. Lot of it though is just being able to block the play open whatever play is called. Its not the play called at all. Our OL has played decent and needs to continue to improve if they are to have success against the better defensive teams.

[PurpleNation]

3 hours ago, PackAttack said:

IF IF Coutee were to play more QB, could Johnson be used at another position? A really good athlete should not be standing on the sidelines.

In little league we played him at OLB/S one year. He's more than capable and a willing tackler. Now I don't think they would just up and stick him on defense if Coutee gets rolling. However I fully expect Johnson to get it going at QB. 

[PackAttack]

DCTF - WEEK #5 -  5ADI - TOP 10

1. Denton Ryan (3-0)

2. Aledo  (3-1)

3. Frisco Lone Star (4-0)

4. A&M Consolidated (4-0)

5. Richland (3-1)

6. Highland Park (3-1)

7. College Station (3-1)

8. SA Pieper (3-1)

9. Galveston Ball  (4-0)

10. Port Arthur Memorial (3-1)

I look at this, seeing two teams from our District 9-5ADI there, and one team Highland Park from 7-5A DI there.  So the thought of  winning an appeal to move districts and play in a less competitive district are dispelled.

 

[PackAttack]

Another point I would like to make about last weeks game against Tyler, Matt Stepp had Lufkin a +9, while DCTF/Jerry's Pigskin Prep had Lufkin picked at +15.  Lufkin won by 12 so that fell right into the range of their prediction.

DCTF has Lufkin a early +8 pick over Barbers Hill. That does surprise a bit since the game is in Lufkin.  

 

 

[PackAttack]

My head is spinning this morning thinking about this season is in Week #5.  It's seems like yesterday we were talking about playing a scrimmage on August 24th, now we sit at September 24th looking at a September 27th game at Abe, game number 5 of the season.  Big district opener. Must win before things slow down just a bit with an off week coming up next week.

The older I get the faster these seasons seem to go by, everything is on the line now, positions in district are crucial. There are no games to overlook and this week will tell everything we need to know about these 2024 Panthers.

[LufkinPack]

42 minutes ago, PackAttack said:

My head is spinning this morning thinking about this season is in Week #5.  It's seems like yesterday we were talking about playing a scrimmage on August 24th, now we sit at September 24th looking at a September 27th game at Abe, game number 5 of the season.  Big district opener. Must win before things slow down just a bit with an off week coming up next week.

The older I get the faster these seasons seem to go by, everything is on the line now, positions in district are crucial. There are no games to overlook and this week will tell everything we need to know about these 2024 Panthers.

Gary said on the radio the other night if we’re the 1 or 2 seed, we’ll play one of the college station schools in round 2? Sheesh man. Even moving to region 3 we can’t catch a break. Can’t we at least get 3 or 4 deep before we have to play someone like that smh. 

[PackAttack]

17 minutes ago, LufkinPack said:

Gary said on the radio the other night if we’re the 1 or 2 seed, we’ll play one of the college station schools in round 2? Sheesh man. Even moving to region 3 we can’t catch a break. Can’t we at least get 3 or 4 deep before we have to play someone like that smh. 

Never used to be a problem around here 15 years ago.  I'm not saying more, the trend and expectations were set long before this year.