There's no doubt unless someone transfers in he's the starting QB. He's way more raw then jurkovec was as a soph no doubt. I think his ceiling as a sophomore is pretty decent. Only real concern is his size, he's listed at 5'10 and he isn't that built for his size. He will defiantly end up being one of the best QB's in the WPIAL with the same QB coach with him that coached austin whipple, dinucci, jurkovec etc. I truthfully don't think he is ready this year, but the experience will defiantly benefit for the future.
Pine-Richland 2018
- Thread starter new2pa
- Start date
There's no doubt unless someone transfers in he's the starting QB. He's way more raw then jurkovec was as a soph no doubt. I think his ceiling as a sophomore is pretty decent. Only real concern is his size, he's listed at 5'10 and he isn't that built for his size. He will defiantly end up being one of the best QB's in the WPIAL with the same QB coach with him that coached austin whipple, dinucci, jurkovec etc. I truthfully don't think he is ready this year, but the experience will defiantly benefit for the future.
I've been asking around about Spencer. He is getting D1 looks for wrestling. I wonder how much he weighs? If he's a 145/155 # wrestler, I don't think he would survive very long unless he is really shifty.
I think I said this before but P-R will need to run the ball and play good defense. If they do that, then they can be pretty good. But, losing all their skill guys on both sides of the ball besides Meckler just doesn't seem like a good scenario for a repeat.
I think I said this before but P-R will need to run the ball and play good defense. If they do that, then they can be pretty good. But, losing all their skill guys on both sides of the ball besides Meckler just doesn't seem like a good scenario for a repeat.
This is a nice story
http://tribhssn.triblive.com/thomas...-in-pa-track-title-in-fla/?platform=hootsuite
http://tribhssn.triblive.com/thomas...-in-pa-track-title-in-fla/?platform=hootsuite
gotta be able to have some balance to compete with the other big boys imo. If they can't get some semblance of a passing game going with whoever is back there then it won't be good. NA and PCC both look like their gonna be pretty good this year with very good defenses for both.
Spencer medaled at 152 back in March, which I think is also the weight he competed in at NHSCA Freshman Nationals where he took 2nd. After football season, his first few matches were up at 170 before getting down to 152 in January.
He's got a frame that will be able to hold weight. It would not shock me if he was up in the 180s for next football season then wrestled 170 or even 182 depending on weight training/normal teenage hormones and development.
He's a no doubt D1 wrestler, one of the best freshmen in the class nationally. I would expect him to be a Penn State/Ohio State/Oklahoma State level recruit.
Here's an update on what I've been hearing.
1. There aren't any transfer QB's coming. I guess the administration got involved and took their time sorting things out. Big hassle but everything is worked out now. I haven't heard of any transfers at all.
2. P-R's OL is going to be really good. They have the 3 returning players plus a couple kids are stepping up. Sounds like a little different look this year.
3. Spencer will be the QB. Many many people have told me its not really even close. Rover, I heard some thing you did about him being at 180lbs.
They have their spring practices next week and I'm going to try and get up to the field and talk to some people.
1. There aren't any transfer QB's coming. I guess the administration got involved and took their time sorting things out. Big hassle but everything is worked out now. I haven't heard of any transfers at all.
2. P-R's OL is going to be really good. They have the 3 returning players plus a couple kids are stepping up. Sounds like a little different look this year.
3. Spencer will be the QB. Many many people have told me its not really even close. Rover, I heard some thing you did about him being at 180lbs.
They have their spring practices next week and I'm going to try and get up to the field and talk to some people.
After this mess I doubt they get any other transfers for a while now. Spencer was 100% the QB if they didn’t get one and now it looks to be that way. Spencer is probably gonna end up being a better runner than thrower his first year so with him/meckler begins that line we will see a lot of rushing yards this year. Key will be how well they get a passing game going against the better teams. I may watch some spring practices so I will post back about what i see.
Haven't heard if it was approved or no, I honestly hope not now that they have a soph QB starting
The problem with match ups like this is they come after a rising star (PR) had a great season, ie....great talent that likely graduated. Too bad they can't rein it in scheduling a game down line in a year or two.
I think it's BS a game against a great program where you get wasted by 6 scores at the half or worse prepares you for the postseason!?
Play CD, Neshaminy or a Parkland type for a reality check and meaningful game.
I think it's BS a game against a great program where you get wasted by 6 scores at the half or worse prepares you for the postseason!?
Play CD, Neshaminy or a Parkland type for a reality check and meaningful game.
Don’t disagree but once they play img all the other teams are gonna seem like JV teams compared to img. Could benefit in that aspect. Pr will get blown out, but they still have some talent back and new guys that will step up, and they’re too well coached to get totally demolished, I see the game being a 55-14 score. I think they can keep it close till the half.
Thanks new2pa. I didn't realize that . Maybe PR will play the White team,which would make a better game .
The White team plays a weak slate of 3A-4A prepers and shouldn't be confused with Blue Varsity. This is IMG's 2nd year fielding a 2nd team but they are in no way similar to Blue.
Edited to say Max has White at 4-4 last year.
Last edited:
A friend went to the power lifting meet they have yesterday. Said a lot of those guys threw around serious weight. Returning starters and new comers. I honestly don’t think img is going to outphysical them as bad as people think. The disadvantage will obviously be at skill positions I think.
Was able to stop by P-R's practice today and talk to a few parents. I saw the end of the offensive period and all of the defense. Here are some of the more interesting things I found out.
The QB competition isn't settled. Both the Spencer kid and the senior who played last year have done well. Spencer is a much better athlete and his running ability is top notch. The other kid (MacGregor) is a game manager that doesn't make many mistakes.
Their offensive line looks huge - probably will average 6'2", 270. Kristofic, Katic, and Dorundo are back and there are 5 kids competing for the other positions. 2 massive seniors that I've never heard of, a Junior why played last last, and two sophomore.
At WR, they played 3 seniors and 1 sophomore (coaches kid). RB was Geyer because the Meckler boy was at the track meet.
It sounds like its mostly 10th graders and seniors in the two deep at every position.
Defensively, they may start 11 seniors. King and Cerminara are back and are surrounded by a great front 4 and a completely new secondary.
Most impressive things on both sides of the ball was the size up front. Never been that way since I've lived here. Lots of questions that need to be answered in 7 on 7's because so few skill guys are back. The guy I was sitting with said that they return 7 offensive points from last year and lose their top 8 skill players.
The QB competition isn't settled. Both the Spencer kid and the senior who played last year have done well. Spencer is a much better athlete and his running ability is top notch. The other kid (MacGregor) is a game manager that doesn't make many mistakes.
Their offensive line looks huge - probably will average 6'2", 270. Kristofic, Katic, and Dorundo are back and there are 5 kids competing for the other positions. 2 massive seniors that I've never heard of, a Junior why played last last, and two sophomore.
At WR, they played 3 seniors and 1 sophomore (coaches kid). RB was Geyer because the Meckler boy was at the track meet.
It sounds like its mostly 10th graders and seniors in the two deep at every position.
Defensively, they may start 11 seniors. King and Cerminara are back and are surrounded by a great front 4 and a completely new secondary.
Most impressive things on both sides of the ball was the size up front. Never been that way since I've lived here. Lots of questions that need to be answered in 7 on 7's because so few skill guys are back. The guy I was sitting with said that they return 7 offensive points from last year and lose their top 8 skill players.
The one issue they might have is the OL is too big. Spencer and mcgregor both go at 5’10 so seeing over the line could be an issue. The one kid that I heard is likely gonna start at LT is a former basketball player that bulked up, very athletic and 6’5. The left guard spot I’ve heard they have a few kids competing. The one big kid you mentioned played his soph year and took a year off and is back again. The kid is absolutely massive, and I heard for how huge he is he can move well and he was a very good player when he played. The other big kid played at PR his frosh yr, north catholic soph, then back at pr jr. If he doesn’t start on the Oline I see him being a rotational DL guy potentially.
The WR I knew of playing were stenson, cafardi, and hetzel(?). Stenson is very similar to falcone and cafardi is a slot type guy. I think the WR are gonna surprise people, they played behind some great players and are now ready to step up for their chance. Stenson can easily be a 1,000+ yards guy. Which soph is playing? The tenth grade class is loaded with skill guys, when they’re seniors they should have a similar season PR had last year. The RB committee they have w geyer and meckler is gonna be sick as hell, meckler is faster than Crawford and breaking school track records. Geyer is a very solid compliment. Behind that line meckler is a homerun threat every time he touches the ball. This is probably the biggest and deepest OL/DL they’re ever going to have.
The main peices that improved the defense last year a lot are back, so once the skill guys develop they should be very stout. The only thing I think they need is some DL depth, with no phil they won’t be consistently dropping 40+ points in a half, so Katic and kristofic will be playing the whole game more than likely quite a few times this year. Having them go both ways the whole game doesn’t seem like a great plan. Hopefully they’re gonna have a few kids they can rotate in.
Curious to hear some of you Western guys’ opinions on where this PR surge came from? Obviously, Coach K has done an outstanding job. I don’t recall PR of yesteryear being this loaded every year. Has there been a population boom? Re-emphasis in youth programs? I’m just curious to hear your guys take on it.
Before people jump down my throat, I am not suggesting anything nefarious is going on; rather, I am just genuinely curious.
Before people jump down my throat, I am not suggesting anything nefarious is going on; rather, I am just genuinely curious.
I think its a combination of really good players, good coaching and a growing population. People tell me that in the early 2000's P-R was really good in AAA, then they grew into 4A/6A and it took a while for everything to catch up. The were 5-5 for about 10 years.
They've had the good fortune of DiNucci and Jurkovec back-to-back along with great classes of talented kids. Couple that with modern coaching and you have a chance at success - particularly when the school you compete against are doing the same things they have done for 10 years.
They've had the good fortune of DiNucci and Jurkovec back-to-back along with great classes of talented kids. Couple that with modern coaching and you have a chance at success - particularly when the school you compete against are doing the same things they have done for 10 years.
Last edited:
The coach they had before coach k wasn't very good. When they were 3A they would consistently win their conference and then lose to a better coached team in the playoffs (typically West A and Thomas jefferson). They mainly won off of having talent back then imo. Nothing like the talent they've had the past few years but they had guys like neil walker to name one, and a lot of decent to very good players over the years. Once they got up to 4A in 2008 they were medicore because to beat some of the quad A powerhouses you need coaching as well as talent. Once coach K took over they had their first winning record in 4A and made the playoffs for the first time in a few years. A year later they instilled their spread no huddle passing attack and the rest is history.
I don't think that's true about Coach K. Not heard anything like that at all. But that's an easy one - come august, will he be on the sidelines?
The rumor is that an assistant coach did get fired. I guess he was suspended for 6 games this past year for making a sign about the superintendent. He also got into it with band parents, and supposedly spend booster club money without asking. Long negative history and the administration had enough.
About the recruiting. There is a little division in the community about the most recent rumors about the Ohio kid. Its going around that both the family of a current player, and the mother and sister of a close friend of a recent player started all that. No one is really sure why. I can tell you that of the people I've talked to about the recruiting rumors at P-R, by about a 10:1 margin, they wish those kids would have never have come to P-R. Kenny White in particular. He was good, but didn't really make them a championship level team. They would have won anyway and not had all the bad perception.
The rumor is that an assistant coach did get fired. I guess he was suspended for 6 games this past year for making a sign about the superintendent. He also got into it with band parents, and supposedly spend booster club money without asking. Long negative history and the administration had enough.
About the recruiting. There is a little division in the community about the most recent rumors about the Ohio kid. Its going around that both the family of a current player, and the mother and sister of a close friend of a recent player started all that. No one is really sure why. I can tell you that of the people I've talked to about the recruiting rumors at P-R, by about a 10:1 margin, they wish those kids would have never have come to P-R. Kenny White in particular. He was good, but didn't really make them a championship level team. They would have won anyway and not had all the bad perception.
Coach K and the QB coach we’re both suspended until the end of the school year from all team activities or something like that. The other assistant was fired and had a past history of other issues.
Kenny White was a good player but he was an issue more times than not and he didn’t make them a state championship team. He was reckless and freelanced on defense a lot. Offensively he didn’t fit the scheme that well. He would constantly go for a big hit and either miss all together or bounce off the ball carrier. Huge liability at times. They need a sure tackler back there next year for sure.
I’ve been on vacation but have you been to any of the summer practices yet @new2pa ? Anything good to report back?
I love all this talk about PR “recruiting” NA right up the road the got like ten transfers last off-season (exodus from north catholic) including two players that had a huge impact on their team last year (vardzel and porter). I’d expect a few more of those younger NC guys that transferred in last year to have an impact this year as well. I suppose it’s not a big deal since they haven’t won a championship in a 5 or 6 years now, but it seems to happen everywhere now.
I love how coach K and many other public school coaches, parents, and fans complain and critcized prep and the private schools about transfers and open boundaries, but then actually recruit, accept and play transfers. The public schools do not have a open boundary rule. Then they use the excuse, well look at NA or NP....Carry on...
Based off a picture I saw on Twitter it looks like they have even more kids than they did last year.
Probably add Northeast to the Pub list if what Im hearing about transfers from Neuman/Gorretti and Imhotep are for real.
Totally agree! It happens EVERYWHERE, one way or another. The HS I went to (Ambridge) has lost so many athletes in the past 7 years or so to Aliquippa, Quaker Valley, Beaver Falls, North Allegheny and North Catholic (to name a few).
They were, don’t believe they won it. Heard both QBs played the same.
Jacky, I was at several grad parties this weekend and heard contradictory info about the Ohio QB enrolling at NA (he has not.) I did hear the same thing about the Spencer boy winning the job and playing well at the Pitt 7v7. P-R must have been really bad at Penn State last weekend, but at Pitt they had King and Meckler back which helped a lot. Was also told King and Meckler are playing much more offense and King is dominant defensively. It sounded to me like the offensive skill positions are half 10th graders and half upper classmen. The defensive skill is mostly older kids. Don't remember many names of the kids. Sorry. Will think about it..
