Huzzah! Yay fall sports!

Hey kids.... it's that time again, as can be seen by all the similar posts below about high school football games and whatnot. Well dare to be different I say--I refuse to make my post about high school football. Even though I probably should, because I'm the writer that covers the team with Joe Boisture.

Instead I'd prefer to talk about college football, because in all honesty I care about it more. And I know many of you do, too. Namely, what is going to happen to UofM football this season, and will Michigan State thump us? These are the questions I want answered, and all of us are hoping will go our way. Well I'd put my money on Nick Sheridan starting against Western Michigan and Tate Forcier trading off starter position with Denard Robinson by the end of the season.

I mean let's be honest, Forcier and Robinson are little guys compared to Sheridan, which is really kind of scary when you think about how unimpressive Sheridan's size is... or at least, before he put on almost 30 pounds. Sheridan is now a 6'1" 210 pound player. Forcier and Robinson are both about 180.

I also predict that this will not be the magic year. It just won't. I know everyone is hoping and praying for a two-year turnaround by new coach Rodriguez. But it's not going to happen. Yeah, I know OSU did it, and USC did it. But I don't care. We just didn't have the recruiting last year, and we don't have the size. Last year we went 3-9. This year I'm predicting we go 8-4 or 7-5, based on my swing game. Below are my picks for this season's schedule.... which, let's be honest, has the FLUFFIEST start-up ever...

Western Michigan (W)
Notre Dame (W)
Eastern Michigan (W)
Indiana (W)
@ Michigan State (W) **
@ Iowa (L)
Delaware State (W)
Penn State (L)
@ Illinois (L)
Purdue (W)
@ Wisconsin (W)
Ohio State (L)

The Michigan State game is my swing game... I had to pick that we'd win because I hate Spartans (Sorry, Don). But I feel like the momentum we'll have from our first four games will either be really good practice or a retroactive confidence booster. I'm afraid that when we meet state we won't know what hit us, because of the talent differential between the Spartans and teams like Western/Eastern/etc. On the other hand, playing teams like that has its uses, and there really should be no way the kinks aren't worked out by the time we travel to East Lansing. So we'll see...

As far as Iowa goes... every time has to have their melt down. I think after playing state, we'll be mentally drained, and we'll lose our ground. But we'll pick it back up with a confidence booster against Delaware State.

I picked several Big 10 losses because I think we don't have our stuff together yet this year. And regardless of how we start, I think we'll struggle from our lack of depth... and whether I like it or not, I think we need more time before we can confidently predict wins against teams like Illinois.

I did, however, pick a win over Wisconsin... mainly because if we managed to beat them during last year's meltdown, we can probably manage to do it again. But Ohio State is a wash... so don't make me cry by bringing it up.

So that's that.... hopefully things go as planned, or that maybe even the Wolverines are capable of surprising me. Please, please surprise me.

High school football season is here!

Finally! Even though it's August and temperatures are reaching the mid-70s and low 80s, it's still football weather for me -- high school football weather to be more specific. There's not a better time of year.

Locally, this should be one of the best gridiron seasons in years. The talent level in the area is arguably the highest its ever been. Each week will be a battle as Division 1-level talent is spread throughout the area. Four of the top 10 players in the state as selected by the Detroit News hail from our coverage area.

Here are my top 10 area players -
1. Joe Boisture - 6-6, 205-QB-Sr.-Saline
2. Nick Hill-5-8, 185-RB-Sr.-Chelsea
3. Ricardo Miller-6-3, 210-WR-Sr.-AA Pioneer
4. Jeremy Jackson-6-4, 200-WR-Sr.-AA Huron
5. Garrett Davis-6-3, 285-DT-Sr.-Willow Run
6. Josh Herbeck-6-4, 190-QB-Sr.-AA Gabriel Richard
7. Esham Farha-6-4, 255-OT-Sr.-AA Pioneer
8. Thom Box-6-1, 260-OG-Sr.-Milan
9. Andrew Dillon-6-4, 195-QB-Sr.-Lincoln
10. Terrance Moore-6-2, 195-QB-DB-Sr.-Ypsilanti

Here are my top 10 sleepers/underrated area players -
1. Corwin Every-5-11, 175-WR-Sr.-Manchester
2. Sequoyah Burke-Combs-5-10, 190-RB-DB-Jr.-Dexter
3. Zak Giller-6-2, 190-DB-Sr.-Chelsea
4. Keenan Hayes-6-0, 185-RB-Sr.-Belleville
5. John Haarer-6-4, 215-LB-Sr.-AA Huron
6. Josh Whitfield-6-3, 215-TE-Sr.-Ypsilanti
7. Terance North-6-3, 295-OT-Sr.-Lincoln
8. Colton Waterbury-6-3, 230-DE-Sr.-Chelsea
9. Nyshawn Marks-6-1, 180-RB-DB-So.-Willow Run
10. Ryan Wesley-6-2, 265-OG-Sr.-Dexter

High School football

It is finally time to get back in the swing of things. Today Willow Run will play at Detroit Old Redford Academy in the high school football opener. It should be a good one. Ypsi will be at Milan on Friday and I know that one will be exciting.

Belleville will open Saturday at EMU against Saline. This one will be tough for the Tigers. I hope they make it a game. Lincoln will host the Mason Bulldogs tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain and I hope everyone stays safe and avoids injuries in the first games of the year.

Come back and read about the action in print for next Thursday and take a look at our Heritage Western Region football preview.

Are you ready for some football? Let's play some football!

Dave Merchant

Here we go!

Greetings to all high school sports fans in the Ypsilanti, Belleville, Dexter, Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Saline, Manchester and Milan areas. We will be writing about local sports in the community so if you are interested check this out daily and it will be filled with prep sports information. Happy reading!

Dave Merchant

Welcome, sports fans!

Hola, kids and older people with kid souls!

Welcome to our blog. You'll see names like mine, as well as Dave "the dad" Merchant and Ed "the jersey-wearer" Patino. Don "the editor" Richter will put in his two cents from time to time, as will A2 Journal sports writer Mike Larson. He's a Pearl Jam fan. I made up those names, by the way; they don't actually use them. We don't keep nicknames here, because we're serious and studious in our craft of creating well-versed sports stories. They're more like soliloquies really. Or not... you be the judge.

We're here to write about sports, and often about the teams we're covering in our respective school areas. Teams will include Saline, Milan, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Ypsilanti, Belleville, Ann Arbor Pioneer, Ann Arbor Huron, Ann Arbor Skyline, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard and Ann Arbor Greenhills.

Have fun and good luck this season!