A Closer Look With Mark Miller Week 2

After two weeks of the 2024 season, we are beginning to get a picture of what teams are really going to be like this season. However, it is still the “pre-season” and not until the league seasons start will we know for sure.

One thing we do know, the teams we thought were going to be really good … are! Massillon, McKinley, Lake – we expected big things from them and they have delivered. Other teams we thought may be good have proven that in most cases. Fairless and Northwest are in this category. And then some teams we weren’t sure of like Perry, have played very well and may be in for great seasons. Yet for other teams, the jury is still out. With 8 weeks of regular season left they have a chance to improve and have really
fine seasons.

Like every year, there have been some rule changes (or at least adjustments) this year. The one the media likes the best is the uniform rule that was announced years ago and has finally been put into use for the 2024 season. Jersies and numbers must now be contrasting using the dominant school colors (white included). This will eliminate the camo tops that some schools wore as well as the same color for jerseys and numerals (ex. red numerals with just a thin outline on a red jersey). While the players may
have thought they looked cool, officials and anyone in the stands or press box could not tell what number was doing what! Maybe the players like that part too, ha!
A point of emphasis this year is called “Sportsmanship and Altercation Prevention and Protocol”. This deals mostly with players shaking hands at the end of a contest. (Guess what 2023 game may havecaused this to emphasized?) Basically, the advice is for schools to have adult game administrators on the field to watch and prevent any talk or actions from escalating into a physical confrontation. Before it was basically up to the coaches to handle this and they did a great job but more bodies to help is a good
idea.

One Point of Emphasis from 2023 that was never called at the games I attended was “helping the runner” advance the football. In other words, no pushing a ball carrier forward to gain yardage or score a touchdown. This has become known as the “Tush Push” and is common in college and the NFL. Just take a look at Jalen Hurts with the Eagles and Josh Allen with the Bills – they scored many TD’s last season by the Tush Push. However, high school football deemed it a dangerous act and wanted to
remove it for the safety of the players. I am all for it except they forgot to get buy-in from the officials. They just never called it so high school continued to use it. We’ll see if it is called this year.  This Friday we get our first radio look at the McKinley Bulldogs. 1-1 with a good opening win vs. Warren Harding and a very close loss at Avon, who is an excellent football team. Cass Tech from Detroit is the opponent and you can bet they will have speed and talent. Here’s hoping your team does well!