Division IAA, II, and III Football

[adcwalker]

I know normally everyone wants to talk about Division IA football but what about the other levels. Some very good players have come out of these classifications and moved onto the next level. In the Central Texas Area (Belton-Temple area) Division III football has drawn a lot of attention with University of Mary Harden-Baylor making it to the National Championship last season. Also many players from local teams have gone on to play at these levels.

So what do you think?

[relraiderfan]

adc, I live in Abilene, and attended Hardin Simmons, so I would always be more than happy to discuss some D3 football.

[jtk1519]

adc, I live in Abilene, and attended Hardin Simmons, so I would always be more than happy to discuss some D3 football.

Keeling has a very good squad at HSU this year. I really think they will make some serious noise.

[dragonsdaddy]

as i've got 2 playing d-2 now, and a recent d-3 near-grad, i'll be watching it closer than hs ball. i expect to see you abilenians at shotwell for a game or 2 once it cools off. #2 has been doing his thing and is going to get some pt. i expect he'll get more as they realize how nice it is to have glue on a receiver's hands. his hands are as close to a sure thing as i've seen in a while. jtk, you'll be remembering his 2 td's that cinched the slc game in 02.

[adcwalker]

I have found that I enjoy watching these games better than the Division 1A games. The playeers are normally playing for the love of the game. I started following UMHB last year and my son is a freshman and playing at HPU this year. I'm looking forward to seeing these games. UMHB looks to be tough again this year. They had 188 players show up. HPU changed their coaching staff in the spring. I'm hoping they do well but a new coach and system makes it difficult to contend for the conference champ. If they can go 6-4 or 7-3 it will be a successful season. It seems like HSU is always tough. Do they get a lot of players from the little SWC schools?

[pack0808]

Division 1a players are not getting paychecks either the last time i checked. Well most of them are not?? ;)

[dragonsdaddy]

dang it. did anyone see the score of the wtamu-nm highlands game last night? seems coach carthel thinks he's still in the arena league. 90-21 is ridiculous. may get some tongues wagging around the lsc.

[adcwalker]

I read an article about the game on a DII web site. WTA&M scored 25 points on defense (2 Int for TD, 1 Fumble Rec for TD, 2 safetys).

[relraiderfan]

i think HSU gets a lot of players from all over the big country, plus metroplex and other areas. They always seem to reload. I am really looking forward to this season. We play etbu, hpu, and umhb all at home, so we will see how that goes. Unfortunatly we played better in belton last year than we did at home against umhb in the playoffs. Our conference is loaded, so i would expect the top 2 teams to go to the playoffs, especially since they are expanding this year to 32 teams. Ddaddy, do you have a son at ACU?

[jtk1519]

The HSU roster is FULL of kids from the Little SWC and all over this area.

BTW, can anybody tell me why there are almost 200 kids on Hardin-Simmons' roster. Is there no limit to the number of kids they can have?

http://hsuathletics.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/hsim-m-footbl-mtt.html

[adcwalker]

Division III schools do not give athletics scholarships. Yet they recruit and fine other types of scholarships to offer. For example my son got a scholarship for scoring over 1300 on his SAT. I'm guessing since they don't provide athletic scholarships they are not bound by a number of players that they can have on a team. There might be a limit to the number of players they can dress for home and away games.

[dragonsdaddy]

yes, middle son is a rs frosh wr. he will be playing a lot early and starting by game 3 i predict. youngest is up at wtamu as a true frosh. was running second team roverback until a knee injury(minor) kept him from practicing for 9 days. will be fun to watch them play each other in mid october.

[dragonsdaddy]

i witnessed the absolutely most dynamic, exciting kick returner yesterday i've ever seen. daniele manning will go high in the draft next year based on that game alone. he's kicking himself for not fair-catching the last punt, but had 260+ return yards and 2 tds. pretty good game all in all.

[relraiderfan]

jtk, there is no limit to the number of players d3 schools can have on the rostor or even have with them at home games. However, i know that they only travel with a certain number, (maybe 55?) Also, when playoffs hit, the NCAA only allows a certain number on the playoff rostor.

HSU started out the season strong by winning 38-12 in wisconsin on sat. against stephens point. They have a week off before their home opener on Sept. 17 against La. College.

[relraiderfan]

Hardin Simmons won today 51-13 today over La. College. A nice win but nothing suprising. However, we lost our 3 year starting QB, Jordan Neal, to a broken collarbone. He may be out for the entire regular season. His backup came in today and played well, and we had 3 running backs run for over 100 yards!!! Best of luck the rest of the season to the Cowboys.