Bluegrassrivals

Having lost Fields and May in the backfield.....Just wondering everybody thoughts on a very young SV team coming up???

Strong offensive line

Kinda .....hopefully they will improve from the Pikeville game though...Pikeville had a much stronger O-line....SV has a talent O-line though

3 of 5 lineman return for valley. And quarterback.
fields and may will be hard to replace. Looking forward to seeing how valley stacks up this year.

I think this freshman class will make a big impact....Donovan Layne and Justin Bowling are 2 great players....they also have some talent freshman lineman too....and adding Chandler Rowe (If he plays)....Valley will be tougher than people think....I am impressed with Aaron Stepp.

Agreed! The layne boy is very talented i would say by his sophomore year he will be ready once he gets use to playing at the highschool level. As for bowling, he is very strong, i feel he could make a impact on the d-line.
Returning offensive starters.
Jared Kiser -Guard
Corey Griffith -QB
Samuel Damron - Tackle
Wyatt Branham -Center
Andrew Newsome -TE
Nick Wallace -WR

Very young team, with a good line. No real go to play maker. Donavon Layne could help with the passing game, has a better arm than Griffith. But not as mobile. It will be interesting to see what happens at the QB position and the Deffense will be a question mark again next year. Pass deffense was awful last year and will be as bad if not worse this year. I could see another 5-6 season give or take.

I can imagine Layne being at QB and placing Corey in a wide out spot...Griffith has great hands!, I think that would work well.

I dont see Griffith moving, the layne boy will be a freshman and dont think he will be able to run an offense. By his sophomore year i believe he will be ready. Layine has a better arm, but valley is a run type team. Griffith is more mobile, and has the advantage in the experience. More than likely will stay in the wing T and place bredan lacy and mason johnson in the back field.

That would make them one dimensional again....Why not let Layne take some snaps and have the extra plays in the play book.

I like Mason and Braden but thats two Fulbacks no fast back . Griffith has the tendency to fumble. And braden as a Senior only has some JV experience at the position. Mason would have to carry the load on offense and deffense. I would atleast try to play Layne at QB and move Griffith to wide out that way with him, Wallace and Newsome they would have a good passing game as well as a good grind it out ground game. IMO it gives them the greatest chance to win because they will need to score alot of points to win games.

with the way they've been working out after school i could guarantee everyone on the team has gotten a step or two faster, especially those two...

and as far as the incoming freshman are concerned, they've got a lot more work to put in before they could see the field on fridays. talent or not

IMO valley will stay in the wing T but needs a good passing game. Layne has a good arm and could help with the pass. Griffith has alot of run experience. With valley losing fields. The best bet would to move him to tailback. And place lacy at full or mason at the wing spot.
Probably valleys best bet. If layne can step up and do the job. Very difficult for a freshman though who aint use to playing at the highschool level.

stubby kid-169 Wrote:and as far as the incoming freshman are concerned, they've got a lot more work to put in before they could see the field on fridays. talent or not

Ahh, Can't really judge who's going to be playing and who's not, just on weight lifting and sprints. It's just February!

I can think of a few boys that are Freshman that have the desire to get better in 6 months.

WHAT ABOUT BORAT??? #7??? NO love for him????

Lleyton21 Wrote:WHAT ABOUT BORAT??? #7??? NO love for him????

Borat? lol that's funny but i think you're on the wrong thread man.

Lleyton if you are talking about Richardson, then no. He fumbles alot and plays timid on deffense from what I have seen.

he not favor Borat at all IMO. lol

Valley will continuosly have a tough time competing with the upper echelon of talent in AA, due to the lack of support of the football program at the high school level. Yes they will have some good years but they will be sporadic. Its a basketball first school and alot of the athletes there refuse to look anywhere else but at the rim. I know a few of the young kids in that program and wish them the best in their high school years, but it looks like a bunch of 1 and dones in the playoffs from my viewpoint. Would love to see them prove me wrong. Always very competitive at the youth levels, but it never seems to translate to much more than mediocrity at the high school level. Oddly familiar with basketball at Belfry.

Micro-Brew Wrote:Valley will continuosly have a tough time competing with the upper echelon of talent in AA, due to the lack of support of the football program at the high school level. Yes they will have some good years but they will be sporadic. Its a basketball first school and alot of the athletes there refuse to look anywhere else but at the rim. I know a few of the young kids in that program and wish them the best in their high school years, but it looks like a bunch of 1 and dones in the playoffs from my viewpoint. Would love to see them prove me wrong. Always very competitive at the youth levels, but it never seems to translate to much more than mediocrity at the high school level. Oddly familiar with basketball at Belfry.

I'll agree with this to a certain extent. SV is a basketball first school of course, but Stepp is a good coach and has the power to change things. With SV basketball declining in a certain sense, football may move ahead of it (If things do not change with the basketball program.)

I haven't seen enough from Stepp yet to make a judgement on him, not that my judgement menas much. But not sure I would say Valley basketball is on the decline. Virgie won the county last year in junior high, with Dorton winning it this year. The Rowe kid from Virgie will be a great asset in the future as well. Also I saw in a thread where Dortons 7th grade team was in the county championship as well. Im speaking about basketball here mind you. Also Valleys high school team is littered with underclassmen who see the boatload of the playing time, so not sure I'd say they are on the decline. You obviously are closer to the program at Valley than I, so you may know some things that I do not, but from my view basketball will continue to be the pride of that school for several years.

You're right the talent is there but in the past 10 years SV has mostly been the front runners of the region (even before the State Championship). Can't say the same now, They have a very talented team now, but I would rank them 5th in the region AT BEST.

Top 5 is about right, but in that top 5 of the region is where that basketball program will stay for the next 5 years at least. Can you say that Valley football is in the top 5 of their respective football region or are they going to be there? From my observations, I'd say no. Now I'm not knocking their program, I hope the best for them but I just don't see it. So to say the football program will surpass basketball at that school, I'd think is wishful thinking. You're absolutely right though, Valley's basketball program was at the top of the region for almost 10 years in a row due to some really good kids and the region as a whole being down slightly. A couple of those years it wouldn't have mattered how good the region was, those Valley teams were phenomenal. Great, Great group of kids!!!

I just don't agree with you on the matter haha. SC, JC, Pikeville, and BL all return great talent in the upcoming years too, Valley IMO will stay at 5 or lower in the upcoming years unlesss things change.

and one more thing, just to make my point valid, Comparing SV's football region and it's Basketball region is a horrible comparison , Sorry haha 2 different sports, two completely different regions (districts) lol

But I agree with football, until Valley proves itself in football, they will not be a front runner in district.

You're right its never good to compare two different sports, but at a school where the identity is set.....It's tough to come out of that shadow.....See Kentucky Football for further evidence....

Did Shelby Valley ever find a replacement game for the Jackson County game? I heard that Jackson opted out of the contract.

I dont think Jackson County or South Floyd should be on the schedule...IMO you dont get any better with a 40 point win. You learn more about your team by getting smashed than you do by running the score up on a lesser opponent. Would like to see SV grow as a football school but when Saunders left our chances of ever being a Powerhouse grew very slim. But like I said we are looking at another 4-7 5-6 kind of year. When will practice start.

I heard Hazard was trying to schedule a game with them week 2 but I don't know if they are going to do it.

They should.