[charlie22]

I know that what you said is true, and even with that the CJ All-State team is a more accurate list of the top players in the state, year in and year out.

Some years yes; some years no.

My son made first team All State AP and first team All BGP a few years back. Didn't make even honorable mention on the CJ (Coaches) team. I know a pretty decent number of coaches throughout the state. After the CJ team came out, I received multiple calls from coaches in differing areas of the state. They were apologizing. To a man, they all explained that they thought my son should have been first team, but because of pressure from other coaches, friendships with other coaches who lobbied to have their players selected, efforts to regional block vote, etc., he didn't make the team. One coach was from a team that we had beaten in the playoffs. I saw him at the state championship game in the Hilltopper Room. He and one of the other coaches from his school told me that Highlands that year had the most dominating O line in the state and that they'd ever seen at the high school level. They then went on to say that my son was the best O linemen on Highlands team. But the head coach of their team hadn't voted for him because he was trying to get a couple of his kids selected and had agreed to vote for a couple of O linemen from area schools in order to get the coaches of those kids to vote for his kids. That told me all I needed to know about the coaches selections.

Frankly I didn't care. Yeah every parent likes to see his/her son gets recognized. But once you get a better understanding how things work in the selection process, you quickly realize making or not making the team is not a reflection on how good your son really was.

It may be anathema to say it on here, but from what I know, the All-BGP team probably is the most accurate. Contrary to what people like to say, the owner of BGP does not just make the selections on his own. He has a group of advisors from all areas of the state along with a coach or two that he trusts to be impartial. They really hash the nominations quite a bit back and forth before the final selections are made.