Bishop Media Sports Network
Camden County Wildcats Coach’s Show w Jeff Herron November 10
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender November 10
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 10
The Chopping Block
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Atlanta Braves are the 2021 MLB World Series Champs.
While fans will be celebrating that championship for the next few months, baseball continues to move on and the offseason is here. Did Freddie Freeman take his last swing under his current contract with Atlanta?
Freeman just completed an eight-year, $135 million dollar contract that he signed in 2014. Freeman has accomplished everything possible in Atlanta. He is a five-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger winner and MVP of the National League.
Freeman is the face of the franchise and there is a real possibility that the Braves will be back contending for a repeat title next season. Freeman will certainly receive a qualifying offer from Atlanta.
The Braves have eight players that have filed for free agency: Ehire Adrianza, Jesse Chavez, Chris Martin, Eddie Rosario, Drew Smyly, Steven Vogt and World Series MVP Jorge Solar. Frankly, I believe Freeman will be the only player to receive an offer.
Atlanta had options on three players. Josh Tomlin, Joc Pederson and Adam Duvall. None of those options were picked up.
The Braves will get Ronald Acuna and Mike Soroka back from injuries, and the pitching staff received a boost with Kyle Wright showcased in the World Series.
The Braves have one of the best foundations for multiple years of success with top prospect Christian Pache and Drew Waters, who has a chance to win an Opening Day roster spot. Few organizations have a plentiful farm system like Atlanta.
Do the Braves pursue a top tier free agent this offseason? Here is a list of the top players available: Carlos Correa SS, Cory Seager SS, Max Scherzer P, Robbie Ray LHP, and many more.
Atlanta Braves fans celebrate the first World Series title since 1995. It was pretty clear throughout the World series this was a special team. After Solar hit the ball over the tracks, you could feel the Astros players and fans sigh.
The narrative for the 2022 offseason is to sign Freddie Freeman and become the hunted instead of the hunter.
Knights Quest
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Over the years, Frederica Knights teams have developed their own personalities from year to year, and historically become known by it.
The 2018 championship squad was known as the fastest. In 2017, they were heralded as the most “football smart” unit. The Dirty Thirty of 2020 was aptly described as the grittiest Knights team to take the field.
The 2021 squad will more than likely be remembered by a single trait; resiliency.
The cards were stacked against the 2021 Knights from the moment the 16 seniors that led the Dirty Thirty crossed the graduation stage. Any team that loses that amount of talent and leadership will feel the loss in the locker room. The lack of incoming players for the new season just added to the difficulties.
When all was said & done in the offseason, there would be a scant 22 players in green & grey starting off the 2021 campaign. Coach Brandon Derrick, needless to say, was trying to temper expectations.
“We’re not going to be flying around, trying to go no huddle with everybody. We’re going to slow it down, more ball control/clock control,” said Coach Derrick during a preseason interview.
After Senior QB Thomas Veal broke his hand during the week 1 victory over Valwood, the Knights were forced to show their resiliency once again. Shifting fellow senior Bryce Reilly from WR to QB, the target for opposing defenses shifted even further to record-setting RB Jordan Triplett.
Four tough losses and a bye week later, Veal returned to the lineup and things started clicking again.
A lopsided win over Memorial Day was followed by a solid victory over the hated Bulloch Gators, and then a historic performance from Triplett the following week. “The River” put up 442 yards rushing against the St. Andrews Lions for the 6th best rushing game in the history of high school football in Georgia.
More importantly, the victory took the Knights to a 4-4 record on the season at the time, and set them up for a region championship matchup against the Pinewood Patriots the following week.
After going up 13-0 early against the Patriots, Pinewood QB Mic Wasson turned on the jets and led his team to a 32-20 victory over our Knights. Another loss is the Pinewood game would be senior TE/LB Jon Phillip Spiers, who broke his hand and is out for the remainder of the season.
Which meant it was time to show that resiliency once again to wrap up the regular season.
On the road in Dublin, the Knights took care of the Trinity Christian Crusaders to the tune of 42-17.
The Knights have a bye week coming up this week and will face fellow bye week recipient Tiftarea Academy the following week in a rematch from week 3.
The Panthers won that game 29-7. The winner of that game will more than likely face defending state champion John Milledge Academy. The Trojans have been dominant against the GISA, losing only one game in the last three years.
That loss was to Frederica. Resiliency will absolutely be needed from the Knights if that matchup is in their future.
We Are The Champions
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Atlanta Braves are your 2021 World Series Champions!
That sounds pretty good doesn’t it Braves fans? This Braves team was not favored in a single series this postseason.
The Brewers, Dodgers, and the Astros all found out that the Atlanta Braves were a team of destiny in 2021. It has been a long 26 years since the last championship in 1995.
To give you some context here is what the world looked like in 1995:
Cost of Living in 1995
Average Cost of new house $113,150.00.
Average Income per year $35,900.00.
Average Monthly Rent $550.00.
Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.09.
US Postage Stamp 32 cents.
Average cost of new car $15,500.00.
To say it mildly a lot of things have changed in those 26 years.
Things looked bleak for 2021 when Ronald Acuna got hurt and was lost for the season with a torn ACL in early July in Miami.
The Braves were not really playing good baseball. At the time the Braves were trailing the Mets in the Eastern division. Actually, the Braves started the evolution to become a World champion back in 2017 when they hired Alex Anthopoulos as GM to clean up a huge mess in the Atlanta Braves Front office, whose illegal signings in Latin America cost the team 13 prospects, wrecked their ability to pursue premium international talent for two years and got the previous GM, John Coppolella, banned from the sport for life.
Anthopoulos, with the Braves not even playing .500 baseball at the time put together an outfield for the stretch run that may go down as some of the greatest moves in baseball history.
It started with Joc Pederson, who came in with a swagger that helped ignite the clubhouse. Pederson hit some big HRs down the stretch as the Braves started winning games. The Pearls became a fashion statement in Atlanta.
Eddie Rosario was brought in from Cleveland. Rosario had to get healthy once he got to Atlanta and then his bat paid dividends. Ask the Los Angeles Dodgers how good he is as Rosario was the NLCS MVP.
Adam Duvall was brought back in from Miami with his much-needed power added into the lineup.
Jorge Soler was brought in from Kansas City and hit a HR in game 6 of the World Series in Houston that landed in the Gulf of Mexico. Soler went on to become the World Series MVP.
These moves pieced together an outfield at the trade deadline that will be viewed as some of the greatest moves in baseball history.
The Atlanta Braves were playing sub-.500 ball until early August.
In fact, they were in third place in the NL East with a 52-55 record entering play on August 3. They went 36-18 in the final third of the season, which was enough to win the NL East by 6.5 games and were a red hot team entering the playoffs.
The bullpen, which struggled for most of the season, became lights out down the stretch run and in the postseason. Minter, Matzek, and Smith became a feared trio in the playoffs.
The magical season just ended in a World Championship for the City of Atlanta. Alex Anthopoulos deserves a lot of credit for building this roster and salvaging the season when things looked bleak. He deserves a huge raise.
Now the Braves need to get Mike Soroka and Ronald Acuna healthy, re-sign Freddie Freeman to a mega deal to make him a Brave for life, and decide what they are going to do with the championship pieces assembled at the trade deadline.
The Braves can worry about those items in a few weeks. Now is the time to celebrate your World Champion Atlanta Braves.
Ch-Ch-Changes
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The problem to be solved with the Florida Gator football team runs deeper than Dan Mullen’s hubris. Yes, please fire him (hiring Todd Grantham much less keeping Grantham for another year is a Nussemeier on staff levels of incompetence) but the administration just doesn’t get it.
Florida doesn’t need an X’s and O’s coach; they need a CEO type that knows what it takes to build a program. I have no doubt in my mind that Coach Mullen wants to be successful at Florida, but it takes a lot more than wanting it, especially at Florida.
Someone who “gets it” is Kirby Smart. He sacrifices so much time with his family and so much of his free time to recruit. Kirby demands so much from his assistants, you ask yourself, why the hell would anyone do that?
How do you recruit so hard, you rival Nick Saban in relentlessness and even beat him on the trail consistently? What drives a person to do something that makes many normal men insane?
Well, Kirby is a Georgia alum who spent his playing days being consistently clobbered by Steve Spurrier coached Florida teams. It’s almost like his very identity revolves around Georgia Football. He is Mr. UGA!
Kirby was born and raised in the South and knows the culture. I think that’s why a lot of recruits gravitate to him.
Would you ascribe the same “X factor” about Dan Mullen? This is what recruits think: Some dorky Northeasterner who talks too fast and isn’t funny or relatable, and who thinks Publix cakes and some tastefully Jordan sneakers can woo recruits on their official visits.
Mullen has been quoted as saying “I want guys who want to be Gators”, but at this point as a program when you have the likes of Kentucky and Missouri out-recruiting you. You have to wonder if the brand has lost its’ sheen after the lost decade.
In order to compete with the Elite (hell to even remain relevant in the SEC East) in the present day, you HAVE TO GO ALL IN. There is no half-ass in the current recruiting landscape. The push to become a top 5 public university is great but all these young men have dreams to play in the NFL.
Mullen has some of the top attributes I would seek in a head coach. He can game plan and coach offense, quarterbacks and call plays, but he has to reflect on just about every other part of the program at this point and make some really big changes.
I do believe there will be some significant staff changes this offseason. Todd Grantham being gone is all but a foregone conclusion.
The following coaches have their contract set to expire after the recruiting cycle ends February 8th: John Hevesy, Billy Gonzales, Tim Brester, Greg Knoz and David Turner.
Change is coming Gator fans, but you are not fixing the roster issues overnight and simply replacing coaches is not a guaranteed fix.
“If you don’t recruit, there’s no coach that can out-coach recruiting, I don’t care who you are.” Kirby Smart definitely understands how to build a program.
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender November 3
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick November 3
MCA Buccaneers Coach’s Show w Bradley Warren November 2
