What do you start your team with QB, RB, LB, OL?

I was just wondering who of you would start your favorite high school team with what position. If you could choose either a top notch high school QB, RB, LB, or OL. I personally would want the QB since he touches the ball the most, but I have seen teams that were carried by players at other positions. What do you think. Which position is the most crucial or at least the most crucial to you?

 

in these parts, it's All of the Above!

 

To me, I think it all starts with the linemen. If you got a good offensive and defensive line, any position player in the offense (QB, RB, WR, & TE) will look good, especially the RB. Case in point, Watauga. I know Eric Breitenstien is a talented RB, but alot of his credit should be given to his offensive line. They absolutely dismantled defenses as the "Bright Light" shined by running his way into the win column. Defensively, if you have a d-line that makes solid tackles and closes up the holes opened up by o-lines and constantly pressures the QBs, opposing teams' offenses aren't going anywhere.

Just because a team has a good RB or QB, doesn't mean anything. McDowell's Terrance Kincaid is a good RB too, but if his offensive line gave a Watauga-like performance each Friday, Kincaid would be in the 3,000-yard club and be by far the best RB in the state. Just because you have a stud QB means nothing too. Lance Camp of Burns was a great QB, but I've read where a team with a great d-line gave him fits all night long.

You can always build on both sides of the ball around the linemen.

 

Definitely the OL and then the DL. Success begins with the line, the only problem is that you need 4 or 5 good ones, one doesn't cut it. A good OL can make a decent RB look great, allow the offense to control the clock, keep the defense rested, etc.

 

William Perry

This is not a good analogy because Perry was so dominate, but I watched him screw up an entire game one time in high school on both sides of the line. Perry played nose and it is awful hard to get the snap when your center is flying backwards through the air. On offense they ran up his butt about every play and he literally could collapse a d-linemen into the linebacker and just create literally a pancake of two or three people, where they at least got decent yardage everytime they ran it right up his butt. What a player.

A solid line is a hell of thing to watch in a game and it is a beautiful thing to just pound people if you have the horses to do that. (I think a great line can break the other team's will in a lot of games because no one likes to keep getting smashed, I don't care how tough you are.

 

I've not seen a team win that didn't take care of business up front.

 

So are you saying that the one lineman was all they needed? Did they win it all with the one lineman? Just curious. My point was that on a football team it really starts on the line and you typically need more than one superman to get the job done effectively over the course of an entire season and into the playoffs. I would be surprised if the lineman you are talking about led his team to a state championship all by his lonesome on the line.

 

You remember the fridge right??

On that night, William Perry was that dominate. He had plenty of solid teammates, but Yes, I have seen one highschool linemen control a game before. Sometimes it is subtle and you don't even realize what you are watching because a team will just decide not to run away from a guy's side of the field. The defense then loads the other side of the field and you don't even realize a guy is dominating a game because he is not making plays, but because of who he is and what he can do, he still controls the game.

In that game, which was like twenty something years ago, Perry had to chase everything the whole game because they would not run up the middle. He still made a ton of plays.

Can a linemen take you to a state championship? No, I don't think any one player can take you there by themselves, but if you have two quality teams and one of them has a great player, that player can make the difference even if they are a linemen.

A good example of this is Warren Forney from RS Central in the late 80s. Central went to the second round of the playoffs one year. (I know you are saying second roung big whoop, but they haven't been that far since then.) They had a QB that went to the Shrine Bowl and Forney who played in the Shrine Bowl the next year and he later played at Clemson. If Central was having problems moving the ball, they would just call ann off tackle play, which was right up Forney's keyster and Forney would deliver, over and over again. Everyone on the field and half the people in the stadium knew what was coming, but who cares because he could whip his guy's ass.

The problem with football is though, you never get to have the great linemen and the great tailback or QB the same year. They come in cycles unless you coach somewhere like Gaffney SC, where you when state every other year because the community is so loaded with athletes. The rest of us fans have to hope our coach can make chicken salad out of chicken shit every other year or so.

 

Here's a more rescent example: Watauga last season. Same RB, same receivers, etc. Went from a four win season to a final four season. Because of the TEAMWORK on the offensive line. No great stars individually, but ask anyone they played about that O line. Biggest loss was at Alexander, where the line did not show up to play for the pioneers. Not to mention the d line. A defensive end won the Page game on a returned interception. Led by a stud at RB and a line that got it done look at that turnaround.

 

I understand what you are saying. I guess that I would just rather have a good OL & DL unit than one great individual player.