A tough act to follow for young McMahon

Ran across another story about a prep QB following in the steps of his Super Bowl champion father.

Earlier this week, we alerted you that John Elway will be the position coach for his son Jack at Cherry Creek HS in Colorado.

Today, the Chicago Sun-Times featured Glenbrook North field general Zach McMahon, the offspring of the "punky QB known as (Jim) McMahon."

Although Jim won't be coaching Zach this year, it's still an interesting read.

543 wins later, McKissick makes his ESPN debut

ESPN kicks off its coverage of the prep football season this weekend with a Florida-South Carolina doubleheader.

The feature matchup is at noon (EDT) between (National Prep Poll) Southeast No. 8 Miami Washington vs. East Coast No. 6 Summerville (S.C.). The game, which will be played in Berkeley, S.C., will be televised live on ESPN.

There are plenty of attractive storylines that the Bristol folks surely will seize upon during the course of the broadcast. Notably, Summerville's legendary coach, John McKissick. The 56-year coaching veteran has led the Green Wave to 10 state championships and has 543 wins -- the most in prep football history (or any level, for that matter.)

"That's something I've never done," McKissick said, referring to coaching in an ESPN game, in a Charleston Post and Courier story published on Friday.

There will also be plenty of top-notch players on the field to watch. Summerville is led by all-everything WR A.J. Green, a Georgia recruit, and his QB Reid McCollum, who will play at South Carolina.

Washington features blue chip DB Brandon Harris, son of head coach Tim Harris. A key player on the Rockets' offense is Miami recruit WR Davon Johnson. Both players are ranked among the top 50 recruits in Florida by rivals.com.

Game two of the Florida-South Carolina doubleheader will be televised at 4 p.m. (EDT) on ESPNU. It features Berkeley hosting First Coast (Jacksonville, Fla.).

NOTE: Photo of John McKissick is courtesy of Jairy C. Hunter, MD, of ChuckTownPrepSports.com.

Knotts' offseason of discontent

There's a must-read story about Independence coach Tom Knotts by writer Langston Wertz Jr. in Thursday's Charlotte Observer.

There might not be a better all-around high school football coach in America than Knotts, by my estimation. Indy's record -- eight consecutive state titles and 108 straight wins -- sort of speaks to that. But I have always found Knotts to be an exceptional person and an admirable leader of young men.

Wertz's piece on Knotts and how he has dealt with success -- and quite a bit of adversity lately -- is very telling.

Independence, ranked No. 7 in the National Prep Poll, opens the season Friday at Olympic.

Sidney transfers to Fairfax

As eluded to on this blog earlier in the week, blue chipper Renardo Sidney will indeed play basketball at Fairfax (Los Angeles) next season.

According to RISE Magazine, the rumor become reality when his father, Renardo Sr., broke the news to reporters Thursday at the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic in New York City.

It's the third high school in as many years for Sidney, a native of Mississippi. Sidney, a 6-9 forward, is considered one of the nation's top 5 players in the Class of 2009. He helped lead Artesia (Lakewood) to the CIF Division III title and final No. 6 ranking last season.

Fairfax won its second Division I state crown in four years and finished ranked No. 21 in the National Prep Poll last season. Top returning players include senior guard Chris Solomon (6-2) and junior forward Solomon Hill (6-5).

We are already putting together preseason national rankings and it seems likely that the Lions will end up somewhere in or near the Top 10.

Preps video from The Dallas Morning News

Our tour of the top online newspaper prep sections continues today with our friends at The Dallas Morning News.

The DMN has launched new branding for its already top-notch high school section, calling it HS Game Time.

It looks pretty slick and I'm looking forward to watching it continue to take shape.

Anyway, the DMN's much-anticipated preseason high school football section is now online. Included is this video feature with one of the paper's graphic artists who walks you through how all of the cover art was put together.

The PD joins the video age

Another one for the "that's cool" file.

The other day I tipped my hat to the Arizona Republic and Houston Chronicle for some of the interesting and entertaining new features on the prep sports pages of their websites.

Today, I want to give some props to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the very professional-looking series of video profiles for their preseason Top 5 football teams.

Two-time National Prep Poll champ St. Ignatius is No. 1 in their preseason rankings, by the way. A solid choice, but not the way I have them ranked.

P.S. If think the prep sports section of your local newspaper's website is worth a look from folks who live in places outside of your own area code. Drop me a note at prepnation@aol.com and let me know why. Maybe I'll agree.

Big John joins Jack at Cherry Creek

Jack Elway is a senior QB at Cherry Creek HS in Colorado and a member of The Forbes 400 Preseason All-American Team.

That alone is a pretty big deal.

But Jack Elway's dad is kind of big, too. He is John Elway. Two-time Super Bowl champion and, in this writer's opinion, the greatest QB in the history of the NFL.

Now, John and Jack are both Cherry Creek Bruins. So reports the Rocky Mountain News in Wednesday's editions.

Cherry Creek officials tell the RMN that Elway will serve as an unpaid assistant. (I think he can afford to eschew that payday.)

Interestingly enough, John Elway's father Jack Elway Sr. was a college football coach, including at Elway's alma mater Stanford. But he never coached John. He took over at Stanford after John graduated.

Remember him? Montour's Wilson verbals to Big Blue

A couple of seasons ago, ESPN aired a reality television show featuring NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus 'coaching' (and I use that term lightly) a struggling Montour HS football team.

The show was such a big hit and the team was playing so well that Butkus eighty-sixed the whole deal with two games left in the season.

It was a sorry end to an ill-conceived project.

In the end, the only thing that made "Bound for Glory" worth watching was the Montour players and their real coaches.

One player who was profiled quite a bit on the show was then-sophomore RB Christian Wilson, a hugely talented but somewhat rough-around-the-edges young man. Wilson began to turn the corner as a football player, big time, during his junior season. He ran for over 900 yards with 17 TDs.

Earlier this week, veteran prep sports writer Mike White reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Wilson had accepted a scholarship offer to play at Michigan. The Wolverines are projecting Wilson as an H-back in college.

Listen to No. 1 St. X online

Unless you happen to be in downtown Cincinnati this Saturday, you'll have to wait until next Sunday to catch your first glimpse of preseason No. 1-ranked St. Xavier. The Bombers take on No. 3 DeMatha at the Kirk Herbstreit Classic on ESPN.

But you can listen online to X's first game of the season this Saturday against Winton Woods. IHigh.com has launched an Internet Broadcast Network and an audio broadcast of St. Xavier's games will be streamed online from the site.

Week 2 National Prep Poll Schedule/Scoreboard

Eight of the National Prep Poll's Top 25 teams kick off the season for keeps this weekend. That includes preseason No. 1-ranked St. Xavier (Cincinnati), which takes on Winton Woods at the Skyline Chilli Crosstown Showdown at Nippert Stadium.

#	Ranked Team		Opponent
1.	Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Xavier	35	Winton Woods	7	Story
2.	Southlake, Texas, Carroll		Idle. Opens Sept. 7 vs. Lake Highlands
3.	Hyattsville, Md., DeMatha		Idle. Opens Sept. 2 vs. St. Xavier (ESPN)
4.	Miami, Fla., Northwestern		Idle. Opens Sept. 1 at Carol City
5.	Long Beach, Calif., Poly		Idle. Opens Sept. 1 vs. MW No. 8 Glenville (Ohio)
6.	Katy, Texas		Idle. Opens Aug. 30 vs. Klein
7.	Charlotte, N.C., Independence	36	Olympic	0	Story
8.	Batesville, Miss., South Panola		Idle. Opens Aug. 31 at Warren Central
9.	Warner Robins, Ga., Northside		Idle. Opens Aug. 31 vs. Houston County
10.	Chandler, Ariz., Hamilton	44	Buena	0	Story
11.	Roswell, Ga.		Idle. Opens Sept. 1 vs. Brookwood
12.	Santa Ana, Calif., Mater Dei		Idle. Opens Sept. 7 vs. West Covina
13.	Jenks, Okla.		Idle. Opens Aug. 31 vs. Bixby
14.	Maryville, Tenn.		Idle. Opens Aug. 31 at Alcoa
15.	Pittsburgh, Pa., Central Catholic		Idle. Opens Sept. 2 vs. Northmont (Ohio)
16.	River Ridge, La., John Curtis		Idle. Opens Aug. 31 vs. Mandeville
17.	Virginia Beach, Va., Salem	38	Landstown	22	Story
18.	Pahokee, Fla.		Idle. Aug. 31 vs. Palm Beach Gardens
19.	Chicago, Ill., St. Rita		Sunday vs. St. Rita
20.	Cincinnati, Ohio, Colerain	19	Wayne (Huber Heights)	7	Story
21.	Sherman Oaks, Calif., Notre Dame		Idle. Opens Sept. 7 vs. Canyon (Canyon Country)
22.	Gaffney, S.C.	20	Rock Hill	7	Story
23.	Littleton, Colo., Columbine		Idle. Opens Aug. 30 vs. Lakewood
24.	Muskegon, Mich.	39	Creston	0	Story
25.	Jersey City, N.J., St. Peter's		Idle. Opens Sept. 8 vs. Delbarton

New Jersey Generals

There were three New Jersey boys basketball teams in the National Prep Poll Top 25 most of last season.

From the looks of it, the same three Jersey squads might be in the Top 10 (or 5) throughout this coming year.

I've been working through all the various news, notes and quotes I'm getting from coaches in preparation for this year's preseason basketball rankings. (Yes, already.) What I'm finding is that there's no reason to expect much of a drop off from St. Patrick, St. Benedict's or St. Anthony.

St. Patrick graduated two of the best players in its rich hoops history in Corey Fisher (Villanova) and Jeff Robinson (Memphis). But 19-year coach Kevin Boyle (photo), who has led the Celtics to four overall state titles the last five years, tells me there's plenty of talent left over to be a Top 5 team again. Junior G Dexter Strickland is rated the top junior point guard in the country by Scout.com and senior post Quintrell Thomas (6-8) is also a major recruit. Not to mention the arrival of 13-year old freshman Michael Gilchrist, a young phenom who is profiled in this Philadelphia Inquirer story.

We ranked St. Anthony No. 1 to start the season two years ago. Well, the injury bug severely bit the Friars that year and they actually ended up outside of the national rankings.

But we're not ruling out putting St. Ants in that spot again to start 07-08.

Travon Woodall is one of five seniors who will play Division I basketball next year. Junior Dominic Cheek is the nation's second-best shooting guard in his class, according to Scout.com.

Then there's St. Anthony's, coach Bob Hurley. He has over 900 career wins, two Prep Poll titles and it sounds like there's a movie being made based on his biography "The Miracle of St. Anthony."

Not too shaby.

As for St. Benedict's ... One year into partitioning their fifth-year players onto a separate prep school team last year, coach Danny Hurley (yes, son of Bob) led his team to a Top 10 finish in the National Prep Poll.

An aside about the younger Hurley. I'd probably have to say that Danny is my favorite Hurley. Even more than Bob or former Dukie Bobby.

Why? Because for some reason Danny, a lifelong New Jersey boy, shares my forlorn love for the World Series Champion-turned lovable losers Kansas City Royals. How about that?

On the court, the Gray Bees lost Corey Stokes to Villanova but return talented big men Samardo Samuels and Greg Echenique.

NOTE: Kevin Boyle photo is courtesy of The Hoop Group.

Coombs misses his Cardinals

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Bill Koch reports today that ex-Colerain football coach Kerry Coombs is feeling a little sentimental about his former team.

The prep football season officially kicks off in Ohio this week but Coombs, who left in April for the University of Cincinnati, is busy coaching the Bearcats D-backs.

No regrets, he tells the Enquirer, but Coombs says it hit him how much he misses the high school kids and the prep football atmosphere when he was unable to attend Colerain's scrimmage against Elder last Friday.

Who could blame him. Colerain, which is ranked No. 20 in the National Prep Poll, won the contest over the regionally ranked Panthers, 28-6, and looked as powerful as ever.

The Coombs story is interesting and certainly not a surprising one. Sure makes me think about when Tom Knotts left Charlotte Independence for one season to coach QBs at his alma mater Duke. Now he's back at Indy and loving every minute of it. 108 straight wins and counting, after all.

Not predicting the same future for Coombs. But I sure wouldn't be shocked, either.

NOTE: Photo courtesy of UC Sports Information.

Now, this is cool

I'm continually thrilled with the upgraded prep sports sections that newspapers around the country are adding to their websites.

Check out this new feature the Arizona Republic has on its site azcentral.com -- Player Cards for the top football players to watch from schools through its massive coverage area.

My favorite is this one of Brophy Prep RB Ray Polk. (Brophy is ranked No. 9 in the National Prep Poll's Southwest region. Polk is the 14th best RB in the nation, according to rivals.com.)

If not for these cards, I might never have known that the sporting event Polk would most like to attend is not Super Bowl XLII, which will be held in Phoenix.

It turns out that Polk would be more interested in snagging a ducket to Olympic curling.

Like I say. Pretty cool.

Changing of the guard at No. 8 South Panola

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger published a couple nice stories on South Panola football (ranked No. 8 in the National Prep Poll) over the weekend.

The Tigers, who have won 60 consecutive games and four straight 5A titles, are breaking in a new coach. Ricky Woods, who went an amazing 74-1 there in five years, took a new job in Bainbridge, Ga.

Meanwhile, the new man in charge, 38-year old Lance Pouge, has some Big Shoes to fill.

"The Drive for Five is Alive" at No. 6 Katy

Check out this video preview feature of the Katy Tigers, ranked No. 6 in the National Prep Poll, from Houston Chronicle preps reporter Sam Khan Jr.

The Chronicle's online preps offering has improved greatly over the last few years and this is another example. Nice work.

NOTE: The photo of Katy's four captains are TE Markham Stayton (#87), DB Terrance Henry (#27), RB Aundre Dean (#30) and QB Bo Levi Mitchell (#9) and are courtesy of KatyAthleticBoosterClub.org.

Hoops news and notes

It's that time of year for prep hoops. Time for me to collect all the information necessary for doing the preseason Power 50 basketball rankings for RISE Magazine (and, in the past, Sporting News before they did away with their HS publications).

More and more so, it seems to be moving time for top players around the country.

Here are a couple big ones that, as of now, are still just in the rumor stage. But I am working to confirm one way or the other before the end of the month. They figure to have a major impact on our rankings, one way or the other.

• Dick "Hoops" Weiss, maybe the best basketball columnist in the country, reports in the New York Daily News that talented junior point guard Lamont (Momo) Jones (a Louisville verbal) might be leaving NYC Catholic power Rice for American Christian School (Aston, Pa.). There, he would join blue chip 2-guard Tyreke Evans, who is a fifth-year senior, and thus makes AM ineligible for our poll. Otherwise, that potential 1-2 punch in the backcourt would make AM (13-7 last season) one of the teams to watch in the Northeast.
• Maybe an even bigger rumor move involves another junior -- Renardo Sidney (photo), perhaps the top player in the Class of 2009. Artesia's new head coach Kennith Shyne told me earlier this month that he expects Sidney to be back, but Clark Francis' HoopScoop website is reporting that Sidney told them that he'll play this year at Los Angeles City champ Fairfax. This would be the third different school in three years for Sidney, who is originally from Mississippi. First day of classes at Fairfax is Sept. 5. We should know more by then if not sooner.

As always, defending National Prep Poll champ Oak Hill Academy is chocked full of high-profile transfers.

Information I received this week from coach Steve Smith shows six new key contributors coming his way ... literally from coast to coast. The group includes senior guards Willie Warren
(formerly of North Crowley HS in TX) and USC recruit Malik Story (from Artesia HS in CA). A couple new big men are Keith Gallon (a 6-9 junior from Houston) and Danny Jennings (a 6-8 senior from Bishop Loughlin HS in Brooklyn).

With Arizona-bound superstar PG Brandon Jennings back for his senior year, needless to say Oak Hill will be hard to keep out of the No. 1 preseason ranking. Especially given the incredible schedule Steve Smith puts together, which this year will include likely preseason Top 10 (or 5) teams St. Patrick (NJ), Duncanville (TX), St. Benedict's (NJ) and Norcross (GA).

NOTE: The Renardo Sidney photo is courtesy of Mike Burnley, NBADraft.net.