Josh Conner Out 4-6 Weeks

Josh Conner, the starting running back from Highlands HS broke his tibia (part of the leg) bone last night in a scrimmage against Louisville Male. The senior running back recoreded 20 rush TD's and 1,189 yards running last year for the 'Birds. He is expected to miss 4-6 week. Hopefully, Josh has a quick and successful recovery.

Eten Cleared To Play For Morehead St.

Three days into summer workouts at Morehead St. University, incoming Freshman TE Ryan Eten was notified by his coaches at MSU he was not an eligible player per the NCAA clearinghouse and had to go home until things got sorted out.

Another Morehead St. Freshman and Northern Kentucky native DT Alex Koski (Dixie Heights) was also deemed ineligible as well. The reasoning for Eten's three week dismissal. One high school class credit not transferring over to the NCAA. A minor, but costly error on the part of CCHS. Eten and Koski had to miss their whole training camp.

Eten got the go-ahead this week to begin practicing. Koski was still waiting for word to start.

The NCAA certainly didn't do them any favors.

The Eagles start their season next Saturday, August 30th against S. Virginia.

Northern Kentucky Week 1 Schedule

The season kicks off next weekend and here is the slate.



A few games of interest include:


Beechwood Tigers vs. Dixie Heights Colonels @ Beechwood



Noel Rash's Tigers take on a gritty Dixie Heights team who could be a sleeper this year in Northern Kentucky. Dixie is young, after they lost key players last year including QB Joey Bricking and RB Marty Molony. However, Dixie brings back some strong senior leadership with LB Cody Godsey and RB Connor Brock.



NewCath Throughbreds vs. Simon Kenton Pioneers @ Newport High School



The 'Breds will begin their season facing a tough Pioneer team who went through some growing pains last year at the QB position. Their QB Patrick Bustle will look to keep working under center this season along side a breakout candidate in Jr. RB Miles Simpson. Simpson is expected to be a center piece to the Pioneer offense. If anyone has a lot of eyes on him this season, it's Miles Simpson.



NewCath brings back one of my favorite players to watch in QB Rob Kues. Kues led the 'Breds to a second place finish in the state tournament after losing to a tough Ft. Campbell team in Louisville. Kues has a couple offensive weapons returning as well, including Sr. RB Mark Kelly.


Another key player to watch out for is Mario Escalante at Safety. Escalante's hawk-like ability to get a bead on the football is second to none and he'll be a candidate for defensive player of the year.

Hopefully if you're a Northern Kentucky High School Football fan you can whet your appetite with one of these great matchups.

More to come...

NKY Football Pre-Season Top 10

Here are the pre-season rankings for the upcoming 2008-2009 season.

Highlands is your #1 team to start the year and I'm pretty sure they will remain there throughout the season. They've got a potential Mr. Football candidate in RB Josh Connor, one of the best OL in the state in Adam Dempsey, and a cast of several other great players like Austin Collinsworth.

Ryan Ernst notes that Highlands plays Colerain in the second week of the season, it'll be an ultimate test for the 'Birds among many other this season.

Beechwood Standout Commits to Central Michigan

According to www.hskentucky.scout.com, the Chippewas received a verbal commitment from offensive linemen Dominic Mainello of Fort Mitchell (Ky.) Beechwood High School.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Mainello said the Chippewas offered him a scholarship June 8 following a one-day camp he attended at CMU. He said CMU is recruiting him to play guard or defensive tackle.

Notes On Dixie Heights

From Ryan Ernst:

A lot of competition out on the field today. Seems like the coaching staff is still trying to figure out what it's working with. If one guy screwed up, another guy went in.

Dixie isn't nearly as big as it normally is.

If there's one guy in Northern Kentucky I'm really excited about seeing as an every-down back, it's Dixie senior Connor Brock. He's one of the fastest players in the area. And after being used as a slot back last year, he'll have to learn how to run between the tackles. But he should be fun to watch in the open field.

I talked to Brock after practice. Seemed like a good kid. Humble. When I asked him how fast he was, he kind of danced around the topic, obviously not wanting to brag. "Well," I said. "Is anyone on the team faster than you?" "Um," he said. "Well, uh, no."

Spritzky got a little help today at practice from his 4-year-old daughter, who stood next to her dad during various drills. Just made for an interesting image.

Spritzky is not a yeller. More of a teacher. It always amazes me how many head coaches are like that. I'll bet if you went to every high school practice in Northern Kentucky, you'd have a tough time figuring out which man is the head coach at quite a few. Defensive coordinators, they're the yellers.

Ryan Wilson will be the starter at quarterback. He's part of a very good junior class at Dixie. He's not huge (5-11) and he doesn't appear to have a huge arm, but he seems pretty athletic.

Former NKY football players at University of Louisville

The University of Louisville has been trying to make it more of a point to recruit the NKY/Cincy area. As the cardinals currently have two players from the NKY area and seven from the Cincinnati area. The first of the local standouts would be Newport Central Catholic graduate Zach Kiernan. He enters this season at defensive end, and looks very impressive on paper at 6'6" and 281 pounds. The biggest hurdle for Kiernan will be overcoming a season ending knee injury last season that has earned him a bright yellow (non contact) jersey and huge brace to start practice.

The second local player suiting up for the cardinals is true freshman and preferred walk-on Drew Davis. Davis graduated from Beechwood high school and lead the Tigers to a state title last season. Davis is listed on the roster at 6'1" 275 and will be playing the defensive line at Louisville. Last year Davis weighted in at 238, so its a true sign of his dedication to see him put on almost 40 pounds this past off season. I think both of these players will have great career's in Louisville.

On a side note former Covington Catholic standout Mike Donoghue is still apart of the team after last years career ending injury. Donoghue, a former offensive lineman on the University of Louisville football team, was diagnosed with congenital spinal stenosis, making it too risky for him to ever play football again. Donoghue has since taken a job as a student assistant coach for U of L.

Heres a good story about Mike making the transition from player to student coach.

http://media.www.louisvillecardinal.com/media/storage/paper964/news/2007/10/30/Sports/From-Gridiron.To.The.Sideline-3065558.shtml

I'll be working on interviews with all three of these players in the near future, and will also have college updates of other former local standouts.