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Best player in eight man?

Sep 16, 2015
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I'll have to go with Michael Girres from GTRA 911 rushing yards (third in the state) and plays in the toughest district. They also played Northwood this year, and they play Coon-Rapids this week.
 
Names I would throw in the mix from the Eats side of the state. All of these guys are great athletes and would play in some capacity on one side of the ball or other for any team in the state
Derek Ehrhardt-QB Central Elkader
Dalton Kriegel-QB HLV
Noah Dodd-QB Janesville
Ben Backes-WR/CB Central, Elkader
Damien Sawvel-RB/WR Don Bosco
Cody Hackman-QB Turkey Valley
Tom Yezek-OL/DL Northwood-Kensett (Injured but still a beast)

West Side Guys I have heard their name enough to trust their reputation to mention and/or have personally seen them.

Micheal Girres-GTRA
Derek Erdam-MMC
Nolan Roger Dollhauser-WBM
Cole Wise-NF
Conner Wolterman-NF
Mason Scheidegger-NF
Mike Ward-EU
Sam Obert-CR-B
Brandon Riley-CR-B
Christopher Brown-G-R
Spencer Brown-Lenox
Parker Powers-FM
Jake Danner/Derek Schurke-Ar-We-Va

I'm sure I'm missing some guys but other than a few guys on the west side, my expertise lies in district 3, 4 and 5.

Fun topic to discuss though.
 
Need to add Sam Phillips from F-M. Moved to QB while Jason Rusten down. So rushing yards not what they would be. But he has really stepped his game up.
 
Agree. Overlooked him. Saw him in the dome last season. Parker Powers graduate or is he still there? What did Rusten do?
 
Spencer Phillips was the big dog last year at the dome. Is Red shirt freshman at Northwest Missouri this year. But yes Sam played and was a starter as a sophomore. Parker Powers is a junior this year. His younger brother Jaeger Powers is a freshman. F-M has been blessed with athletic personnel and they are young. They have 5 or more backs carrying the ball during games.
 
From what I have seen I would have to go with GTRA QB Michael Girres. Big, physical runner, who can go through you or around you. Not many backs are as gifted as this kid. Looks to be 6'0 200 lbs and I would guess runs around a 4.5-4.6 40 yard dash. Pretty exciting player
 
From what I have seen I would have to go with GTRA QB Michael Girres. Big, physical runner, who can go through you or around you. Not many backs are as gifted as this kid. Looks to be 6'0 200 lbs and I would guess runs around a 4.5-4.6 40 yard dash. Pretty exciting player
Any game film on this one? A legit 4.5 in 8-man would be crazy.
 
I have looked at his huddle video and his weightlifting videos on his social media is all. Don't know the kid personally, but what I saw him doing in the weight room was what lineman should be lifting.
 
its just him squatting.
A sophomore doing a 405 lb squat is solid and he is to be commended. It takes a ton of work and dedication to move that kind of weight. I don't think Bosco has any sophomore players squatting that much. Freshman Noah Pitman may before the end of his sophomore year if he spends a bit more time leg training.
 
Michael Girres is a senior any idea what he lifts now? because if he was squatting 405 as a soph it should be crazy now!
 
this is what a lineman lifts he isn't even close that is dalton smith from don bosco[/QUOTE
this is what a lineman lifts he isn't even close that is dalton smith from don bosco
Girres video was his sophomore year so you can't really say he isn't close in numbers, This kid from Bosco can put up some good numbers in the weight room as well. Good for him, shows he has a lot of dedication.
 
Runs hard, good pad level, slightly above average speed but not the fastest. I see a RB/FB at the next level. D3, NAIA, maybe D2 if its the right school. I think he can be a very good D3 back and get some PT early in his career.
 
Girres: 3-8 for 42 yards and no TDs.. Ran 41 times for 6 TDs (8.9 ypc) ... Had 7.5 tackles

Specht: 7-11 for 165 yards and 3 TDs..
Ran 23 times for 4 TDs (7.0 ypc) ... Had 16.5 tackles
 
Girres is a tank. I went to GTRA and MMC game. What a game it was. I can see both teams going far, but the biggest the is injuries. I heard Girres has been getting looked at by ISU, SDSU , and morningside.
 
Against the same opponent Coon Rapids-Bayard

Specht: 4-8 for 70 yards 1 TD ran 27 times for 158 yards (5.9 YPC) 2 TDs
Girres: 4-9 for 58 yards 1 TD ran 25 times for 236 yards (9.4 TPC) 4 TDs
 
GT/RA had like 12 penalties in that game against MMC , which didn"t help them

Although I think MMC has GT/RA's number
 
Smith's videos are from his jr year by looking at the dates. I see there is also a video of of him doing a 600 lb
squat on you tube. His game video looks pretty good to. I'm glad he's one of our kids. It's nice to see a few lineman getting respect in this thread.

 
Smith is very strong but he is an injury waiting to happen. Hope he does not injure his back or knees. Really needs to work on lifting technique. That said he is quite strong. Hope he gets to next level.
 
Smith is very strong but he is an injury waiting to happen. Hope he does not injure his back or knees. Really needs to work on lifting technique. That said he is quite strong. Hope he gets to next level.
I do agree here, his squat form in the video posted above was really weak form. Hopefully, he gets that fixed. Could be why he has back injuries
 
I talk to his brother in law quite a bit. His testing at NDSU was not great because his shins, knees , and feet were in bad shape from baseball and some overtraining on plyo's and speed/agility work. But at MN State Mankato's camp he had a 28" vertical, broad jump 101", 40 time 5.2, and 5-10-5 shuttle was 4.6. He also won their bench press contest at Mankato with 17 reps at 225 lbs, which they did after they had been on the field for 4 hrs. His brother in law says he is having game day visits with Southwest MN State, Wayne State, Northwest Missouri State, Augustana, and MN State Mankato. He's had request for several other visits, but those are the ones he's going to visit so far.
 
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I also asked his brother in law about the back injuries. He says he's not sure where that is coming from. He's not really had any back issues other than some overuse from swinging a bat in the offseason and a tweak while doing a 525 deadlift. Smith rarely deadlifts, but did it during a lift a thon Bosco had to raise money for their weightroom. He says people unfamiliar with powerlifting don't understand low bar placement for back squats. It keeps the weight over the hips. Always a lot of opinions when it comes to technique stuff I guess, even at the college ranks. I guess wherever he winds up will get him doing what they feel is best.
 
All I know is I work with one of the top Olympic lifters in the country. But I would guess there are differences in how the two move the weight. Either way best of luck to him.
 
I believe that Smith, Girres, Wolterman, and Scheidegger are the top four players (in no particular order.) I'd like to see film of the Don Bosco vs. Newell Fonda game last year when Smith and Scheidegger went head to head.
 
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