I am from Taylor (just east of Hutto). I heard a rumor from a coach in Beckville. He said 5 of the players on Tatum's defense have scholarship offers from Div. 1 colleges. Is this embellished?

What kind of allignment/scheme offense and defense does Tatum use? My mom and dad are from Beckville and I will be at the game Saturday night. Good luck.

Yes, he is right in saying that 5 kids on the Tatum defense are all going to get D1 offers. Whether they go or not is another question (think grades). Anyway, the two DB's, Teo Freeney and Carson Blackmon, the Middle Backer, Daylan McCoy (also one of the RB), Isiaiah Thompson and something Leatch on the D-line are all D1 players. The following are who they have been contacted by according to Rivals, not all have offered though obviously:

Tederio Freeny (5'11", 165, 4.4)- Baylor, JC Route
Daylon McCoy (6'0", 187, 4.62)- Baylor, Houston,
Oklahoma State, Tx Tech, La Tech,
Louisana Lafayette,SFA, TCU
Carson Blackmon (5'10", 159, 4.5)- Houston (Verbal
Commit), Miss. St.OSU, A&M, Tx Tech
Isiah Thompson (6'4", 315, 5.84)- Houston, Co.
State, KSU, A&M, Tx. Tech, U-LaLa,
SFA
Clarence Leatch (6'5", 210, 4.65)- Houston, Mich.
St., U-LaLa, TCU

Most of the schools are middle of the road schools that looked at them but that's not bad for 5 kids from the second smallest school in 3A with right around 400 kids (397 I think).

To be honest with you they run a basic 4-3 defense. I really don't know a lot of defenseive terminology and stuff because I Never really played defense. 4 down lineman, 3 backers, man on man DB's and two safeties, one playing up around the line the other playing back. That's what Tatum runs.

Also, I heard this stat in the local paper back home, something like in the last 9 games Tatum has held their opponents to under 75 yards of total offense in the second half. That's just amazing coaching at half time. Sweetwater had something like 240 yards rushing in the first half Saturday, they had 13 in the second half.
They have the speed to beat you to the corner and the size to stuff you in the middle. I have heard Hutto has some big guys on the O-line so it's going to be fun to watch that match-up. Anyway, let me know if you have anymore questions. I will answer to the best of my ability.



[This message has been edited by gibby03 (edited 12/13/2005 9:43a).]

By the way, I am from Tatum and have seen them play 3 times this year.

Offensively, I have seen them run anything from a Shotgun 4 wides, to shotgun with two RB's split on either side of the QB, to staight power I. Basically no matter what they line up in Tatum will and always has run the ball about 75% of the time. They have a sophomore QB who can run the ball pretty well, and he can throw it GOOD ENOUGH to keep a defense honest. Against Sweetwater his passing basically consisted of quick swing patterns out in the flats and a jump ball to a receiver in the endzone. In saying that it was enough to keep the defense honest on the pass.

Tatum will run the ball 75% of the time like I said, against Sweetwater the ran the same formation the ENTIRE second half minus one or two plays and ran maybe 3 or 4 variations of handoffs and pitches out of that. Basically they only ran 5 plays the entire second half and won going away. They had two drives I believe of over 70 yards in the second half and basically just ran it down their throat once they figured out what worked at halftime.

Also, this coaching staff for Tatum is incredible at making half time adjustments. I have seen 3 games this year and basically what I see is a bunch of athletes in the first half making plays in to stay in the game, when the second half rolls around they simply dominate the other opponent until the game is over. It really is fun to watch how the defense just steps up and finishes the game off. If you end up going you will see the same thing I believe.

One of the Tatum wins shows a forfeit by Palestine. What happened there?

You know that's a good question. What happened was they were to play Palestine the week of Hurricane Rita, geographically Tatum is up in East Texas about 50-60 miles of the projected path of where Rita was to follow through. So, Tatum wanted to cancel the game as a lot of teams were going to do. Well Palestine wanted to play the game on Thursday night, Tatum said no, Palestine then asked to play it on Monday, Tatum again said no. Apparently at this point is where the story gets muddy. According to another poster on Baylorfans.com he tells me that Palestine finally agreed to cancel the game, so then Tatum counted it as a forfeit. Palestine ran to the UIL and complained. As far as what REALLY happened, I am not sure because I do not live in Tatum anymore and never heard the true story. And what I explained is what was told to me second hand.

Either way, it was cancelled for Hurricane Rita and never played.

Seems like it worked out since Tatum just won the state title.

WHAT A GAME!!!

Each team led 4 times. Hutto's powerful O line and quick QB and backs vs Tatum's team speed.

Tatum won. The Hutto QB just couldn't pass well enough beyond the TE and "the flats." I enjoyed the hell out of it and this game could have gone either way. Also, Jerry Jones sucks. He has let Texas Stadium turn into a dump. They should issue hard hats in case of falling debris.

Tatum just shows and proves, All high school sports off season conditioning should be track. This gives you instant team speed in every sport.

Yeah BQ, that was a heck of a game. By far one of the best high school football games I have EVER seen. Thank God Tatum can FINALLY say we have a State Championship. We have had some great teams come through Tatum. Hutto, WOW! is all I can say. Those kids played their hearts out and showed why they have been able to beat the teams they have to get there. I came away VERY impressed.