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CameronCrazy

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The state of Alabama has two of these athletic factories. Albeit, to a lesser extent, Madison Academy and UMS Wright are private schools that excel in all sports. They recruit and offer scholarships. They do play in the AHSAA system and compete for titles. The athletes at these two schools are offered the opportunity to get a top notch education also. Most do take advantage of the opportunity. These two institutions can't be compared to IMG but as I stated, to a lesser extent they are athletic factories.

I don't now Madison Academy but I have to take exception to the characterization of UMS as an "athletic factory".. Since the 1950s University Military School has been a good academic operation with fair to middling athletic programs. They played most of the Baldwin County schools each year and had academic standards (and discipline) that exceeded the public schools in the Mobile area. The same argument / defense can be made for McGill which at that time was a private Catholic School and students whose parents were looking for more than a public school education.

UMS and McGill bear no similarity the huge number of athletic factories like IMG who do not live off of the student bodies of their community, but instead attract prime athletes from all over the US and would like to have one foot in each camp..."your typical HS" and "an elite athletic school".

I can't imagine why any HS would schedule IMG.....except for the money....and I guess these days....money is a good enough reason for some coaches.

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The state of Alabama has two of these athletic factories. Albeit, to a lesser extent, Madison Academy and UMS Wright are private schools that excel in all sports. They recruit and offer scholarships. They do play in the AHSAA system and compete for titles. The athletes at these two schools are offered the opportunity to get a top notch education also. Most do take advantage of the opportunity. These two institutions can't be compared to IMG but as I stated, to a lesser extent they are athletic factories.

I don't now Madison Academy but I have to take exception to the characterization of UMS as an "athletic factory".. Since the 1950s University Military School has been a good academic operation with fair to middling athletic programs. They played most of the Baldwin County schools each year and had academic standards (and discipline) that exceeded the public schools in the Mobile area. The same argument / defense can be made for McGill which at that time was a private Catholic School and students whose parents were looking for more than a public school education.

UMS and McGill bear no similarity the huge number of athletic factories like IMG who do not live off of the student bodies of their community, but instead attract prime athletes from all over the US and would like to have one foot in each camp..."your typical HS" and "an elite athletic school".

I can't imagine why any HS would schedule IMG.....except for the money....and I guess these days....money is a good enough reason for some coaches.

As an alumnus of UMS-Wright, though I began in Pre-K at UMS before the merger, I second this. There is little to no similarity to IMG. UMS-Wright offers very few scholarships (likely less than 5 per class), and the overwhelming majority of those are hardship, not sports scholarships. If anything St. Paul's would be a closer metaphor (though still an incredibly weak link at best) as they pay more athletes way, as evidenced by their climb from 3A to 5A in less than a decade.

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As an alum of SPS (hello fellow Mobilian), I wouldn't make the comparison to SPS either. Their climb from 3a to 5a has everything to do with enrollment increases and the private school penalty. They only started recruiting once that penalty hit and, just like UMS, knew they had to recruit in order to remain competitive. Comparing any Mobile school to IMG, or any other school in the country for that matter, is nearly impossible. They are in a class of their own.

Not much of a 1000th post, but it is what it is.

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The state of Alabama has two of these athletic factories. Albeit, to a lesser extent, Madison Academy and UMS Wright are private schools that excel in all sports. They recruit and offer scholarships. They do play in the AHSAA system and compete for titles. The athletes at these two schools are offered the opportunity to get a top notch education also. Most do take advantage of the opportunity. These two institutions can't be compared to IMG but as I stated, to a lesser extent they are athletic factories.

I don't now Madison Academy but I have to take exception to the characterization of UMS as an "athletic factory".. Since the 1950s University Military School has been a good academic operation with fair to middling athletic programs. They played most of the Baldwin County schools each year and had academic standards (and discipline) that exceeded the public schools in the Mobile area. The same argument / defense can be made for McGill which at that time was a private Catholic School and students whose parents were looking for more than a public school education.

UMS and McGill bear no similarity the huge number of athletic factories like IMG who do not live off of the student bodies of their community, but instead attract prime athletes from all over the US and would like to have one foot in each camp..."your typical HS" and "an elite athletic school".

I can't imagine why any HS would schedule IMG.....except for the money....and I guess these days....money is a good enough reason for some coaches.

As an alumnus of UMS-Wright, though I began in Pre-K at UMS before the merger, I second this. There is little to no similarity to IMG. UMS-Wright offers very few scholarships (likely less than 5 per class), and the overwhelming majority of those are hardship, not sports scholarships. If anything St. Paul's would be a closer metaphor (though still an incredibly weak link at best) as they pay more athletes way, as evidenced by their climb from 3A to 5A in less than a decade.

I made the statement that there was no comparison but to a lesser extent they do produce athletes and championships. I also said they do play for championships and I didn't say it but they do play other local schools. Good point about McGill, they could be put in the same category. None are in the same league as IMG but Madison Academy is an athletic factory in most sports. UMS to a lesser extent but their record of championships and athletes getting scholarships is higher than the state average of both.

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As an alum of SPS (hello fellow Mobilian), I wouldn't make the comparison to SPS either. Their climb from 3a to 5a has everything to do with enrollment increases and the private school penalty. They only started recruiting once that penalty hit and, just like UMS, knew they had to recruit in order to remain competitive. Comparing any Mobile school to IMG, or any other school in the country for that matter, is nearly impossible. They are in a class of their own.

Not much of a 1000th post, but it is what it is.

Howdy back. My point exactly. I'm sorry I didn't more explicitly explain my point, and it certainly was no dig at SPS. I tend to have a sardonic tone which doesn't translate well to the interwebs. My point was the metaphor was weak on its face and there are only more scholarships at SPS than UMS because of the greater number enrolled (UMS-Wright has had an enrollment cap for over 20 years), and as a direct result there likely are slightly fewer more scholarships offered, as that's how the maths work.

We are still solidly in agreement that IMG is nothing at all like any school in Southern AL.

Dammit, now I'm craving a hot dog from the Dew Drop Inn and a Coke in a glass bottle. Thanks Trout.

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The state of Alabama has two of these athletic factories. Albeit, to a lesser extent, Madison Academy and UMS Wright are private schools that excel in all sports. They recruit and offer scholarships. They do play in the AHSAA system and compete for titles. The athletes at these two schools are offered the opportunity to get a top notch education also. Most do take advantage of the opportunity. These two institutions can't be compared to IMG but as I stated, to a lesser extent they are athletic factories.

I don't now Madison Academy but I have to take exception to the characterization of UMS as an "athletic factory".. Since the 1950s University Military School has been a good academic operation with fair to middling athletic programs. They played most of the Baldwin County schools each year and had academic standards (and discipline) that exceeded the public schools in the Mobile area. The same argument / defense can be made for McGill which at that time was a private Catholic School and students whose parents were looking for more than a public school education.

UMS and McGill bear no similarity the huge number of athletic factories like IMG who do not live off of the student bodies of their community, but instead attract prime athletes from all over the US and would like to have one foot in each camp..."your typical HS" and "an elite athletic school".

I can't imagine why any HS would schedule IMG.....except for the money....and I guess these days....money is a good enough reason for some coaches.

As an alumnus of UMS-Wright, though I began in Pre-K at UMS before the merger, I second this. There is little to no similarity to IMG. UMS-Wright offers very few scholarships (likely less than 5 per class), and the overwhelming majority of those are hardship, not sports scholarships. If anything St. Paul's would be a closer metaphor (though still an incredibly weak link at best) as they pay more athletes way, as evidenced by their climb from 3A to 5A in less than a decade.

I made the statement that there was no comparison but to a lesser extent they do produce athletes and championships. I also said they do play for championships and I didn't say it but they do play other local schools. Good point about McGill, they could be put in the same category. None are in the same league as IMG but Madison Academy is an athletic factory in most sports. UMS to a lesser extent but their record of championships and athletes getting scholarships is higher than the state average of both.

I see the parallels you're alluding to (and I agree UMS-W and MA do play for a greater than average number of championships), but my point is you have made assumptions regarding the number of scholarships UMS offers. This info is private, and unless you're an employee of my alma mater, or you sit on the BoT, you're assuming they offer more than they do. My post was not attacking you, but my point was simply to clarify one underlying assumption you made.

Insofar as UMS-W has more athletes receive *college* scholarships, yes, they do, though not necessarily athletic scholarships. UMS-W has one of the highest college acceptance rates in AL (well over 99%), along with one of the highest average SAT and ACT scores, so that is absolutely a fact. If this whole time that's what you were referring to, I apologize for the misunderstanding.

On the other hand, if you were referring to someone going to high school for free and playing football, UMS-W is one of the lowest in AL, as technically every public school "pays" its players to go there. Semantics, but still true.

WDE!

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More than 30 IMG Academy football players made a college tour stop on Auburn's campus Thursday and Friday, and many are giving the Tigers a close look.

Dual-threat quarterback Kellen Mond is Auburn's top target at the school in Bradenton, Florida. He believes he's a "perfect fit" for the offense despite his commitment to Baylor and plans to take an official visit to Auburn in the fall.

Mond's teammate, center Cesar Ruiz, went into the weekend with Auburn ranked No. 7 on his list of favorites behind North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU, Clemson and Florida, in order. That appears to have changed after Ruiz's visit, during which he felt like a priority.

"I always liked Auburn," the four-star center said. "I saw it and it was nice and it definitely moved up... I was the only center they have offered, they made that clear. They're still coming up at me really hard."

During the visit, Ruiz rode around with Gus Malzahn in the Auburn head coach's new BMW and enjoyed his time with offensive line coach Herb Hand.

"I like Coach Malzahn," said Ruiz, the nation's No. 1 center in the 247Sports Composite. "He's really nice and a really cool coach. He cares about his players a lot and he made that clear when he was talking to us and was talking to me one-on-one... Coach Hand was a great coach at Penn State and now he's here at Auburn so it's even better."

Ruiz (6-3, 315) has not determined which schools he will take official visits to, but hopes to return to the Plains.

Elsewhere on the offensive side of the ball, 2018 IMG receiver Brian Hightower caught up with offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and hit it off with wide receivers coach Kodi Burns. He said the Tigers could be a factor with Florida, Alabama, Clemson and Ole Miss, but he is taking his recruitment process slowly.

Hightower, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 5 receiver in his class, said the Tigers like 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame. He "definitely" plans to make a return trip to Auburn.

"I liked it a lot," Hightower said. "I was actually expecting less, but it was actually a lot more than I thought it would be. It was great... (Burns) is a great coach, someone I can really relate to and everything."

Former Miami commit Tre McKitty also made the IMG trip. The three-star tight end recently told AL.com Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, LSU and Oregon are the schools recruiting him the hardest.

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2016/04/imgs_cesar_ruiz_brian_hightowe.html

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If we're showing all this love to IMG center Ruiz yet their dual threat QB is allegedly our TOP interest at the school (understanding the source is AL.com and understanding he "committed" to Baylor - which never stopped us before), should Mond be on our site list of QB hopefuls?

http://www.al.com/au...n_hightowe.html

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If we're showing all this love to IMG center Ruiz yet their dual threat QB is allegedly our TOP interest at the school (understanding the source is AL.com and understanding he "committed" to Baylor - which never stopped us before), should Mond be on our site list of QB hopefuls?

http://www.al.com/au...n_hightowe.html

Who knows....it's the coach's job to make every one of these guys think he is our top choice and the program will likely shut down if he goes elsewhere.

The interesting thing, if you read the many quotes in the sports blogs, a lot of coaches are able to pull this off.

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  • 3 months later...

Good by me....expect there will be more southern HS associations joining the ban.

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That rule as written would prevent  teams from Columbus from playing Phenix City, for example. I think it's a good thing but there should be some exception for teams just across a state line that have played each other for years.

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5 hours ago, Mikey said:

That rule as written would prevent  teams from Columbus from playing Phenix City, for example. I think it's a good thing but there should be some exception for teams just across a state line that have played each other for years.

Mikey is right the idea behind the rule is good but like in his example. You have to be very diligent when you create a rule like this so you don't create this type of issue.  Almost every year the Allen, Texas team plays an out of State opponent. If the rule was written improperly it would stop these types of games.

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