GAMES
RANKINGS
Willie Gaston set to led his alma mater - North Shore
THE HEADLINES: NIL; QB Bailey; Coaching Changes top storylines entering 2023
NIL AND THE PORTAL
High school football and recruiting has changed forever and there is no getting the toothpaste back in the tube.
First, the portal. The portal coupled with COVID was a hurricane for high school athletes. Why? For the classes of 2021 and 2022, recruiting was somewhat stalled because college athletes were granted a COVID year while the scholarship numbers per school were not increased.
It was a numbers game. Where would the incoming 25 or so scholarship athletes fit into the 85 football scholarships that universities are allotted? It was tough to be a mid-major recruit in high school sports.
Add that to the opening of the portal and it was mass chaos. Fringe college players were hopping in the portal to find a soft, landing spot, usually moving downward to a mid-major or FCS program or out of college athletics all together. That further cut into the opportunities for high school athletes. BCS programs were filling up with Power 5 portal athletes. The good news is that the cycle is starting to smooth out as time marches forward after COVID and the extra year given to those athletes are starting to cycle out.
Now, how about the NIL? Are you ready for this number? $10-plus million. In Greater Houston, it is VYPE’s estimation that the Class of 2024 will sign guarantees of $10 million upon arriving on their respective campuses by the schools’ Collectives. An NIL Collective is a program designed to facilitate athletes’ potential endorsement opportunities. So, putting pen to paper on National Signing Day is a lot different than it was a few years ago. They are signing for scholarships, but also for future finances.
Stay tuned.
…
HE’S BACK
Quarterback Kaleb Bailey won a State Title as a freshman… at North Shore.
Imagine a freshman leading a team of Alphas to the promised land in 2021.
That’s a story in itself, right? Well, a few games into the 2022 season, someone stepped on Superman’s cape. Bailey suffered a serious knee injury against CE King and would be lost for the season. A season that ended in the State Final against… Duncanville, again.
“It’s was an unimaginable experience,” Bailey said. “God has brought me through every event, good or bad,” he said. “It’s been a blessing that I’ve been through this now because I have an actual testimony.
“My mind was all over the place. I really didn’t know what to think because I had never been injured like this. But I’ve always been told that God is with me, so stay positive.”
Bailey watched from the sideline. It may have been more painful than surgery and rehab wrapped into one.
“The biggest motivation for me throughout this whole process was my family,” he said. “I owe it to myself to get what I deserve, because it was a worse pain when I couldn’t help my brothers compete.”
Rehab, workout, throw… rinse and repeat. North Shore coaches have been optimistic throughout the process, saying that he is better than before the injury. Bailey is confident as well.
“This season is called my ‘Revenge Tour’,” Bailey said. “My junior year… this is where I wake the whole nation up. I’m not going to say too much, but just keep an eye out for North Shore quarterback Kaleb Bailey.”
…
THE CAROUSEL
As the ball kicks off, there will be several new faces leading some of the top power programs in Houston. Here are a biggest changes at the top.
TOP 10 Most Interesting Coaching Changes (In alphabetical order)
Bridgeland – Lonnie Madison, College Park HC
Crosby Cougars – Joe Willis, Cedar Park HC
Eisenhower – Odell James, Duncanville QB Coach
El Campo – Travis Reeve, New Caney, HC
Grand Oaks – Shaun McDowell, Foster HC
Klein Forest – Derrick Vaughn, Willis DC
Manvel – Kirk Martin, Colleyville Heritage HC
North Shore – Willie Gaston, North Shore OC
Paetow – David Hicks, Paetow Interim
New Caney – Mike DeWitt, Coppell HC
LISTEN UP: Next on the Endangered Species' List? 5-Star Athletes
From the dinosaurs to Blockbuster video, things just become extinct.
Home telephones? Heck, cable television has virtually ran its course.
So, what is next on the endangered species' list?
The 5-Star Athlete will be extinct in a matter of months.
Football's Big-Ticket, Game-Breakers will be a thing of the past in 2022. No, not a meteor shower or the advent of new technology, but the ruling of Name, Imagine and Likeness, where college athletes can cash in on themselves where they see fit.
Great, cool, awesome. Long overdue for college athletes, but the NCAA has made the roll-out messier than an LA Freeway virtually any time of day.
The repercussions of NIL have seeped into high school sports as I've predicted.
This is basically Global Warming for high school athletics. There won't be a slow erosion of superstars leaving the locker rooms and weight rooms across Texas, but an avalanche of Blue Chip athletes falling into the abyss of NIL. SPLASH.
Southlake Carroll's Quin Ewers was first to test the waters, bringing this topic to the UIL, which deferred to the Texas Legislature. Ok, cool. Their hands are tied, I get it.
Ewers couldn't get paid in high school, so off to Ohio State and greener artificial turf pastures await him.
He was the No. 1 player in Texas. Poof… gone.
Hightower super-hooper and senior-to-be Bryce Griggs couldn't make money as a high school student… poof off to Overtime Elite where he will get paid… we think. No more Hurricane state title dreams as H-Town is in his rearview mirror.
FB Bush junior Tyler Smith gets a national-ranking and… bye, off to Overtime Elite. He will forego TWO years of making memories inside the Hopson Field House. He just would have been a junior.
While Klein Cain star Jaydon Blue's circumstance is a little different, highly-coveted athletes will follow his lead. Blue committed to the University of Texas and has chosen to by-pass his senior year to prepare for his future as a Longhorn. He should be an early-enrollee in January.
Those are the outliers right now, however, they are also the pioneers that so many will follow.
For now high school fans, enjoy the likes of Bridgeland's Conner Weigman -- an Elite 11 QB -- still weaving his magic at the high school level before he early enrolls with the Aggies in January.
If North Shore 5-Star Denver Harris (currently the No. 1 player in Texas) comes back from an ACL injury to play ball this year, he certainly be the last of his kind. Big-time stones if he does come back.
The Bishop Davenport's of Spring, Harold Perkins' of Cy Park and Kam Dewberry's of Atascocita – all extinct in the near future.
So, what stops this disappearance of future stars?
Open up the NIL floodgates in Texas. It will be messy at first, but order will follow.
It gives the optics of a level playing field to all athletes… not just football, basketball and baseball stars but also female student-athletes. They usually get left out of this conversation all together.
Do you think Lululemon wouldn't sponsor Ally Batenhorst of Seven Lakes, the National Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year? What about former Barbers Hill star Charli Collier being an ambassador for who else… Charming Charlies?
This could be a slippery slope, but it can't be any worse than the alternative.