As the picture to the immediate left of this paragraph would certainly denote, they have won a lot of football games at Pikeville High School. Maybe that is one reason it was easy for KPGFootball to look at the team’s body of work from last season, its returning roster, its history of both winning and playing well in big games, and forecast the team as our preseason, top ranked, class 1A football team in the commonwealth of Kentucky. We have featured returning players like Zack Roberts who is certainly a player which would account for optimism when the prospects of the Panthers’ upcoming season is evaluated. Zack Roberts can’t win it alone, and yesterday’s feature, Carson Wright, is a year away from contributing to the Varsity’s success, though the season after next will be fun to watch as #Wright BrothersFootball figures to terrorize the first district in class 1A.
I thought before we leave Pikeville (though I am sure we’ll be back), I would tell you about the other of Shannon Wright’s sons, Connor Wright. Connor is a 5-11, 200 pound, class of 2020 guy, who, when you watch his Hudl highlights from last season, appears to have been deployed practically all over the field. We believe his athleticism and frame lend itself to playing linebacker at the next level and he has both the frame and length, right now, to play college linebacker. This becomes even more true if you project his getting both thicker and taller as he matures. We also believe there will be a next level for Connor.
I have always heard that the sine quo non (that without which cannot be) of athleticism is the ability to both run and jump. Both Wright brothers appear able to do both of those things. Connor has a registered 40 yard dash time of 4.75 seconds and shuttles (5-10-5) in 4.35 seconds. Those are fine numbers indeed, especially for a 16 year old sophomore, junior-to-be. We are always looking for corroborative evidence in the evaluation game because, frankly, we get told a lot of crap by over-zealous, but well-intended, football parents. What I see when I look at Wright’s athleticism is his registered vertical is 32 inches, his broad jump is 116 inches (9’8″), and he squats 415 pounds. All of these figures are commensurate with his reported 40 and pro agility (5-10-5) times. Everything checks out fine. There have been articles written which document the correlation between sprint times and vertical jump. Here’s just one of them linked here written by Doug Dupont for breakingmuscle.com.
Connor, who has a recorded bench press of 280 pounds, though finishing up his sophomore year in high school, has plenty of separation and punching strength. Linebackers have to be able to use their hand punch and strength to stand up 2nd level, would-be blockers, gain separation to find the ball-carrier, and either shed or scrape down the line of scrimmage to make plays resulting in little to no gain. Connor Wright is well suited for this positional requirement. By utilizing the data made available to KPGFootball, it would appear Connor Wright has put himself, through his hard work and offseason regimen, in perfect position to break-out onto the scene, in a big way, this next season. Look out first district, Pikeville High School doesn’t look to be going anywhere other than straight to the head of the class. With little brother Carson joining the fray in 2019, it doesn’t appear the sledding will get any easier either.
This is Fletcher Long, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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